Coherent spin qubit shuttling through germanium quantum dots
Floor van Riggelen-Doelman, Chien-An Wang, Sander L. de Snoo, William I. L. Lawrie, Nico W. Hendrickx, Maximilian Rimbach-Russ, Amir Sammak, Giordano Scappucci,… 展开作者
Floor van Riggelen-Doelman, Chien-An Wang, Sander L. de Snoo, William I. L. Lawrie, Nico W. Hendrickx, Maximilian Rimbach-Russ, Amir Sammak, Giordano Scappucci, Corentin Déprez, Menno Veldhorst
Quantum links can interconnect qubit registers and are therefore essential in networked quantum computing. Semiconductor quantum dot qubits have seen significant progress in the high-fidelity operation of small qubit registers but establishing a compelling quantum link remains a challenge. Here, we show that a spin qubit can be shuttled through multiple quantum dots while preserving its quantum information. Remarkably, we achieve these results using hole spin qubits in germanium, despite the presence of strong spin-orbit interaction. We accomplish the shuttling of spin basis states over effective lengths beyond 300 $μ$m and demonstrate the coherent shuttling of superposition states over effective lengths corresponding to 9 $μ$m, which we can extend to 49 $μ$m by incorporating dynamical decoupling. These findings indicate qubit shuttling as an effective approach to route qubits within registers and to establish quantum links between registers.
Significant advances have been made towards fault-tolerant operation of silicon spin qubits, with single qubit fidelities exceeding 99.9%, several demonstrations of two-qubit gates based on exchange coupling, and the achievement of coherent single spin-photon coupling. Coupling arbitrary pairs of spatially separated qubits in a quantum register poses a significant challenge as most qubit systems are constrained to two dimensions (2D) with nearest neighbor connectivity. For spins in silicon, new methods for quantum state transfer should be developed to achieve connectivity beyond nearest-neighb…
Shuttling of single electrons in gate-defined silicon quantum dots is numerically simulated. A minimal gate geometry without explicit tunnel barrier gates is introduced, and used to define a chain of accumulation mode quantum dots, each controlled by a single gate voltage. One-dimensional potentials are derived from a three-dimensional electrostatic model, and used to construct an effective Hamiltonian for efficient simulation. Control pulse sequences are designed by maintaining a fixed adiabaticity, so that different shuttling conditions can be systematically compared. We first use these tool…
Control of entanglement between qubits at distant quantum processors using a two-qubit gate is an essential function of a scalable, modular implementation of quantum computation. Among the many qubit platforms, spin qubits in silicon quantum dots are promising for large-scale integration along with their nanofabrication capability. However, linking distant silicon quantum processors is challenging as two-qubit gates in spin qubits typically utilize short-range exchange coupling, which is only effective between nearest-neighbor quantum dots. Here we demonstrate a two-qubit gate between spin qub…
Silicon-germanium heterostructures have successfully hosted quantum dot qubits, but the intrinsic near-degeneracy of the two lowest valley states poses an obstacle to high fidelity quantum computing. We present a modification to the Si/SiGe heterostructure by the inclusion of a spike in germanium concentration within the quantum well in order to increase the valley splitting. The heterostructure is grown by chemical vapor deposition and magnetospectroscopy is performed on gate-defined quantum dots to measure the excited state spectrum. We demonstrate a large and widely tunable valley splitting…
Small spin-qubit registers defined by single electrons confined in Si/SiGe quantum dots operate successfully and connecting these would permit scalable quantum computation. Shuttling the qubit carrying electrons between registers is a natural choice for high-fidelity coherent links provided the overhead of control signals stays moderate. Our proof-of-principle demonstrates shuttling of a single electron by a propagating wave-potential in an electrostatically defined 420 nm long Si/SiGe quantum-channel. This conveyor-mode shuttling approach requires independent from its length only four sinusoi…
In semiconductor spin qubits which typically interact through short-range exchange coupling, shuttling of spin is a practical way to generate quantum operations between distant qubits. Although the exchange is often tunable through voltages applied to gate electrodes, its minimal value can be significantly large, which hinders the applicability of existing shuttling protocols to such devices, requiring a different approach. In this work, we extend our previous results for double- and triple-dot systems, and describe a method for implementing spin shuttling in long chains of quantum dots in a n…
We study the shuttling instability in an array of three quantum dots the central one of which is movable. We extend the results by Armour and MacKinnon on this problem to a broader parameter regime. The results obtained by an efficient numerical method are interpreted directly using the Wigner distributions. We emphasize that the instability should be viewed as a crossover phenomenon rather than a clear-cut transition.
We study the optical properties of hydrogen passivated silicon, germanium and mixed Ge/Si core/shell quantum dots (QDs) using high accuracy Density Functional Theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT (TDFT). We employ the hybrid DFT functional of Becke, Lee, Yang and Parr (B3LYP) in combination with good quality basis sets. As we have shown in our previous work, this combination is an accurate and computationally efficient way for such calculations. The mixed quantum dots, as would be expected, are more versatile and offer more possibilities for band gap engineering, with gap values (electronic and…
Large spin shuttling oscillations enabling high-fidelity single qubit gates
Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH（于利希研究中心）；University of Cologne（科隆大学）；RWTH Aachen University（亚琛工业大学）；Università di Bologna（博洛尼亚大学）；ARQUE Systems GmbH（ARQUE系统有限公司）
Superconductors and semiconductors are crucial platforms in the field of quantum computing. They can be combined to hybrids, bringing together physical properties that enable the discovery of new emergent phenomena and provide novel strategies for quantum control. The involved semiconductor materials, however, suffer from disorder, hyperfine interactions or lack of planar technology. Here we realise an approach that overcomes these issues altogether and integrate gate-defined quantum dots and superconductivity into a material system with strong spin-orbit coupling. In our germanium heterostruc…
The origin of visible light emission from nanostructures has been a subject of an intense debate since the early work by L. E. Brus and A. P. Alivisatos in 1980s. The intense research that followed has paved the way towards applications of quantum structures in optoelectronics and in bio-sensing and contributed to the development of nanotechnology. The major new challenge is in accessing the structural, electronic and optical properties of quantum dots on a nanoparticle scale in order to understand complex relationships between structural motifs and their contributions to the relevant physical…
The prospect of building quantum circuits using advanced semiconductor manufacturing positions quantum dots as an attractive platform for quantum information processing. Extensive studies on various materials have led to demonstrations of two-qubit logic in gallium arsenide, silicon, and germanium. However, interconnecting larger numbers of qubits in semiconductor devices has remained an outstanding challenge. Here, we demonstrate a four-qubit quantum processor based on hole spins in germanium quantum dots. Furthermore, we define the quantum dots in a two-by-two array and obtain controllable c…
An anomalous energy splitting of spin triplet states at zero magnetic field has recently been measured in germanium quantum dots. This zero-field splitting could crucially alter the coupling between tunnel-coupled quantum dots, the basic building blocks of state-of-the-art spin-based quantum processors, with profound implications for semiconducting quantum computers. We develop an analytical model linking the zero-field splitting to spin-orbit interactions that are cubic in momentum. Such interactions naturally emerge in hole nanostructures, where they can also be tuned by external electric fi…
High-fidelity geometric quantum gates exceeding 99.9% in germanium quantum dots
University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学）；CAS Center for Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学技术大学量子信息科学与技术卓越中心）；Institute of Microelectronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院微电子研究所）；Beijing Superstring Academy of Memory Technology（北京超弦存储技术研究院）；School of Physical Science and Technology, Guangxi University（广西大学物理科学与技术学院）；QuTech and Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology（代尔夫特理工大学奎克与卡弗里纳米科学研究所）
In the worldwide endeavor for disruptive quantum technologies, germanium is emerging as a versatile material to realize devices capable of encoding, processing, or transmitting quantum information. These devices leverage special properties of the germanium valence-band states, commonly known as holes, such as their inherently strong spin-orbit coupling and the ability to host superconducting pairing correlations. In this Review, we initially introduce the physics of holes in low-dimensional germanium structures with key insights from a theoretical perspective. We then examine the material scie…
We show that it is possible to employ reservoir engineering to turn two distant and relatively bad cavities into one good cavity with a tunable spontaneous decay rate. As a result, quantum computing schemes, that would otherwise require the shuttling of atomic qubits in and out of an optical resonator, can now be applied to distant quantum dots. To illustrate this we transform a recent proposal to entangle two qubits via the observation of macroscopic fluorescence signals [Metz et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 040503 (2006)] to the electron-spin states of two semiconductor quantum dots. Our scheme…
Flopping mode qubits in double quantum dots (DQDs) allow for coherent spin-photon hybridization and fast qubit gates when coupled to either an alternating external or a quantized cavity electric field. To achieve this, however, electronic systems rely on synthetic spin-orbit interaction (SOI) by means of a magnetic field gradient as a coupling mechanism. Here we theoretically show that this challenging experimental setup can be avoided in heavy-hole (HH) systems in germanium (Ge) by utilizing the sizeable cubic Rashba SOI. We argue that the resulting natural flopping mode qubit possesses highl…
We theoretically investigate the properties of holes in a Si$_{x}$Ge$_{1-x}$/Ge/ Si$_{x}$Ge$_{1-x}$ quantum well in a perpendicular magnetic field that make them advantageous as qubits, including a large ($>$100~meV) intrinsic splitting between the light and heavy hole bands, a very light ($\sim$0.05$\, m_0$) in-plane effective mass, consistent with higher mobilities and tunnel rates, and larger dot sizes that could ameliorate constraints on device fabrication. Compared to electrons in quantum dots, hole qubits do not suffer from the presence of nearby quantum levels (e.g., valley states) that…
Hole-spin qubits in germanium beyond the single-particle regime
CNR-Istituto Nanoscienze（意大利国家研究委员会纳米科学研究所）；Università di Milano（米兰大学）；Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia（摩德纳和雷焦艾米利亚大学）；University of Basel（巴塞尔大学）；King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals（法赫德国王石油与矿产大学）；Delft University of Technology（代尔夫特理工大学）
The promise of quantum computation with quantum dots has stimulated widespread research. Still, a platform that can combine excellent control with fast and high-fidelity operation is absent. Here, we show single and two-qubit operations based on holes in germanium. A high degree of control over the tunnel coupling and detuning is obtained by exploiting quantum wells with very low disorder and by working in a virtual gate space. Spin-orbit coupling obviates the need for microscopic elements and enables rapid qubit control with Rabi frequencies exceeding 100 MHz and a single-qubit fidelity of 99…
Electrons and holes confined in quantum dots define an excellent building block for quantum emergence, simulation, and computation. In order for quantum electronics to become practical, large numbers of quantum dots will be required, necessitating the fabrication of scaled structures such as linear and 2D arrays. Group IV semiconductors contain stable isotopes with zero nuclear spin and can thereby serve as excellent host for spins with long quantum coherence. Here we demonstrate group IV quantum dot arrays in silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor (SiMOS), strained silicon (Si/SiGe) and strained g…
Univ. Grenoble Alpes（格勒诺布尔阿尔卑斯大学）；CEA（法国原子能和替代能源委员会）；IRIG-MEM-L_Sim；Quantum Advanced Research Center (QuARC) - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)（量子先进研究中心（QuARC）- 西班牙高等科学研究理事会（CSIC））；Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM) - Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)（马德里材料科学研究所（ICMM）- 西班牙高等科学研究理事会（CSIC））
Quantum dots fabricated using techniques and materials that are compatible with semiconductor manufacturing are promising for quantum information processing. While great progress has been made toward high-fidelity control of quantum dots positioned in a linear arrangement, scalability along two dimensions is a key step toward practical quantum information processing. Here we demonstrate a two-dimensional quantum dot array where each quantum dot is tuned to single-charge occupancy, verified by simultaneous measuring with two integrated radio frequency charge sensors. We achieve this by using pl…
We engineer planar Ge/SiGe heterostructures for low disorder and quiet hole quantum dot operation by positioning the strained Ge channel 55~nm below the semiconductor/dielectric interface. In heterostructure field effect transistors, we measure a percolation density for two-dimensional hole transport of $2.1\times10^{10}~\text{cm}^{-2}$, indicative of a very low disorder potential landscape experienced by holes in the buried Ge channel. These Ge heterostructures support quiet operation of hole quantum dots and we measure charge noise levels that are below the detection limit $\sqrt{S_\text{E}}…
Long-distance transfer of quantum information in architectures based on quantum dot spin qubits will be necessary for their scalability. One way of achieving it is to simply move the electron between two quantum registers. Precise control over the electron shuttling through a chain of tunnel-coupled quantum dots is possible when interdot energy detunings are changed adiabatically. Deterministic character of shuttling is however endangered by coupling of the transferred electron to thermal reservoirs: sources of fluctuations of electric fields, and lattice vibrations. We theoretically analyse h…
Single-charge pumps are the main candidates for quantum-based standards of the unit ampere because they can generate accurate and quantized electric currents. In order to approach the metrological requirements in terms of both accuracy and speed of operation, in the past decade there has been a focus on semiconductor-based devices. The use of a variety of semiconductor materials enables the universality of charge pump devices to be tested, a highly desirable demonstration for metrology, with GaAs and Si pumps at the forefront of these tests. Here, we show that pumping can be achieved in a yet …
The terahertz spectra of the dynamic conductivity and radiation absorption coefficient in germanium-silicon heterostructures with arrays of Ge hut clusters (quantum dots) have been measured for the first time in the frequency range of 0.3-1.2 THz at room temperature. It has been found that the effective dynamic conductivity and effective radiation absorption coefficient in the heterostructure due to the presence of germanium quantum dots in it are much larger than the respective quantities of both the bulk Ge single crystal and Ge/Si(001) without arrays of quantum dots. The possible microscopi…
Elastic strain distributions in SiGe heterostructures with quantum dots have been simulated with the use of the finite element method. The effect of a non-uniform germanium distribution in the nanoislands on the spatial dependence and the magnitude of elastic fields was studied. It is shown that quantum dots with a uniform component content are more strained in comparison with non-uniform nanoislands
