arXiv subjects

Andrea Morello

Publications and source records attributed to Andrea Morello.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Dispersive Readout of a SiMOS Quantum Dot Using a Flip-Chip Integrated Microwave Resonator

Heterogeneous integration provides a promising route to combine semiconductor quantum dot devices and superconducting microwave circuits, while allowing each component to be fabricated using an optimized process flow. Here, we demonstrate a flip-chip integrated platform for dispersive readout of silicon metal-oxide semiconductor (SiMOS) quantum dot devices. A SiMOS double quantum dot chip is bonded to a superconducting aluminum resonator chip using indium bump interconnects to enable microwave coupling to the quantum dot gate. We show that the developed flip-chip process is compatible with cryogenic operation of both the SiMOS device and the superconducting resonator, and demonstrate resonator-based detection of charge transitions in the quantum dot system. The readout signal-to-noise ratio follows a dependence of $\sqrt{t}$ with the integration time, reaching SNR = 1 at an integration time of approximately 0.3 ms. These results establish flip-chip bonding as a viable integration approach for SiMOS quantum dot devices operating at both dc and microwave frequencies, with potential applications for resonator-based techniques such as spin-photon coupling.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2026

Qudit Designs and Where to Find Them

Unitary t-designs are some of the most versatile tools in quantum information theory. Their applications range from randomized benchmarking and shadow tomography, to more fundamental ones such as emulating quantum chaos and establishing exponential separations between classical and quantum query complexity. While unitary designs originating from a group structure, such as the Clifford group, have proven to be incredibly useful for qubit systems, unfortunately, this is no longer true for qudits. In fact, the classification of finite-group representations rules out the existence of unitary 2-designs for arbitrary qudit dimensions. This severely limits the applicability of standard quantum information primitives when it comes to qudit systems. We overcome these limitations with a three-fold contribution. First, we introduce a general technique to construct families of weighted state t-designs in arbitrary qudit dimensions. These weighted state-designs generalize classical shadow tomography protocol from qubits to qudits. Second, we introduce a Clifford character RB that allows us to benchmark the qudit Clifford group in any dimension, including non-prime-power dimensions. And third, we establish bounds on the quantum circuit complexity of generating approximate unitary-designs from native gates in existing quantum hardware such as high-spin and cavity-QED qudits. Our work further highlights the analogy between spin and optical coherent states by proving that spin-GKP codewords form a state 2-design while spin coherent states do not; in direct analogy with the optical case. This work is structured as a pedagogical and self-contained introduction to unitary designs and their applications to qudit systems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

Gate Stack Engineering for High-Mobility and Low-Noise SiMOS Quantum Devices

We systematically investigate the interplay between materials engineering, quantum transport, and low-frequency charge noise in silicon metal--oxide--semiconductor (SiMOS) quantum devices. By combining Hall-bar transport measurements with charge-noise spectroscopy of gate-defined quantum dots, we identify correlations between gate-stack design, carrier mobility, and electrostatic noise, providing an experimental case study of material and process dependencies relevant to low-noise, high-mobility operation. Hall-bar studies reveal that increasing the atomic-layer-deposition temperature of Al$_2$O$_3$ markedly enhances mobility, whereas the choice of oxidant has little impact. Devices incorporating HfO$_2$ exhibit improved carrier mobility, an interesting observation that can plausibly be attributed to defect passivation associated with aluminum diffusion from the gate metal into the HfO$_2$ layer. Charge-noise measurements show a strong correlation between higher mobility and reduced noise, with TiPd-gated devices displaying both degraded transport and elevated charge noise. In contrast, the poly-Si-gated CMOS-foundry device achieves the lowest noise levels. Finally, dual-feedback dot--sensor stability mapping demonstrates enhanced charge stability in devices with the gate stacks studied here, underscoring their promise for scalable, high-fidelity silicon spin-qubit platforms.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2026

Electron readout contrast enhancement in the parallel nuclear regime of an exchange-coupled donor spin qubit system

Recent experiments on donor-based spin qubits in silicon have leveraged the exchange interaction between electrons bound to separate donor nuclei to perform two-qubit operations. A consistently observed yet unexplained phenomenon in such systems is the significant increase in electron readout contrast, measured via Elzerman-style readout to a single-electron transistor (SET) island, when the donor nuclei are initialized in a parallel spin orientation compared to an anti-parallel orientation. In this work, we present a detailed analysis of the exchange-coupled donor system in the parallel nuclear regime and propose a physical mechanism for this effect. We attribute the enhanced readout contrast to an additional electron tunneling event to the SET during a single read period, when the donor nuclei are aligned in a parallel spin configuration. These insights inform strategies for improving electron readout fidelity in these systems and contribute to a more complete understanding of spin-dependent tunnelling processes in donor-based qubit architectures.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Maximizing the nondemolition nature of a quantum measurement via an adaptive readout protocol

Quantum error correction (QEC) requires non-invasive measurements for fault tolerant quantum computing. Deviations from ideal quantum non-demolition (QND) measurements can disturb the encoded information. To address this challenge, we develop a readout protocol for a $D-$dimensional system that, after a single positive outcome, switches to probing only the $D{-}1$ remaining subspace. This adaptive switching strategy minimizes measurement-induced errors by relying on negative-result measurement results that do not perturb the Hamiltonian. We apply the protocol on an 8-dimensional $^{123}{\rm Sb}$ nuclear qudit in silicon, and achieve an increase in the readout fidelity from $(98.93\pm0.07)\%$ to $(99.61\pm0.04)\%$, while reducing threefold the overall readout time. To highlight the broader relevance of measurement-induced errors, we study a 10-dimensional $^{73}{\rm Ge}$ nuclear spin read out through Pauli spin blockade, revealing nuclear spin flips arising from hyperfine and quadrupole interactions. These results unveil the effect of non-ideal QND readout across diverse platforms, and introduce an efficient readout protocol that can be implemented with minimal FPGA logic on existing hardware.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Automatic tuning of a donor in a silicon quantum device using machine learning

Donor spin qubits in silicon offer one- and two-qubit gates with fidelities beyond 99%, coherence times exceeding 30 seconds, and compatibility with industrial manufacturing methods. This motivates the development of large-scale quantum processors using this platform, and the ability to automatically tune and operate such complex devices. In this work, we present the first machine learning algorithm with the ability to automatically locate the charge transitions of an ion-implanted donor in a silicon device, tune single-shot charge readout, and identify the gate voltage parameters where tunnelling rates in and out the donor site are the same. The entire tuning pipeline is completed on the order of minutes. Our results enable both automatic characterisation and tuning of a donor in silicon devices faster than human experts.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Coupling a $^{73}$Ge nuclear spin to an electrostatically defined quantum dot

Single nuclear spins in silicon are a promising resource for quantum technologies due to their long coherence times and excellent control fidelities. Qubits and qudits have been encoded on donor nuclei, with successful demonstrations of Bell states and quantum memories on the spin-1/2 $^{31}$P and cat-qubits on the spin-7/2 $^{123}$Sb nuclei. Isoelectronic nuclear spins coupled to gate-defined quantum dots, such as the naturally occurring $^{29}$Si isotope, possess no additional charge and allow for the coupled electron to be shuttled without destroying the nuclear spin coherence. Here, we demonstrate the coupling and readout of a spin-9/2 $^{73}$Ge nuclear spin to a gate-defined quantum dot in SiMOS. The $^{73}$Ge nucleus was implanted by isotope-selective ion-implantation. We observe the hyperfine interaction (HFI) to the coupled quantum dot electron and are able to tune it from 180 kHz to 350 kHz, through the voltages applied to the lateral gate electrodes. This work lays the foundation for future spin control experiments on the spin-9/2 qudit as well as more advanced experiments such as entanglement distribution between distant nuclear spins or repeated weak measurements.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Scalable quantum current source on commercial CMOS process technology

Many quantum technologies require a precise electrical current standard that can only be achieved with expensive cryogenics, or through the secondary standards, such as resistance or voltage. Silicon-based charge pumps could provide such a standard in an inherently scalable way, through their compatibility with complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) fabrication methods. However, coherent quantized charge transfer has so far been demonstrated only in nanoscale devices that are custom-fabricated in academic cleanrooms or research technology foundries. Here, we show that a CMOS device manufactured with commercial 22-nm process node can be used to define a quantum current standard in the International System of Units (SI). We measure an accuracy of (1.2 +/- 0.1)E-3 A/A at 50 MHz with reference to SI voltage and resistance standards in a pumped helium system. We then propose a practical monolithic CMOS chip that incorporates one million parallel connected charge pumps along with on-chip control electronics. This chip could be operated as a table-top primary standard that can be easily integrated with CMOS electronics, generating quantum currents of up to microampere levels.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2025

Scalable entanglement of nuclear spins mediated by electron exchange

The use of nuclear spins for quantum computation is limited by the difficulty in creating genuine quantum entanglement between distant nuclei. Current demonstrations of nuclear entanglement in semiconductors rely upon coupling the nuclei to a common electron, which is not a scalable strategy. Here we demonstrate a two-qubit Control-Z logic operation between the nuclei of two phosphorus atoms in a silicon device, separated by up to 20 nanometers. Each atoms binds separate electrons, whose exchange interaction mediates the nuclear two-qubit gate. We prepare and measure a nuclear Bell state with a fidelity of 76 +/- 5 $\%$ and a concurrence of 0.67 +/- 0.05. With this method, future progress in scaling up semiconductor spin qubits can be extended to the development of nuclear-spin based quantum computers.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Near-deterministic photon entanglement from a spin qudit in silicon using third quantisation

Unlike other quantum hardware, photonic quantum architectures can produce millions of qubits from a single device. However, controlling photonic qubits remains challenging, even at small scales, due to their weak interactions, making non-deterministic gates in linear optics unavoidable. Nevertheless, a single photon can readily spread over multiple modes and create entanglement within the multiple modes deterministically. Rudolph's concept of third quantization leverages this feature by evolving multiple single-photons into multiple modes, distributing them uniformly and randomly to different parties, and creating multipartite entanglement without interactions between photons or non-deterministic gates. This method requires only classical communication and deterministic entanglement within multi-mode single-photon states and enables universal quantum computing. The multipartite entanglement generated within the third quantization framework is nearly deterministic, where ``deterministic'' is achieved in the asymptotic limit of a large system size. In this work, we propose a near-term experiment using antimony donor in a silicon chip to realize third quantization. Utilizing the eight energy levels of antimony, one can generate two eight-mode single-photon states independently and distribute them to parties. This enables a random multipartite Bell-state experiment, achieving a Bell state with an upper-bound efficiency of 87.5% among 56 random pairs without non-deterministic entangling gates. This approach opens alternative pathways for silicon-based photonic quantum computing.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Roadmap on Atomic-scale Semiconductor Devices

Spin states in semiconductors provide exceptionally stable and noise-resistant environments for qubits, positioning them as optimal candidates for reliable quantum computing technologies. The proposal to use nuclear and electronic spins of donor atoms in silicon, introduced by Kane in 1998, sparked a new research field focused on the precise positioning of individual impurity atoms for quantum devices, utilising scanning tunnelling microscopy and ion implantation. This roadmap article reviews the advancements in the 25 years since Kane's proposal, the current challenges, and the future directions in atomic-scale semiconductor device fabrication and measurement. It covers the quest to create a silicon-based quantum computer and expands to include diverse material systems and fabrication techniques, highlighting the potential for a broad range of semiconductor quantum technological applications. Key developments include phosphorus in silicon devices such as single-atom transistors, arrayed few-donor devices, one- and two-qubit gates, three-dimensional architectures, and the development of a toolbox for future quantum integrated circuits. The roadmap also explores new impurity species like arsenic and antimony for enhanced scalability and higher-dimensional spin systems, new chemistry for dopant precursors and lithographic resists, and the potential for germanium-based devices. Emerging methods, such as photon-based lithography and electron beam manipulation, are discussed for their disruptive potential. This roadmap charts the path toward scalable quantum computing and advanced semiconductor quantum technologies, emphasising the critical intersections of experiment, technological development, and theory.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Certifying the quantumness of a nuclear spin qudit through its uniform precession

Spin precession is a textbook example of dynamics of a quantum system that exactly mimics its classical counterpart. Here we challenge this view by certifying the quantumness of exotic states of a nuclear spin through its uniform precession. The key to this result is measuring the positivity, instead of the expectation value, of the $x$-projection of the precessing spin, and using a spin > 1/2 qudit, that is not restricted to semi-classical spin coherent states. The experiment is performed on a single spin-7/2 $^{123}$Sb nucleus, implanted in a silicon nanoelectronic device, amenable to high-fidelity preparation, control, and projective single-shot readout. Using Schr\"odinger cat states and other bespoke states of the nucleus, we violate the classical bound by 19 standard deviations, proving that no classical probability distribution can explain the statistic of this spin precession, and highlighting our ability to prepare quantum resource states with high fidelity in a single atomic-scale qudit.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Universal transversal gates

A long-standing challenge in quantum error correction is the infeasibility of universal transversal gates, as shown by the Eastin-Knill theorem. We obtain a necessary and sufficient condition for a quantum code to have universal transversal gates and show that the Eastin-Knill no-go result is a special case that does not hold for a general error model. We present a code construction using $n$ $d$-dimensional systems that changes the logical error probability from a lower bound $\Omega (1/n\log d)$ to an upper bound $\mathcal O (1/n d)$ and allows exact correction of both local and correlated errors. Our universality condition determines the existence of a universal gate set for any quantum error-correcting code.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Violating Bell's inequality in gate-defined quantum dots

Superior computational power promised by quantum computers utilises the fundamental quantum mechanical principle of entanglement. However, achieving entanglement and verifying that the generated state does not follow the principle of local causality has proven difficult for spin qubits in gate-defined quantum dots, as it requires simultaneously high concurrence values and readout fidelities to break the classical bound imposed by Bell's inequality. Here we employ heralded initialization and calibration via gate set tomography (GST), to reduce all relevant errors and push the fidelities of the full 2-qubit gate set above 99 %, including state preparation and measurement (SPAM). We demonstrate a 97.17 % Bell state fidelity without correcting for readout errors and violate Bell's inequality with a Bell signal of S = 2.731 close to the theoretical maximum of $2\sqrt{2}$. Our measurements exceed the classical limit even at elevated temperatures of 1.1 K or entanglement lifetimes of 100 $\mu s$.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Schr\"odinger cat states of a nuclear spin qudit in silicon

High-dimensional quantum systems are a valuable resource for quantum information processing. They can be used to encode error-correctable logical qubits, which has been demonstrated using continuous-variable states in microwave cavities or the motional modes of trapped ions. For example, high-dimensional systems can be used to realise `Schr\"{o}dinger cat' states, superpositions of widely displaced coherent states that can also be used to illustrate quantum effects at large scales. Recent proposals have suggested encoding qubits in high-spin atomic nuclei, finite-dimensional systems that can host hardware-efficient versions of continuous-variable codes. Here we demonstrate the creation and manipulation of Schrodinger cat states using the spin-7/2 nucleus of an antimony atom embedded in a silicon nanoelectronic device. We use a multi-frequency control scheme to produce spin rotations that preserve the symmetry of the qudit, and constitute logical Pauli operations for qubits encoded in the Schrodinger cat states. Our work demonstrates the ability to prepare and control nonclassical resource states, a prerequisite for applications in quantum information processing and quantum error correction using our scalable, manufacturable semiconductor platform.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Robust Macroscopic Schrödinger's Cat on a Nucleus

We propose a scheme to generate spin cat states, i.e., superpositions of maximally separated quasiclassical states on a single high-dimensional nuclear spin in a solid-state device. We exploit a strong quadrupolar nonlinearity to drive the nucleus significantly faster than usual gate sequences, achieving collapses and revivals two orders of magnitude faster than the dephasing timescale. Furthermore, these states are engineered without entanglement with an ancilla, hence, are robust against error propagation. With our multitone control, we can realize arbitrary high-spin rotations within an experimentally feasible regime, as well as transform a spin coherent state to a spin cat state using only phase modulation, opening the possibility of storing and manipulating high-fidelity cat states.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Error channels in quantum nondemolition measurements on spin systems

Quantum nondemolition (QND) measurements are a precious resource for quantum information processing. Repetitive QND measurements can boost the fidelity of qubit preparation and measurement, even when the underlying single-shot measurements are of low fidelity. However, this fidelity boost is limited by the degree in which the physical system allows for a truly QND process -- slight deviations from ideal QND measurement result in bit flip errors (`quantum jumps') if the measurement is repeated too often. Here, we develop a theoretical framework to understand and quantify the resulting error arising from deviation from perfect QND measurement in model spin qubit systems. We first develop our model on the ubiquitous example of exchange-coupled electron spins qubits tunnel-coupled to a charge reservoir. We then extend it to electron-nuclear spin systems, to illustrate the crucial similarities and differences between the two limits. Applied to the well-understood platform of a donor nuclear spin in silicon, the model shows excellent agreement with experiments. For added generality, we conclude the work by considering the effect of anisotropic spin couplings.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Strong Microwave Squeezing Above 1 Tesla and 1 Kelvin

Squeezed states of light have been used extensively to increase the precision of measurements, from the detection of gravitational waves to the search for dark matter. In the optical domain, high levels of vacuum noise squeezing are possible due to the availability of low loss optical components and high-performance squeezers. At microwave frequencies, however, limitations of the squeezing devices and the high insertion loss of microwave components makes squeezing vacuum noise an exceptionally difficult task. Here we demonstrate a new record for the direct measurement of microwave squeezing. We use an ultra low loss setup and weakly-nonlinear kinetic inductance parametric amplifiers to squeeze microwave noise 7.8(2) dB below the vacuum level. The amplifiers exhibit a resilience to magnetic fields and permit the demonstration of record squeezing levels inside fields of up to 2 T. Finally, we exploit the high critical temperature of our amplifiers to squeeze a warm thermal environment, achieving vacuum level noise at a temperature of 1.8 K. These results enable experiments that combine squeezing with magnetic fields and permit quantum-limited microwave measurements at elevated temperatures, significantly reducing the complexity and cost of the cryogenic systems required for such experiments.

quant-ph↗