Coherent control of a single ²⁹Si nuclear spin qubit

Qudit-Based Spectroscopy for Measurement and Control of Nuclear-Spin Qubits in Silicon Carbide

Nuclear spins with hyperfine coupling to single electron spins are highly valuable quantum bits. Here we probe and characterize the particularly rich nuclear-spin environment around single silicon vacancy color centers (V2) in 4H-SiC. By using the electron spin-3/2 qudit as a four level sensor, we identify several sets of ^{29}Si and ^{13}C nuclear spins through their hyperfine interaction. We extract the major components of their hyperfine coupling via optical detected nuclear magnetic resonance, and assign them to shells in the crystal via the density function theory simulations. We utilize the ground-state level anticrossing of the electron spin for dynamic nuclear polarization and achieve a nuclear-spin polarization of up to 98±6%. We show that this scheme can be used to detect the nuclear magnetic resonance signal of individual spins and demonstrate their coherent control. Our work provides a detailed set of parameters and first steps for future use of SiC as a multiqubit memory and quantum computing platform.

Fully Tunable Hyperfine Interactions of Hole Spin Qubits in Si and Ge Quantum Dots

Hole spin qubits are frontrunner platforms for scalable quantum computers, but state-of-the-art devices suffer from noise originating from the hyperfine interactions with nuclear defects. We show that these interactions have a highly tunable anisotropy that is controlled by device design and external electric fields. This tunability enables sweet spots where the hyperfine noise is suppressed by an order of magnitude and is comparable to isotopically purified materials. We identify surprisingly simple designs where the qubits are highly coherent and are largely unaffected by both charge and hyperfine noise. We find that the large spin-orbit interaction typical of elongated quantum dots not only speeds up qubit operations, but also dramatically renormalizes the hyperfine noise, altering qualitatively the dynamics of driven qubits and enhancing the fidelity of qubit gates. Our findings serve as guidelines to design high performance qubits for scaling up quantum computers.

Engineering telecom single-photon emitters in silicon for scalable quantum photonics

We create and isolate single-photon emitters with a high brightness approaching 10⁵ counts per second in commercial silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafers. The emission occurs in the infrared spectral range with a spectrally narrow zero phonon line in the telecom O-band and shows a high photostability even after days of continuous operation. The origin of the emitters is attributed to one of the carbon-related color centers in silicon, the so-called G center, allowing purification with the ¹²C and ²⁸Si isotopes. Furthermore, we envision a concept of a highly-coherent scalable quantum photonic platform, where single-photon sources, waveguides and detectors are integrated on an SOI chip. Our results provide a route towards the implementation of quantum processors, repeaters and sensors compatible with the present-day silicon technology.

A silicon quantum-dot-coupled nuclear spin qubit

Single nuclear spins in the solid state are a potential future platform for quantum computing^1-3, because they possess long coherence times^4-6 and offer excellent controllability⁷. Measurements can be performed via localized electrons, such as those in single atom dopants^8,9 or crystal defects^10-12. However, establishing long-range interactions between multiple dopants or defects is challenging^13,14. Conversely, in lithographically defined quantum dots, tunable interdot electron tunnelling allows direct coupling of electron spin-based qubits in neighbouring dots^15-20. Moreover, the compatibility with semiconductor fabrication techniques²¹ may allow for scaling to large numbers of qubits in the future. Unfortunately, hyperfine interactions are typically too weak to address single nuclei. Here we show that for electrons in silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor quantum dots the hyperfine interaction is sufficient to initialize, read out and control single ²⁹Si nuclear spins. This approach combines the long coherence times of nuclear spins with the flexibility and scalability of quantum dot systems. We demonstrate high-fidelity projective readout and control of the nuclear spin qubit, as well as entanglement between the nuclear and electron spins. Crucially, we find that both the nuclear spin and electron spin retain their coherence while moving the electron between quantum dots. Hence we envision long-range nuclear-nuclear entanglement via electron shuttling³. Our results establish nuclear spins in quantum dots as a powerful new resource for quantum processing.

Single-spin qubits in isotopically enriched silicon at low magnetic field

Single-electron spin qubits employ magnetic fields on the order of 1 Tesla or above to enable quantum state readout via spin-dependent-tunnelling. This requires demanding microwave engineering for coherent spin resonance control, which limits the prospects for large scale multi-qubit systems. Alternatively, singlet-triplet readout enables high-fidelity spin-state measurements in much lower magnetic fields, without the need for reservoirs. Here, we demonstrate low-field operation of metal-oxide-silicon quantum dot qubits by combining coherent single-spin control with high-fidelity, single-shot, Pauli-spin-blockade-based ST readout. We discover that the qubits decohere faster at low magnetic fields with [Formula: see text] μs and [Formula: see text] μs at 150 mT. Their coherence is limited by spin flips of residual 29Si nuclei in the isotopically enriched 28Si host material, which occur more frequently at lower fields. Our finding indicates that new trade-offs will be required to ensure the frequency stabilization of spin qubits, and highlights the importance of isotopic enrichment of device substrates for the realization of a scalable silicon-based quantum processor.

Surface modification on MoO2+x/Mo(110) induced by a local electric potential

Oxygen adatoms on the MoO_2+x/Mo(110) surface are observed to be removed when a sufficiently large bias is applied between the scanning tunneling microscope tip and the surface. Experimental observations, such as the bias polarity dependence of adatom removal and the observation of an intermediate state, indicate that the adatom penetrates the surface oxide layer. Through the comparison of finite element method simulations with various experimental relationships, the electric field is concluded to be the sole contributor to adatom penetration into the surface oxide layer. The energetic barrier to this process is estimated to be approximately 0.45 eV in magnitude. Furthermore, the resolution of this phenomenon is on the atomic scale: individual adatoms can undergo surface penetration whilst their nearest neighbour adatoms, separated by 5 Å, are unaffected. The mechanism reported here has the advantages of not strongly influencing the substrate and is exceptionally localised, which can be beneficial for the synthesis of single atom devices.

One-second coherence for a single electron spin coupled to a multi-qubit nuclear-spin environment

Single electron spins coupled to multiple nuclear spins provide promising multi-qubit registers for quantum sensing and quantum networks. The obtainable level of control is determined by how well the electron spin can be selectively coupled to, and decoupled from, the surrounding nuclear spins. Here we realize a coherence time exceeding a second for a single nitrogen-vacancy electron spin through decoupling sequences tailored to its microscopic nuclear-spin environment. First, we use the electron spin to probe the environment, which is accurately described by seven individual and six pairs of coupled carbon-13 spins. We develop initialization, control and readout of the carbon-13 pairs in order to directly reveal their atomic structure. We then exploit this knowledge to store quantum states in the electron spin for over a second by carefully avoiding unwanted interactions. These results provide a proof-of-principle for quantum sensing of complex multi-spin systems and an opportunity for multi-qubit quantum registers with long coherence times.

Protecting a Diamond Quantum Memory by Charge State Control

In recent years, solid-state spin systems have emerged as promising candidates for quantum information processing. Prominent examples are the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond, phosphorus dopants in silicon (Si:P), rare-earth ions in solids, and V_Si-centers in silicon-carbide. The Si:P system has demonstrated that its nuclear spins can yield exceedingly long spin coherence times by eliminating the electron spin of the dopant. For NV centers, however, a proper charge state for storage of nuclear spin qubit coherence has not been identified yet. Here, we identify and characterize the positively charged NV center as an electron-spin-less and optically inactive state by utilizing the nuclear spin qubit as a probe. We control the electronic charge and spin utilizing nanometer scale gate electrodes. We achieve a lengthening of the nuclear spin coherence times by a factor of 4. Surprisingly, the new charge state allows switching of the optical response of single nodes facilitating full individual addressability.

Single donor electronics and quantum functionalities with advanced CMOS technology

Recent progresses in quantum dots technology allow fundamental studies of single donors in various semiconductor nanostructures. For the prospect of applications figures of merits such as scalability, tunability, and operation at relatively large temperature are of prime importance. Beyond the case of actual dopant atoms in a host crystal, similar arguments hold for small enough quantum dots which behave as artificial atoms, for instance for single spin control and manipulation. In this context, this experimental review focuses on the silicon-on-insulator devices produced within microelectronics facilities with only very minor modifications to the current industrial CMOS process and tools. This is required for scalability and enabled by shallow trench or mesa isolation. It also paves the way for real integration with conventional circuits, as illustrated by a nanoscale device coupled to a CMOS circuit producing a radio-frequency drive on-chip. At the device level we emphasize the central role of electrostatics in etched silicon nanowire transistors, which allows to understand the characteristics in the full range from zero to room temperature.

Electrical current through individual pairs of phosphorus donor atoms and silicon dangling bonds

Nuclear spins of phosphorus [P] donor atoms in crystalline silicon are among the most coherent qubits found in nature. For their utilization in scalable quantum computers, distinct donor electron wavefunctions must be controlled and probed through electrical coupling by application of either highly localized electric fields or spin-selective currents. Due to the strong modulation of the P-donor wavefunction by the silicon lattice, such electrical coupling requires atomic spatial accuracy. Here, the spatially controlled application of electrical current through individual pairs of phosphorus donor electron states in crystalline silicon and silicon dangling bond states at the crystalline silicon (100) surface is demonstrated using a high‐resolution scanning probe microscope operated under ultra‐high vacuum and at a temperature of 4.3K. The observed pairs of electron states display qualitatively reproducible current-voltage characteristics with a monotonous increase and intermediate current plateaus.

Integrated information storage and transfer with a coherent magnetic device

Quantum systems are inherently dissipation-less, making them excellent candidates even for classical information processing. We propose to use an array of large-spin quantum magnets for realizing a device which has two modes of operation: memory and data-bus. While the weakly interacting low-energy levels are used as memory to store classical information (bits), the high-energy levels strongly interact with neighboring magnets and mediate the spatial movement of information through quantum dynamics. Despite the fact that memory and data-bus require different features, which are usually prerogative of different physical systems – well isolation for the memory cells, and strong interactions for the transmission – our proposal avoids the notorious complexity of hybrid structures. The proposed mechanism can be realized with different setups. We specifically show that molecular magnets, as the most promising technology, can implement hundreds of operations within their coherence time, while adatoms on surfaces probed by a scanning tunneling microscope is a future possibility.