  Nuclear spins interact weakly with their environment. In particular, they are
generally insensitive to mechanical vibrations. Here, we successfully
demonstrate the coherent coupling of mechanics to a single nuclear spin. This
coupling is mediated by a silicon vacancy (SiV) centre in diamond, taking
advantage of its large strain susceptibility and hyperfine interaction with
nuclear spins. Importantly, we demonstrate that the nuclear spin retains its
excellent coherence properties even in the presence of this coupling. This
provides a way to leverage nuclear spins as quantum memories for mechanical
systems in the quantum regime.
