Spin amplification in realistic systems

Spin amplification is the process that ideally increases the number of excited spins if there was one excited spin to begin with. Using optimal control techniques to find classical drive pulse shapes, we show that spin amplification can be done in the previously unexplored regime with amplification times comparable to the timescale set by the interaction terms in the Hamiltonian. This is an order of magnitude faster than the previous protocols and makes spin amplification possible even with significant decoherence and inhomogeneity in the spin system. The initial spin excitation can be delocalized over the entire ensemble, which is a more typical situation when a photon is collectively absorbed by the spins. We focus on the superconducting persistent-current artificial atoms as spins, but this approach can be applied to other kinds of strongly-interacting spins, including the Rydberg atoms.