No Arabic abstract
Ensembles of bismuth donor spins in silicon are promising storage elements for microwave quantum memories due to their long coherence times which exceed seconds. Operating an efficient quantum memory requires achieving critical coupling between the spin ensemble and a suitable high-quality factor resonator -- this in turn requires a thorough understanding of the lineshapes for the relevant spin resonance transitions, particularly considering the influence of the resonator itself on line broadening. Here, we present pulsed electron spin resonance measurements of ensembles of bismuth donors in natural silicon, above which niobium superconducting resonators have been patterned. By studying spin transitions across a range of frequencies and fields we identify distinct line broadening mechanisms, and in particular those which can be suppressed by operating at magnetic-field-insensitive `clock transitions. Given the donor concentrations and resonator used here, we measure a cooperativity $Csim 0.2$ and based on our findings we discuss a route to achieve unit cooperativity, as required for a quantum memory.
Substitutional donor atoms in silicon are promising qubits for quantum computation with extremely long relaxation and dephasing times demonstrated. One of the critical challenges of scaling these systems is determining inter-donor distances to achieve controllable wavefunction overlap while at the same time performing high fidelity spin readout on each qubit. Here we achieve such a device by means of scanning tunnelling microscopy lithography. We measure anti-correlated spin states between two donor-based spin qubits in silicon separated by 16${pm}1$ nm. By utilizing an asymmetric system with two phosphorus donors at one qubit site and one on the other (2P-1P), we demonstrate that the exchange interaction can be turned on and off via electrical control of two in-plane phosphorus doped detuning gates. We determine the tunnel coupling between the 2P-1P system to be 200 MHz and provide a roadmap for the observation of two-electron coherent exchange oscillations.
Shifts from the expected nuclear magnetic resonance frequencies of antimony and bismuth donors in silicon of greater than a megahertz are observed in electrically detected magnetic resonance spectra. Defects created by ion implantation of the donors are discussed as the source of effective electric field gradients generating these shifts via quadrupole interaction with the nuclear spins. The experimental results are modeled quantitatively by molecular orbital theory for a coupled pair consisting of a donor and a spin-dependent recombination readout center.
We present a complete theoretical treatment of Stark effects in doped silicon, whose predictions are supported by experimental measurements. A multi-valley effective mass theory, dealing non-perturbatively with valley-orbit interactions induced by a donor-dependent central cell potential, allows us to obtain a very reliable picture of the donor wave function within a relatively simple framework. Variational optimization of the 1s donor binding energies calculated with a new trial wave function, in a pseudopotential with two fitting parameters, allows an accurate match of the experimentally determined donor energy levels, while the correct limiting behavior for the electronic density, both close to and far from each impurity nucleus, is captured by fitting the measured contact hyperfine coupling between the donor nuclear and electron spin. We go on to include an external uniform electric field in order to model Stark physics: With no extra ad hoc parameters, variational minimization of the complete donor ground energy allows a quantitative description of the field-induced reduction of electronic density at each impurity nucleus. Detailed comparisons with experimental values for the shifts of the contact hyperfine coupling reveal very close agreement for all the donors measured (P, As, Sb and Bi). Finally, we estimate field ionization thresholds for the donor ground states, thus setting upper limits to the gate manipulation times for single qubit operations in Kane-like architectures: the Si:Bi system is shown to allow for A gates as fast as around 10 MHz.
Donor spin in silicon have achieved record values of coherence times and single-qubit gate fidelities. The next stage of development involves demonstrating high-fidelity two-qubit logic gates, where the most natural coupling is the exchange interaction. To aid the efficient design of scalable donor-based quantum processors, we model the two-electron wave function using a full configuration interaction method within a multi-valley effective mass theory. We exploit the high computational efficiency of our code to investigate the exchange interaction, valley population, and electron densities for two phosphorus donors in a wide range of lattice positions, orientations, and as a function of applied electric fields. The outcomes are visualized with interactive images where donor positions can be swept while watching the valley and orbital components evolve accordingly. Our results provide a physically intuitive and quantitatively accurate understanding of the placement and tuning criteria necessary to achieve high-fidelity two-qubit gates with donors in silicon.
In spin-based quantum information processing devices, the presence of control and detection circuitry can change the local environment of a spin by introducing strain and electric fields, altering its resonant frequencies. These resonance shifts can be large compared to intrinsic spin line-widths and it is therefore important to study, understand and model such effects in order to better predict device performance. Here we investigate a sample of bismuth donor spins implanted in a silicon chip, on top of which a superconducting aluminium micro-resonator has been fabricated. The on-chip resonator provides two functions: first, it produces local strain in the silicon due to the larger thermal contraction of the aluminium, and second, it enables sensitive electron spin resonance spectroscopy of donors close to the surface that experience this strain. Through finite-element strain simulations we are able to reconstruct key features of our experiments, including the electron spin resonance spectra. Our results are consistent with a recently discovered mechanism for producing shifts of the hyperfine interaction for donors in silicon, which is linear with the hydrostatic component of an applied strain.