Published papers

© 2019, The Author(s). 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 T2Rabi=18.6 μs and T2*=1.4 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.

© 2019 authors. Published by the American Physical Society. Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the »https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/» Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI. Silicon quantum dots are considered an excellent platform for spin qubits, partly due to their weak spin-orbit interaction. However, the sharp interfaces in the heterostructures induce a small but significant spin-orbit interaction that degrades the performance of the qubits or, when understood and controlled, could be used as a powerful resource. To understand how to control this interaction, we build a detailed profile of the spin-orbit interaction of a silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor double quantum-dot system. We probe the derivative of the Stark shift, g-factor and g-factor difference for two single-electron quantum-dot qubits as a function of external magnetic field and find that they are dominated by spin-orbit interactions originating from the vector potential, consistent with recent theoretical predictions. Conversely, by populating the double dot with two electrons, we probe the mixing of singlet and spin-polarized triplet states during electron tunneling, which we conclude is dominated by momentum-term spin-orbit interactions that vary from 1.85 MHz up to 27.5 MHz depending on the magnetic field orientation. Finally, we exploit the tunability of the derivative of the Stark shift of one of the dots to reduce its sensitivity to electric noise and observe an 80% increase in T2∗. We conclude that the tuning of the spin-orbit interaction will be crucial for scalable quantum computing in silicon and that the optimal setting will depend on the exact mode of qubit operations used.

© 2018, The Author(s). Detecting and controlling nuclear spin nano-ensembles is crucial for the further development of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and for the emerging solid state quantum technology. Here we present the fabrication of a ≈1 nanometre thick diamond layer consisting of 13C nuclear spins doped with nitrogen-vacancy centres (NV) embedded in a spin-free 12C crystal matrix. A single NV in the vicinity of the layer is used for polarization of the 13C spins and the readout of their magnetization. We demonstrate a method for coherent control of few tens of nuclear spins by using radio frequency pulses, and show the basic coherent control experiments, Rabi oscillations and Ramsey spectroscopy, though any NMR pulse sequence can be implemented. The results shown here present an important step towards the realization of a nuclear spin based quantum simulator.

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. In this chapter, we discuss defects in silicon, primarily focusing on phosphorus donors, from the viewpoint of quantum information processing. We start with a historical perspective on our understanding of the limits to information processing. In doing so, we illuminate why we are so excited about the recent experimental challenges to realize silicon-based quantum computers. After reviewing the spin physics of donors in silicon, we discuss the coherence properties of donor electron and nuclear spins, and evaluate their feasibilities as carriers of quantum information, quantum bits. Recent developments in coherent control of single donor spins in silicon nanoelectronic devices are then outlined.

© 2019 The Author(s) We image the stray magnetic field of commercial chemically functionalized ferromagnetic cobalt nanoparticles using optically detected magnetic resonance of a near-surface ensemble of nitrogen vacancy centers in diamond.

© 2018 IOP Publishing Ltd. Fabrication of a 2D square lattice array of intentionally tapered micro-/nano-silicon pillars by metal-assisted chemical etching (MACE) of silicon wafers is reported. The pillars are square rod shaped with the cross-sections in the range 0.2, 0.2-0.9, 0.9 μm2 and heights 3-7 μm. The spacing between pillars in the 2D square lattice was controlled between 0.5 and 3.0 μm. While the pillars after MACE had the high aspect ratio ∼1:5, subsequent anisotropic wet etching in potassium hydroxide solution led to 80°-89.5° tapers with smooth sidewalls. The resulting taper angle showed the relation with geometry of pillar structures; the spacing 0.5-3.0 μm led to the tapering angle 89.5°-80° for 3 and 5 μm tall pillars but 7 μm tall pillars showed no dependency between the tapering angle and the inter-pillar spacing. Such an array of silicon tapered-rods with smooth sidewalls is expected to be applicable as a mold in nanoimprinting applications.

© 2018, The Author(s). Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is a powerful method for analyzing the chemical composition and molecular structure of materials. At the nanometer scale, NMR has the prospect of mapping the atomic-scale structure of individual molecules, provided a method that can sensitively detect single nuclei and measure inter-atomic distances. Here, we report on precise localization spectroscopy experiments of individual 13C nuclear spins near the central electronic sensor spin of a nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in a diamond chip. By detecting the nuclear free precession signals in rapidly switchable external magnetic fields, we retrieve the three-dimensional spatial coordinates of the nuclear spins with sub-Angstrom resolution and for distances beyond 10 Å. We further show that the Fermi contact contribution can be constrained by measuring the nuclear g-factor enhancement. The presented method will be useful for mapping atomic positions in single molecules, an ambitious yet important goal of nanoscale nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

© 2017 We report 73Ge-NMR measurement on the ferromagnetic superconductor UGe2 at ambient pressure. The observed NMR spectrum supports that the electric field gradient at three inequivalent Ge sites is correctly deduced by a LDA calculation. The temperature dependences of the nuclear spin lattice relaxation rate 1/T1 for H0⊥a (easy axis) and H0∥a were obtained for the oriented sample. The contrasting behavior in 1/T1 for H0⊥a and H0∥a reveals that the magnetic fluctuation of UGe2 is highly anisotropic.

© 2018 American Physical Society. We report on a nanoscale quantum sensing protocol which tracks a free precession of a single nuclear spin and is capable of estimating an azimuthal angle - a parameter which standard multipulse protocols cannot determine - of the target nucleus. Our protocol combines pulsed dynamic nuclear polarization, a phase-controlled radio-frequency pulse, and a multipulse ac sensing sequence with a modified readout pulse. Using a single nitrogen-vacancy center as a solid-state quantum sensor, we experimentally demonstrate this protocol on a single C13 nuclear spin in diamond and uniquely determine the lattice site of the target nucleus. Our result paves the way for magnetic resonance imaging at the single-molecular level.

© 2018 Author(s). Electron spin resonance (ESR) spectra of surface and interface recombination centers recently observed on (001) silicon wafers, labeled Pm and KU1, were studied using spin dependent microwave photoconductivity. Both ESR spectra, having the orthorhombic symmetry and spins S = 1/2 and S = 1 for Pm and KU1, respectively, were observed in the commercially available surface oxidized (001)-Si wafers. Systematic studies on annealing and oxidation conditions for the Pm and KU1 formation conclude that both ESR spectra arise from the same center that contains the interaction between the two nearest Si dangling bonds on the (001) Si surface.

© 2018 Author(s). A previously unreported electron spin resonance (ESR) spectrum was found in γ-ray irradiated silicon by the detection of the change in microwave photoconductivity arising from spin-dependent recombination (SDR). In the specially prepared silicon crystals doped by 13C isotope, a well resolved hyperfine structure of SDR-ESR lines due to the interaction between electrons and two equivalent carbon atoms having nuclear spin I = 1/2 was observed. The Si-KU4 spectrum is described by spin Hamiltonian for spin S = 1 and of g and D tensors of orthorhombic symmetry with principal values g1 = 2.008, g2 = 2.002, and g3 =2.007; and D1 = ± 103 MHz, D2 = 170 MHz, and D3 = ± 67 MHz where axes 1, 2, and 3 are parallel to the [11-0], [110], and [001] crystal axes, respectively. The hyperfine splitting arising from 13C nuclei is about 0.35 mT. A possible microstructure of the detect leading to the Si-KU4 spectrum is discussed.

© 2017 The Author(s). The isolation of qubits from noise sources, such as surrounding nuclear spins and spin-electric susceptibility 1-4, has enabled extensions of quantum coherence times in recent pivotal advances towards the concrete implementation of spin-based quantum computation. In fact, the possibility of achieving enhanced quantum coherence has been substantially doubted for nanostructures due to the characteristic high degree of background charge fluctuations 5-7 . Still, a sizeable spin-electric coupling will be needed in realistic multiple-qubit systems to address single-spin and spin-spin manipulations 8-10. Here, we realize a single-electron spin qubit with an isotopically enriched phase coherence time (20 μs) 11,12 and fast electrical control speed (up to 30 MHz) mediated by extrinsic spin-electric coupling. Using rapid spin rotations, we reveal that the free-evolution dephasing is caused by charge noise - rather than conventional magnetic noise - as highlighted by a 1/f spectrum extended over seven decades of frequency. The qubit exhibits superior performance with single-qubit gate fidelities exceeding 99.9% on average, offering a promising route to large-scale spin-qubit systems with fault-tolerant controllability.

© 2018 The Physical Society of Japan. We report a 73Ge nuclear quadrupole resonance reinvestigation of the ferromagnetic (FM) superconductor UGe2 at ambient pressure. Careful measurement and analysis of the paramagnetic (PM) spectrum taking into account the calculated electric field gradient (EFG) resulted in modification of the previously reported site assignments for three inequivalent Ge sites. The crossover anomaly at Tx in the FM state is not clearly seen in the temperature dependence of the static internal field at the Ge site, whereas it appears in the nuclear spin–lattice relaxation rate, 1/T1. A remarkable site dependence of 1/T1 is observed among the inequivalent Ge sites, where the directions of the principal axes of the EFG are different. This result reveals that the magnetic fluctuation of UGe2 is highly anisotropic, which is consistent with the presence of Ising magnetic fluctuations in the PM state.