47 research outputs found
Superconducting coplanar waveguide resonators for low temperature pulsed electron spin resonance spectroscopy
We discuss the design and implementation of thin film superconducting
coplanar waveguide micro- resonators for pulsed ESR experiments. The
performance of the resonators with P doped Si epilayer samples is compared to
waveguide resonators under equivalent conditions. The high achievable filling
factor even for small sized samples and the relatively high Q-factor result in
a sensitivity that is superior to that of conventional waveguide resonators, in
particular to spins close to the sample surface. The peak microwave power is on
the order of a few microwatts, which is compatible with measurements at ultra
low temperatures. We also discuss the effect of the nonuniform microwave
magnetic field on the Hahn echo power dependence
Electrical activation and electron spin coherence of ultra low dose antimony implants in silicon
We implanted ultra low doses (2x10^11 cm-2) of 121Sb ions into isotopically
enriched 28Si and find high degrees of electrical activation and low levels of
dopant diffusion after rapid thermal annealing. Pulsed Electron Spin Resonance
shows that spin echo decay is sensitive to the dopant depths, and the interface
quality. At 5.2 K, a spin decoherence time, T2, of 0.3 ms is found for profiles
peaking 50 nm below a Si/SiO2 interface, increasing to 0.75 ms when the surface
is passivated with hydrogen. These measurements provide benchmark data for the
development of devices in which quantum information is encoded in donor
electron spins
Electronic measurement and control of spin transport in Silicon
The electron spin lifetime and diffusion length are transport parameters that
define the scale of coherence in spintronic devices and circuits. Since these
parameters are many orders of magnitude larger in semiconductors than in
metals, semiconductors could be the most suitable for spintronics. Thus far,
spin transport has only been measured in direct-bandgap semiconductors or in
combination with magnetic semiconductors, excluding a wide range of
non-magnetic semiconductors with indirect bandgaps. Most notable in this group
is silicon (Si), which (in addition to its market entrenchment in electronics)
has long been predicted a superior semiconductor for spintronics with enhanced
lifetime and diffusion length due to low spin-orbit scattering and lattice
inversion symmetry. Despite its exciting promise, a demonstration of coherent
spin transport in Si has remained elusive, because most experiments focused on
magnetoresistive devices; these methods fail because of universal impedance
mismatch obstacles, and are obscured by Lorentz magnetoresistance and Hall
effects. Here we demonstrate conduction band spin transport across 10 microns
undoped Si, by using spin-dependent ballistic hot-electron filtering through
ferromagnetic thin films for both spin-injection and detection. Not based on
magnetoresistance, the hot electron spin-injection and detection avoids
impedance mismatch issues and prevents interference from parasitic effects. The
clean collector current thus shows independent magnetic and electrical control
of spin precession and confirms spin coherent drift in the conduction band of
silicon.Comment: Single PDF file with 4 Figure
Electron spin dynamics in quantum dots and related nanostructures due to hyperfine interaction with nuclei
We review and summarize recent theoretical and experimental work on electron
spin dynamics in quantum dots and related nanostructures due to hyperfine
interaction with surrounding nuclear spins. This topic is of particular
interest with respect to several proposals for quantum information processing
in solid state systems. Specifically, we investigate the hyperfine interaction
of an electron spin confined in a quantum dot in an s-type conduction band with
the nuclear spins in the dot. This interaction is proportional to the square
modulus of the electron wave function at the location of each nucleus leading
to an inhomogeneous coupling, i.e. nuclei in different locations are coupled
with different strength. In the case of an initially fully polarized nuclear
spin system an exact analytical solution for the spin dynamics can be found.
For not completely polarized nuclei, approximation-free results can only be
obtained numerically in sufficiently small systems. We compare these exact
results with findings from several approximation strategies.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures. Topical Review to appear in J. Phys.: Condens.
Matte
Spintronics: Fundamentals and applications
Spintronics, or spin electronics, involves the study of active control and
manipulation of spin degrees of freedom in solid-state systems. This article
reviews the current status of this subject, including both recent advances and
well-established results. The primary focus is on the basic physical principles
underlying the generation of carrier spin polarization, spin dynamics, and
spin-polarized transport in semiconductors and metals. Spin transport differs
from charge transport in that spin is a nonconserved quantity in solids due to
spin-orbit and hyperfine coupling. The authors discuss in detail spin
decoherence mechanisms in metals and semiconductors. Various theories of spin
injection and spin-polarized transport are applied to hybrid structures
relevant to spin-based devices and fundamental studies of materials properties.
Experimental work is reviewed with the emphasis on projected applications, in
which external electric and magnetic fields and illumination by light will be
used to control spin and charge dynamics to create new functionalities not
feasible or ineffective with conventional electronics.Comment: invited review, 36 figures, 900+ references; minor stylistic changes
from the published versio
Electron spin coherence exceeding seconds in high purity silicon
Silicon is undoubtedly one of the most promising semiconductor materials for
spin-based information processing devices. Its highly advanced fabrication
technology facilitates the transition from individual devices to large-scale
processors, and the availability of an isotopically-purified Si form
with no magnetic nuclei overcomes what is a main source of spin decoherence in
many other materials. Nevertheless, the coherence lifetimes of electron spins
in the solid state have typically remained several orders of magnitude lower
than what can be achieved in isolated high-vacuum systems such as trapped ions.
Here we examine electron spin coherence of donors in very pure Si
material, with a residual Si concentration of less than 50 ppm and donor
densities of per cm. We elucidate three separate mechanisms
for spin decoherence, active at different temperatures, and extract a coherence
lifetime up to 2 seconds. In this regime, we find the electron spin is
sensitive to interactions with other donor electron spins separated by ~200 nm.
We apply a magnetic field gradient in order to suppress such interactions and
obtain an extrapolated electron spin of 10 seconds at 1.8 K. These
coherence lifetimes are without peer in the solid state by several orders of
magnitude and comparable with high-vacuum qubits, making electron spins of
donors in silicon ideal components of a quantum computer, or quantum memories
for systems such as superconducting qubits.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures, supplementary informatio
Single-spin readout for buried dopant semiconductor qubits
In the design of quantum computer architectures that take advantage of the
long coherence times of dopant nuclear and electron spins in the solid-state,
single-spin detection for readout remains a crucial unsolved problem. Schemes
based on adiabatically induced spin-dependent electron tunnelling between
individual donor atoms, detected using a single electron transistor (SET) as an
ultra-sensitive electrometer, are thought to be problematic because of the low
ionisaton energy of the final D- state. In this paper we analyse the adiabatic
scheme in detail. We find that despite significant stabilization due to the
presence of the D+, the field strengths required for the transition lead to a
shortened dwell-time placing severe constraints on the SET measurement time. We
therefore investigate a new method based on resonant electron transfer, which
operates with much reduced field strengths. Various issues in the
implementation of this method are also discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl
Rare-earth solid-state qubits
Quantum bits (qubits) are the basic building blocks of any quantum computer.
Superconducting qubits have been created with a 'top-down' approach that
integrates superconducting devices into macroscopic electrical circuits [1-3],
whereas electron-spin qubits have been demonstrated in quantum dots [4-6]. The
phase coherence time (Tau2) and the single qubit figure of merit (QM) of
superconducting and electron-spin qubits are similar -- Tau2 ~ microseconds and
QM ~10-1000 below 100mK -- and it should be possible to scale-up these systems,
which is essential for the development of any useful quantum computer.
Bottom-up approaches based on dilute ensembles of spins have achieved much
larger values of tau2 (up to tens of ms) [7, 8], but these systems cannot be
scaled up, although some proposals for qubits based on 2D nanostructures should
be scalable [9-11]. Here we report that a new family of spin qubits based on
rare-earth ions demonstrates values of Tau2 (~ 50microseconds) and QM (~1400)
at 2.5 K, which suggests that rare-earth qubits may, in principle, be suitable
for scalable quantum information processing at 4He temperatures
Semiconductor Spintronics
Spintronics refers commonly to phenomena in which the spin of electrons in a
solid state environment plays the determining role. In a more narrow sense
spintronics is an emerging research field of electronics: spintronics devices
are based on a spin control of electronics, or on an electrical and optical
control of spin or magnetism. This review presents selected themes of
semiconductor spintronics, introducing important concepts in spin transport,
spin injection, Silsbee-Johnson spin-charge coupling, and spindependent
tunneling, as well as spin relaxation and spin dynamics. The most fundamental
spin-dependent nteraction in nonmagnetic semiconductors is spin-orbit coupling.
Depending on the crystal symmetries of the material, as well as on the
structural properties of semiconductor based heterostructures, the spin-orbit
coupling takes on different functional forms, giving a nice playground of
effective spin-orbit Hamiltonians. The effective Hamiltonians for the most
relevant classes of materials and heterostructures are derived here from
realistic electronic band structure descriptions. Most semiconductor device
systems are still theoretical concepts, waiting for experimental
demonstrations. A review of selected proposed, and a few demonstrated devices
is presented, with detailed description of two important classes: magnetic
resonant tunnel structures and bipolar magnetic diodes and transistors. In most
cases the presentation is of tutorial style, introducing the essential
theoretical formalism at an accessible level, with case-study-like
illustrations of actual experimental results, as well as with brief reviews of
relevant recent achievements in the field.Comment: tutorial review; 342 pages, 132 figure