Optical addressing of an individual erbium ion in silicon

The detection of electron spins associated with single defects in solids is a critical operation for a range of quantum information and measurement applications under development. So far, it has been accomplished for only two defect centres in crystalline solids: phosphorus dopants in silicon, for which electrical read-out based on a single-electron transistor is used, and nitrogen–vacancy centres in diamond, for which optical read-out is used. A spin read-out fidelity of about 90 per cent has been demonstrated with both electrical read-out and optical read-out; however, the thermal limitations of the former and the poor photon collection efficiency of the latter make it difficult to achieve the higher fidelities required for quantum information applications. Here we demonstrate a hybrid approach in which optical excitation is used to change the charge state (conditional on its spin state) of an erbium defect centre in a silicon-based single-electron transistor, and this change is then detected electrically. The high spectral resolution of the optical frequency-addressing step overcomes the thermal broadening limitation of the previous electrical read-out scheme, and the charge-sensing step avoids the difficulties of efficient photon collection. This approach could lead to new architectures for quantum information processing devices and could drastically increase the range of defect centres that can be exploited. Furthermore, the efficient electrical detection of the optical excitation of single sites in silicon represents a significant step towards developing interconnects between optical-based quantum computing and silicon technologies.

[1]  Matthias Steiner,et al.  Single-Shot Readout of a Single Nuclear Spin , 2010, Science.

[2]  L. Hollenberg,et al.  Single-shot readout of an electron spin in silicon , 2010, Nature.

[3]  N. Collaert,et al.  Interface Trap Density Metrology of State-of-the-Art Undoped Si n-FinFETs , 2010, IEEE Electron Device Letters.

[4]  R. Würz,et al.  An electron paramagnetic resonance and photoelectron spectroscopy study on the native oxidation of CuGaSe2 , 2005 .

[5]  B. Hensen,et al.  High-fidelity projective read-out of a solid-state spin quantum register , 2011, Nature.

[6]  L. Vandersypen,et al.  Spins in few-electron quantum dots , 2006, cond-mat/0610433.

[7]  P. Monnier,et al.  Hyperfine interaction of Er3+ ions in Y2SiO5 : An electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy study , 2006 .

[8]  J. Meijer,et al.  Optical detection of a single rare-earth ion in a crystal , 2012, Nature Communications.

[9]  Richard M. Brown,et al.  Entanglement in a solid-state spin ensemble , 2010, Nature.

[10]  A. Oiwa,et al.  Single-shot detection of electrons generated by individual photons in a tunable lateral quantum dot. , 2011, Physical review letters.

[11]  Insoo Woo,et al.  Gate-induced quantum-confinement transition of a single dopant atom in a silicon FinFET , 2008 .

[12]  Yiwen Chu,et al.  Quantum Entanglement Between an Optical Photon and a Solid-State Spin Qubit , 2011 .

[13]  J. S. Hodges,et al.  Repetitive Readout of a Single Electronic Spin via Quantum Logic with Nuclear Spin Ancillae , 2009, Science.

[14]  J. Meijer,et al.  Room-temperature coherent coupling of single spins in diamond , 2006, quant-ph/0605038.

[15]  Jurgen Michel,et al.  Impurity enhancement of the 1.54‐μm Er3+ luminescence in silicon , 1991 .

[16]  J. Ziegler,et al.  SRIM – The stopping and range of ions in matter (2010) , 2010 .

[17]  N. Collaert,et al.  Subthreshold channels at the edges of nanoscale triple-gate silicon transistors , 2006, cond-mat/0603430.

[18]  Anthony J. Kenyon,et al.  Erbium in silicon , 2005 .

[19]  Mark A. Eriksson,et al.  Embracing the quantum limit in silicon computing , 2011, Nature.

[20]  M. Y. Simmons,et al.  A single atom transistor , 2012, 2012 IEEE Silicon Nanoelectronics Workshop (SNW).

[21]  Yongmin Li,et al.  Efficient quantum memory for light , 2010, Nature.

[22]  K. Smith,et al.  The hyperfine structure of 167Er and magnetic moments of 143, 145Nd and 167Er by atomic beam triple magnetic resonance , 1965 .

[23]  K. Sanaka,et al.  Optical pumping of a single electron spin bound to a fluorine donor in a ZnSe nanostructure. , 2013, Nano letters.

[24]  M. L. W. Thewalt,et al.  Quantum Information Storage for over 180 s Using Donor Spins in a 28Si “Semiconductor Vacuum” , 2012, Science.

[25]  D. L. McAuslan,et al.  Reducing decoherence in optical and spin transitions in rare-earth-metal-ion-doped materials , 2012, 1201.4610.

[26]  F. Bretenaker,et al.  Identification of Λ -like systems in Er 3 + : Y 2 SiO 5 and observation of electromagnetically induced transparency , 2010 .

[27]  K. E. Morgan,et al.  Electron paramagnetic resonance of Er3+ ions in aluminum nitride , 2009 .

[28]  Andrew S. Dzurak,et al.  A single-atom electron spin qubit in silicon , 2012, Nature.

[29]  Jacob M. Taylor,et al.  Nanoscale magnetic sensing with an individual electronic spin in diamond , 2008, Nature.

[30]  Rare-earth solid-state qubits. , 2007, Nature nanotechnology.

[31]  Rufus L. Cone,et al.  Recent progress in developing new rare earth materials for hole burning and coherent transient applications , 2002 .

[32]  Michelle Y. Simmons,et al.  Silicon quantum electronics , 2012, 1206.5202.

[33]  Salvatore Coffa,et al.  Excitation and nonradiative deexcitation processes of Er 3 + in crystalline Si , 1998 .