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Locking electron spins into magnetic resonance by electron–nuclear feedback

Nature Physics volume 5, pages 764–768 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Quantum information processing requires accurate coherent control of quantum-mechanical two-level systems, but is hampered in practice by their coupling to an uncontrolled environment. For electron spins in III–V quantum dots, the random environment is mostly given by the nuclear spins in the quantum-dot host material; they collectively act on the electron spin through the hyperfine interaction, much like a random magnetic field. Here we show that the same hyperfine interaction can be harnessed such that partial control of the normally uncontrolled environment becomes possible. In particular, we observe that the electron-spin-resonance frequency remains locked to the frequency of an applied microwave magnetic field, even when the external magnetic field or the excitation frequency are changed. The nuclear field thereby adjusts itself such that the electron-spin-resonance condition remains satisfied. General theoretical arguments indicate that this spin-resonance locking might be accompanied by a significant reduction of the randomness in the nuclear field.

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Figure 1: ESR locking during frequency sweeps.
Figure 2: ESR locking during magnetic-field sweeps.
Figure 3: ESR locking dependence on excitation power, frequency and sweep rate.
Figure 4: Pump–probe measurement of the relaxation of the nuclear-spin polarization.
Figure 5: Nuclear-spin pumping curves.

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Acknowledgements

We thank F. R. Braakman, P. C. de Groot, R. Hanson, M. Laforest, L. R. Schreiber, G. A. Steele and S.-C. Wang for help and discussions, and R. Schouten, A. van der Enden, R. G. Roeleveld and P. van Oossanen for technical support. This work is supported by the ‘Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie (FOM)’ and the ‘Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO)’.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, 2600 GA Delft, PO Box 5046, The Netherlands

    Ivo T. Vink, Katja C. Nowack, Frank H. L. Koppens, Jeroen Danon, Yuli V. Nazarov & Lieven M. K. Vandersypen

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  1. Ivo T. Vink
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  2. Katja C. Nowack
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  3. Frank H. L. Koppens
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  6. Lieven M. K. Vandersypen
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Contributions

I.T.V., K.C.N and F.H.L.K. performed the experiment, I.T.V., K.C.N., F.H.L.K. and L.M.K.V were responsible for the project planning, J.D. and Y.V.N. developed the theory, all authors contributed to the interpretation of the data and I.T.V., K.C.N, J.D. and L.M.K.V wrote the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Lieven M. K. Vandersypen.

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Vink, I., Nowack, K., Koppens, F. et al. Locking electron spins into magnetic resonance by electron–nuclear feedback. Nature Phys 5, 764–768 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1366

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