Strong spin-photon coupling in silicon

We report the strong coupling of a single electron spin and a single microwave photon. The electron spin is trapped in a silicon double quantum dot and the microwave photon is stored in an on-chip high-impedance superconducting resonator. The electric field component of the cavity photon couples directly to the charge dipole of the electron in the double dot, and indirectly to the electron spin, through a strong local magnetic field gradient from a nearby micromagnet. This result opens the way to the realization of large networks of quantum dot based spin qubit registers, removing a major roadblock to scalable quantum computing with spin qubits

An addressable quantum dot qubit with fault-tolerant control fidelity

Exciting progress towards spin-based quantum computing has recently been made with qubits realized using nitrogen-vacancy (N-V) centers in diamond and phosphorus atoms in silicon, including the demonstration of long coherence times made possible by the presence of spin-free isotopes of carbon and silicon. However, despite promising single-atom nanotechnologies, there remain substantial challenges in coupling such qubits and addressing them individually. Conversely, lithographically defined quantum dots have an exchange coupling that can be precisely engineered, but strong coupling to noise has severely limited their dephasing times and control fidelities. Here we combine the best aspects of both spin qubit schemes and demonstrate a gate-addressable quantum dot qubit in isotopically engineered silicon with a control fidelity of 99.6%, obtained via Clifford based randomized benchmarking and consistent with that required for fault-tolerant quantum computing. This qubit has orders of magnitude improved coherence times compared with other quantum dot qubits, with T_2* = 120 mus and T_2 = 28 ms. By gate-voltage tuning of the electron g*-factor, we can Stark shift the electron spin resonance (ESR) frequency by more than 3000 times the 2.4 kHz ESR linewidth, providing a direct path to large-scale arrays of addressable high-fidelity qubits that are compatible with existing manufacturing technologies

Dispersively detected Pauli Spin-Blockade in a Silicon Nanowire Field-Effect Transistor

We report the dispersive readout of the spin state of a double quantum dot formed at the corner states of a silicon nanowire field-effect transistor. Two face-to-face top-gate electrodes allow us to independently tune the charge occupation of the quantum dot system down to the few-electron limit. We measure the charge stability of the double quantum dot in DC transport as well as dispersively via in-situ gate-based radio frequency reflectometry, where one top-gate electrode is connected to a resonator. The latter removes the need for external charge sensors in quantum computing architectures and provides a compact way to readout the dispersive shift caused by changes in the quantum capacitance during interdot charge transitions. Here, we observe Pauli spin-blockade in the high-frequency response of the circuit at finite magnetic fields between singlet and triplet states. The blockade is lifted at higher magnetic fields when intra-dot triplet states become the ground state configuration. A lineshape analysis of the dispersive phase shift reveals furthermore an intradot valley-orbit splitting $\Delta_{vo}$ of 145 $\mu$eV. Our results open up the possibility to operate compact CMOS technology as a singlet-triplet qubit and make split-gate silicon nanowire architectures an ideal candidate for the study of spin dynamics

Rashba spin-orbit coupling and spin relaxation in silicon quantum wells

Silicon is a leading candidate material for spin-based devices, and two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) formed in silicon heterostructures have been proposed for both spin transport and quantum dot quantum computing applications. The key parameter for these applications is the spin relaxation time. Here we apply the theory of D'yakonov and Perel' (DP) to calculate the electron spin resonance linewidth of a silicon 2DEG due to structural inversion asymmetry for arbitrary static magnetic field direction at low temperatures. We estimate the Rashba spin-orbit coupling coefficient in silicon quantum wells and find the $T_{1}$ and $T_{2}$ times of the spins from this mechanism as a function of momentum scattering time, magnetic field, and device-specific parameters. We obtain agreement with existing data for the angular dependence of the relaxation times and show that the magnitudes are consistent with the DP mechanism. We suggest how to increase the relaxation times by appropriate device design.Comment: Extended derivations and info, fixed typos and refs, updated figs and data. Worth a re-downloa

Silicon nanodevice qubits based on quantum dots and dopants

Quantum physics applied to computing is predicted to lead to revolutionary enhancements in computational speed and power. The interest in the implementation of an impurity spin based qubit in silicon for quantum computation is motivated by exceedingly long coherence times of the order of seconds, an advantage of silicon's low spin orbit coupling and its ability to be isotopically enriched to the nuclear spin zero form. In addition, the donor spin in silicon is tunable, its nuclear spin is available to be employed as a quantum memory, and there are major advantages to working with silicon in terms of infrastructure and scalability. In contrast, lithographically patterned artificial atoms called quantum dots have the complementary advantages of fast electrical operations and tunability. Here I present our attempts to develop a scalable quantum computation architecture in silicon, based on a coupled quantum dot and dopant system. I explore industry-compatible as well as industrial foundry-fabricated devices in silicon as hosts for few-electron quantum dots and utilise a high-sensitivity readout and charge sensing technique, gate-based radiofrequency reflectometry, for this purpose. I show few-electron quantum dot measurements in this device architecture, leading to a charge qubit with a novel multi-regime Landau-Zener interferometry signature, with possible applications for readout sensitivity. I also present spin-to-charge conversion measurements of a chalcogen donor atom in silicon. Lastly, I perform measurements on a foundry-fabricated silicon device showing a coupling between a donor atom and a quantum dot. I probe the relevant charge dynamics of the charge qubit, as well as observe Pauli spin blockade in the hybrid spin system, opening up the possibility to operate this coupled double quantum dot as a singlet-triplet qubit or to transfer a coherent spin state between the quantum dot and the donor electron and nucleus

Silicon CMOS architecture for a spin-based quantum computer

Recent advances in quantum error correction (QEC) codes for fault-tolerant quantum computing \cite{Terhal2015} and physical realizations of high-fidelity qubits in a broad range of platforms \cite{Kok2007, Brown2011, Barends2014, Waldherr2014, Dolde2014, Muhonen2014, Veldhorst2014} give promise for the construction of a quantum computer based on millions of interacting qubits. However, the classical-quantum interface remains a nascent field of exploration. Here, we propose an architecture for a silicon-based quantum computer processor based entirely on complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology, which is the basis for all modern processor chips. We show how a transistor-based control circuit together with charge-storage electrodes can be used to operate a dense and scalable two-dimensional qubit system. The qubits are defined by the spin states of a single electron confined in a quantum dot, coupled via exchange interactions, controlled using a microwave cavity, and measured via gate-based dispersive readout \cite{Colless2013}. This system, based entirely on available technology and existing components, is compatible with general surface code quantum error correction \cite{Terhal2015}, enabling large-scale universal quantum computation