arXiv subjects

Andrew S. Dzurak

Publications and source records attributed to Andrew S. Dzurak.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2023

Path integral simulation of exchange interactions in CMOS spin qubits

The boom of semiconductor quantum computing platforms created a demand for computer-aided design and fabrication of quantum devices. Path integral Monte Carlo (PIMC) can have an important role in this effort because it intrinsically integrates strong quantum correlations that often appear in these multi-electron systems. In this paper we present a PIMC algorithm that estimates exchange interactions of three-dimensional electrically defined quantum dots. We apply this model to silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) devices and we benchmark our method against well-tested full configuration interaction (FCI) simulations. As an application, we study the impact of a single charge trap on two exchanging dots, opening the possibility of using this code to test the tolerance to disorder of CMOS devices. This algorithm provides an accurate description of this system, setting up an initial step to integrate PIMC algorithms into development of semiconductor quantum computers.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Improved Single-Shot Qubit Readout Using Twin RF-SET Charge Correlations

High fidelity qubit readout is critical in order to obtain the thresholds needed to implement quantum error correction protocols and achieve fault-tolerant quantum computing. Large-scale silicon qubit devices will have densely-packed arrays of quantum dots with multiple charge sensors that are, on average, farther away from the quantum dots, entailing a reduction in readout fidelities. Here, we present a readout technique that enhances the readout fidelity in a linear SiMOS 4-dot array by amplifying correlations between a pair of single-electron transistors, known as a twin SET. By recording and subsequently correlating the twin SET traces as we modulate the dot detuning across a charge transition, we demonstrate a reduction in the charge readout infidelity by over one order of magnitude compared to traditional readout methods. We also study the spin-to-charge conversion errors introduced by the modulation technique, and conclude that faster modulation frequencies avoid relaxation-induced errors without introducing significant spin flip errors, favouring the use of the technique at short integration times. This method not only allows for faster and higher fidelity qubit measurements, but it also enhances the signal corresponding to charge transitions that take place farther away from the sensors, enabling a way to circumvent the reduction in readout fidelities in large arrays of qubits.

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arXiv2023

Navigating the 16-dimensional Hilbert space of a high-spin donor qudit with electric and magnetic fields

Efficient scaling and flexible control are key aspects of useful quantum computing hardware. Spins in semiconductors combine quantum information processing with electrons, holes or nuclei, control with electric or magnetic fields, and scalable coupling via exchange or dipole interaction. However, accessing large Hilbert space dimensions has remained challenging, due to the short-distance nature of the interactions. Here, we present an atom-based semiconductor platform where a 16-dimensional Hilbert space is built by the combined electron-nuclear states of a single antimony donor in silicon. We demonstrate the ability to navigate this large Hilbert space using both electric and magnetic fields, with gate fidelity exceeding 99.8% on the nuclear spin, and unveil fine details of the system Hamiltonian and its susceptibility to control and noise fields. These results establish high-spin donors as a rich platform for practical quantum information and to explore quantum foundations.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Gate-based spin readout of hole quantum dots with site-dependent $g-$factors

The rapid progress of hole spin qubits in group IV semiconductors has been driven by their potential for scalability. This is owed to the compatibility with industrial manufacturing standards, as well as the ease of operation and addressability via all-electric drives. However, owing to a strong spin-orbit interaction, these systems present variability and anisotropy in key qubit control parameters such as the Landé $g-$factor, requiring careful characterisation for reliable qubit operation. Here, we experimentally investigate a hole double quantum dot in silicon by carrying out spin readout with gate-based reflectometry. We show that characteristic features in the reflected phase signal arising from magneto-spectroscopy convey information on site-dependent $g-$factors in the two dots. Using analytical modeling, we extract the physical parameters of our system and, through numerical calculations, we extend the results to point out the prospect of conveniently extracting information about the local $g-$factors from reflectometry measurements.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Accessing the Full Capabilities of Filter Functions: A Tool for Detailed Noise and Control Susceptibility Analysis

The filter function formalism from quantum control theory is typically used to determine the noise susceptibility of pulse sequences by looking at the overlap between the filter function of the sequence and the noise power spectral density. Importantly, the square modulus of the filter function is used for this method, hence directional and phase information is lost. In this work, we take advantage of the full filter function including directional and phase information. By decomposing the filter function with phase preservation before taking the modulus, we are able to consider the contributions to $x$-, $y$- and $z$-rotation separately. Continuously driven systems provide noise protection in the form of dynamical decoupling by cancelling low-frequency noise, however, generating control pulses synchronously with an arbitrary driving field is not trivial. Using the decomposed filter function we look at the controllability of a system under arbitrary driving fields, as well as the noise susceptibility, and also relate the filter function to the geometric formalism.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Control of dephasing in spin qubits during coherent transport in silicon

One of the key pathways towards scalability of spin-based quantum computing systems lies in achieving long-range interactions between electrons and increasing their inter-connectivity. Coherent spin transport is one of the most promising strategies to achieve this architectural advantage. Experimental results have previously demonstrated high fidelity transportation of spin qubits between two quantum dots in silicon and identified possible sources of error. In this theoretical study, we investigate these errors and analyze the impact of tunnel coupling, magnetic field and spin-orbit effects on the spin transfer process. The interplay between these effects gives rise to double dot configurations that include regimes of enhanced decoherence that should be avoided for quantum information processing. These conclusions permit us to extrapolate previous experimental conclusions and rationalize the future design of large scale quantum processors.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

An electrically-driven single-atom `flip-flop' qubit

The spins of atoms and atom-like systems are among the most coherent objects in which to store quantum information. However, the need to address them using oscillating magnetic fields hinders their integration with quantum electronic devices. Here we circumvent this hurdle by operating a single-atom `flip-flop' qubit in silicon, where quantum information is encoded in the electron-nuclear states of a phosphorus donor. The qubit is controlled using local electric fields at microwave frequencies, produced within a metal-oxide-semiconductor device. The electrical drive is mediated by the modulation of the electron-nuclear hyperfine coupling, a method that can be extended to many other atomic and molecular systems. These results pave the way to the construction of solid-state quantum processors where dense arrays of atoms can be controlled using only local electric fields.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Combining n-MOS Charge Sensing with p-MOS Silicon Hole Double Quantum Dots in a CMOS platform

Holes in silicon quantum dots are receiving significant attention due to their potential as fast, tunable, and scalable qubits in semiconductor quantum circuits. Despite this, challenges remain in this material system including difficulties using charge sensing to determine the number of holes in a quantum dot, and in controlling the coupling between adjacent quantum dots. In this work, we address these problems by fabricating an ambipolar complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) device using multilayer palladium gates. The device consists of an electron charge sensor adjacent to a hole double quantum dot. We demonstrate control of the spin state via electric dipole spin resonance (EDSR). We achieve smooth control of the inter-dot coupling rate over two orders of magnitude and use the charge sensor to perform spin-to-charge conversion to measure the hole singlet-triplet relaxation time of 11 μs for a known hole occupation. These results provide a path towards improving the quality and controllability of hole spin-qubits.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Jellybean quantum dots in silicon for qubit coupling and on-chip quantum chemistry

The small size and excellent integrability of silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor (SiMOS) quantum dot spin qubits make them an attractive system for mass-manufacturable, scaled-up quantum processors. Furthermore, classical control electronics can be integrated on-chip, in-between the qubits, if an architecture with sparse arrays of qubits is chosen. In such an architecture qubits are either transported across the chip via shuttling, or coupled via mediating quantum systems over short-to-intermediate distances. This paper investigates the charge and spin characteristics of an elongated quantum dot -- a so-called jellybean quantum dot -- for the prospects of acting as a qubit-qubit coupler. Charge transport, charge sensing and magneto-spectroscopy measurements are performed on a SiMOS quantum dot device at mK temperature, and compared to Hartree-Fock multi-electron simulations. At low electron occupancies where disorder effects and strong electron-electron interaction dominate over the electrostatic confinement potential, the data reveals the formation of three coupled dots, akin to a tunable, artificial molecule. One dot is formed centrally under the gate and two are formed at the edges. At high electron occupancies, these dots merge into one large dot with well-defined spin states, verifying that jellybean dots have the potential to be used as qubit couplers in future quantum computing architectures.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

On-demand electrical control of spin qubits

Once called a "classically non-describable two-valuedness" by Pauli , the electron spin is a natural resource for long-lived quantum information since it is mostly impervious to electric fluctuations and can be replicated in large arrays using silicon quantum dots, which offer high-fidelity control. Paradoxically, one of the most convenient control strategies is the integration of nanoscale magnets to artificially enhance the coupling between spins and electric field, which in turn hampers the spin's noise immunity and adds architectural complexity. Here we demonstrate a technique that enables a \emph{switchable} interaction between spins and orbital motion of electrons in silicon quantum dots, without the presence of a micromagnet. The naturally weak effects of the relativistic spin-orbit interaction in silicon are enhanced by more than three orders of magnitude by controlling the energy quantisation of electrons in the nanostructure, enhancing the orbital motion. Fast electrical control is demonstrated in multiple devices and electronic configurations, highlighting the utility of the technique. Using the electrical drive we achieve coherence time $T_{2,{\rm Hahn}}\approx50 μ$s, fast single-qubit gates with ${T_{π/2}=3}$ ns and gate fidelities of 99.93 % probed by randomised benchmarking. The higher gate speeds and better compatibility with CMOS manufacturing enabled by on-demand electric control improve the prospects for realising scalable silicon quantum processors.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Precision tomography of a three-qubit donor quantum processor in silicon

Nuclear spins were among the first physical platforms to be considered for quantum information processing, because of their exceptional quantum coherence and atomic-scale footprint. However, their full potential for quantum computing has not yet been realized, due to the lack of methods to link nuclear qubits within a scalable device combined with multi-qubit operations with sufficient fidelity to sustain fault-tolerant quantum computation. Here we demonstrate universal quantum logic operations using a pair of ion-implanted 31P donor nuclei in a silicon nanoelectronic device. A nuclear two-qubit controlled-Z gate is obtained by imparting a geometric phase to a shared electron spin, and used to prepare entangled Bell states with fidelities up to 94.2(2.7)%. The quantum operations are precisely characterised using gate set tomography (GST), yielding one-qubit average gate fidelities up to 99.95(2)%, two-qubit average gate fidelity of 99.37(11)% and two-qubit preparation/measurement fidelities of 98.95(4)%. These three metrics indicate that nuclear spins in silicon are approaching the performance demanded in fault-tolerant quantum processors. We then demonstrate entanglement between the two nuclei and the shared electron by producing a Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger three-qubit state with 92.5(1.0)% fidelity. Since electron spin qubits in semiconductors can be further coupled to other electrons or physically shuttled across different locations, these results establish a viable route for scalable quantum information processing using donor nuclear and electron spins.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Implementation of the SMART protocol for global qubit control in silicon

Quantum computing based on spins in the solid state allows for densely-packed arrays of quantum bits. While high-fidelity operation of single qubits has been demonstrated with individual control pulses, the operation of large-scale quantum processors requires a shift in paradigm towards global control solutions. Here we report the experimental implementation of a new type of qubit protocol - the SMART (Sinusoidally Modulated, Always Rotating and Tailored) protocol. As with a dressed qubit, we resonantly drive a two-level system with a continuous microwave field, but here we add a tailored modulation to the dressing field to achieve increased robustness to detuning noise and microwave amplitude fluctuations. We implement this new protocol to control a single spin confined in a silicon quantum dot and confirm the optimal modulation conditions predicted from theory. Universal control of a single qubit is demonstrated using modulated Stark shift control via the local gate electrodes. We measure an extended coherence time of $2$ ms and an average Clifford gate fidelity $>99$ $\%$ despite the relatively long qubit gate times ($>15$ $\unicode[serif]{x03BC}$s, $20$ times longer than a conventional square pulse gate), constituting a significant improvement over a conventional spin qubit and a dressed qubit. This work shows that future scalable spin qubit arrays could be operated using global microwave control and local gate addressability, while maintaining robustness to relevant experimental inhomogeneities.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

The SMART protocol -- Pulse engineering of a global field for robust and universal quantum computation

Global control strategies for arrays of qubits are a promising pathway to scalable quantum computing. A continuous-wave global field provides decoupling of the qubits from background noise. However, this approach is limited by variability in the parameters of individual qubits in the array. Here we show that by modulating a global field simultaneously applied to the entire array, we are able to encode qubits that are less sensitive to the statistical scatter in qubit resonance frequency and microwave amplitude fluctuations, which are problems expected in a large scale system. We name this approach the SMART (Sinusoidally Modulated, Always Rotating and Tailored) qubit protocol. We show that there exist optimal modulation conditions for qubits in a global field that robustly provide improved coherence times. We discuss in further detail the example of spins in silicon quantum dots, in which universal one- and two-qubit control is achieved electrically by controlling the spin-orbit coupling of individual qubits and the exchange coupling between spins in neighbouring dots. This work provides a high-fidelity qubit operation scheme in a global field, significantly improving the prospects for scalability of spin-based quantum computer architectures.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Quantum Computation Protocol for Dressed Spins in a Global Field

Spin qubits are contenders for scalable quantum computation because of their long coherence times demonstrated in a variety of materials, but individual control by frequency-selective addressing using pulsed spin resonance creates severe technical challenges for scaling up to many qubits. This individual resonance control strategy requires each spin to have a distinguishable frequency, imposing a maximum number of spins that can be individually driven before qubit crosstalk becomes unavoidable. Here we describe a complete strategy for controlling a large array of spins in quantum dots dressed by an on-resonance global field, namely a field that is constantly driving the spin qubits, to dynamically decouple from the effects of background magnetic field fluctuations. This approach -- previously implemented for the control of single electron spins bound to electrons in impurities -- is here harmonized with all other operations necessary for universal quantum computing with spins in quantum dots. We define the logical states as the dressed qubit states and discuss initialization and readout utilizing Pauli spin blockade, as well as single- and two-qubit control in the new basis. Finally, we critically analyze the limitations imposed by qubit variability and potential strategies to improve performance.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Materials for Silicon Quantum Dots and their Impact on Electron Spin Qubits

Quantum computers have the potential to efficiently solve problems in logistics, drug and material design, finance, and cybersecurity. However, millions of qubits will be necessary for correcting inevitable errors in quantum operations. In this scenario, electron spins in gate-defined silicon quantum dots are strong contenders for encoding qubits, leveraging the microelectronics industry know-how for fabricating densely populated chips with nanoscale electrodes. The sophisticated material combinations used in commercially manufactured transistors, however, will have a very different impact on the fragile qubits. We review here some key properties of the materials that have a direct impact on qubit performance and variability.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

A high-sensitivity charge sensor for silicon qubits above one kelvin

Recent studies of silicon spin qubits at temperatures above 1 K are encouraging demonstrations that the cooling requirements for solid-state quantum computing can be considerably relaxed. However, qubit readout mechanisms that rely on charge sensing with a single-island single-electron transistor (SISET) quickly lose sensitivity due to thermal broadening of the electron distribution in the reservoirs. Here we exploit the tunneling between two quantised states in a double-island SET (DISET) to demonstrate a charge sensor with an improvement in signal-to-noise by an order of magnitude compared to a standard SISET, and a single-shot charge readout fidelity above 99 % up to 8 K at a bandwidth > 100 kHz. These improvements are consistent with our theoretical modelling of the temperature-dependent current transport for both types of SETs. With minor additional hardware overheads, these sensors can be integrated into existing qubit architectures for high fidelity charge readout at few-kelvin temperatures.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Pauli Blockade in Silicon Quantum Dots with Spin-Orbit Control

Quantum computation relies on accurate measurements of qubits not only for reading the output of the calculation, but also to perform error correction. Most proposed scalable silicon architectures utilize Pauli blockade of triplet states for spin-to-charge conversion. In recent experiments, there have been instances when instead of conventional triplet blockade readout, Pauli blockade is sustained only between parallel spin configurations, with $|T_0\rangle$ relaxing quickly to the singlet state and leaving $|T_+\rangle$ and $|T_-\rangle$ states blockaded -- which we call \textit{parity readout}. Both types of blockade can be used for readout in quantum computing, but it is crucial to maximize the fidelity and understand in which regime the system operates. We devise and perform an experiment in which the crossover between parity and singlet-triplet readout can be identified by investigating the underlying physics of the $|T_0\rangle$ relaxation rate. This rate is tunable over four orders of magnitude by controlling the Zeeman energy difference between the dots induced by spin-orbit coupling, which in turn depends on the direction of the applied magnetic field. We suggest a theoretical model incorporating charge noise and relaxation effects that explains quantitatively our results. Investigating the model both analytically and numerically, we identify strategies to obtain on-demand either singlet-triplet or parity readout consistently across large arrays of dots. We also discuss how parity readout can be used to perform full two-qubit state tomography and its impact on quantum error detection schemes in large-scale silicon quantum computers.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Bell-state tomography in a silicon many-electron artificial molecule

An error-corrected quantum processor will require millions of qubits, accentuating the advantage of nanoscale devices with small footprints, such as silicon quantum dots. However, as for every device with nanoscale dimensions, disorder at the atomic level is detrimental to qubit uniformity. Here we investigate two spin qubits confined in a silicon double-quantum-dot artificial molecule. Each quantum dot has a robust shell structure and, when operated at an occupancy of 5 or 13 electrons, has single spin-$\frac{1}{2}$ valence electron in its $p$- or $d$-orbital, respectively. These higher electron occupancies screen atomic-level disorder. The larger multielectron wavefunctions also enable significant overlap between neighbouring qubit electrons, while making space for an interstitial exchange-gate electrode. We implement a universal gate set using the magnetic field gradient of a micromagnet for electrically-driven single qubit gates, and a gate-voltage-controlled inter-dot barrier to perform two-qubit gates by pulsed exchange coupling. We use this gate set to demonstrate a Bell state preparation between multielectron qubits with fidelity 90.3%, confirmed by two-qubit state tomography using spin parity measurements.

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