Coherent transfer between electron and nuclear spin qubits and their decoherence properties

<p>Conventional computing faces a huge technical challenge as traditional transistors will soon reach their size limitations. This will halt progress in reaching faster processing speeds and to overcome this problem, require an entirely new approach. Quantum computing (QC) is a natural solu...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Brown, R
Other Authors: Morton, J
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2012
Subjects:
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author Brown, R
author2 Morton, J
author_facet Morton, J
Brown, R
author_sort Brown, R
collection OXFORD
description <p>Conventional computing faces a huge technical challenge as traditional transistors will soon reach their size limitations. This will halt progress in reaching faster processing speeds and to overcome this problem, require an entirely new approach. Quantum computing (QC) is a natural solution offering a route to miniaturisation by, for example, storing information in electron or nuclear spin states, whilst harnessing the power of quantum physics to perform certain calculations exponentially faster than its classical counterpart. However, QCs face many difficulties, such as, protecting the quantum-bit (qubit) from the environment and its irreversible loss through the process of decoherence.</p><p>Hybrid systems provide a route to harnessing the benefits of multiple degrees of freedom through the coherent transfer of quantum information between them. In this thesis I show coherent qubit transfer between electron and nuclear spin states in a <sup>15</sup>N@C<sub>60</sub> molecular system (comprising a nitrogen atom encapsulated in a carbon cage) and a solid state system, using phosphorous donors in silicon (Si:P). The propagation uses a series of resonant mi- crowave and radiofrequency pulses and is shown with a two-way fidelity of around 90% for an arbitrary qubit state. The transfer allows quantum information to be held in the nuclear spin for up to 3 orders of magnitude longer than in the electron spin, producing a <sup>15</sup>N@C<sub>60</sub> and Si:P ‘quantum memory’ of up to 130 ms and 1.75 s, respectively. I show electron and nuclear spin relaxation (T<sub>1</sub>), in both systems, is dominated by a two-phonon process resonant with an excited state, with a constant electron/nuclear T<sub>1</sub> ratio. The thesis further investigates the decoherence and relaxation properties of metal atoms encapsulated in a carbon cage, termed metallofullerenes, discovering that exceptionally long electron spin decoherence times are possible, such that these can be considered a viable QC candidate.</p>
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spelling oxford-uuid:21e043b7-3b72-44d7-8095-74308a6827dd2022-03-26T11:35:45ZCoherent transfer between electron and nuclear spin qubits and their decoherence propertiesThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:21e043b7-3b72-44d7-8095-74308a6827ddNanostructuresNanomaterialsSiliconPhysical & theoretical chemistryNMR spectroscopyQuantum information processingSemiconductorsSpectroscopy and molecular structureCondensed Matter PhysicsEnglishOxford University Research Archive - Valet2012Brown, RMorton, JBriggs, GArdavan, A<p>Conventional computing faces a huge technical challenge as traditional transistors will soon reach their size limitations. This will halt progress in reaching faster processing speeds and to overcome this problem, require an entirely new approach. Quantum computing (QC) is a natural solution offering a route to miniaturisation by, for example, storing information in electron or nuclear spin states, whilst harnessing the power of quantum physics to perform certain calculations exponentially faster than its classical counterpart. However, QCs face many difficulties, such as, protecting the quantum-bit (qubit) from the environment and its irreversible loss through the process of decoherence.</p><p>Hybrid systems provide a route to harnessing the benefits of multiple degrees of freedom through the coherent transfer of quantum information between them. In this thesis I show coherent qubit transfer between electron and nuclear spin states in a <sup>15</sup>N@C<sub>60</sub> molecular system (comprising a nitrogen atom encapsulated in a carbon cage) and a solid state system, using phosphorous donors in silicon (Si:P). The propagation uses a series of resonant mi- crowave and radiofrequency pulses and is shown with a two-way fidelity of around 90% for an arbitrary qubit state. The transfer allows quantum information to be held in the nuclear spin for up to 3 orders of magnitude longer than in the electron spin, producing a <sup>15</sup>N@C<sub>60</sub> and Si:P ‘quantum memory’ of up to 130 ms and 1.75 s, respectively. I show electron and nuclear spin relaxation (T<sub>1</sub>), in both systems, is dominated by a two-phonon process resonant with an excited state, with a constant electron/nuclear T<sub>1</sub> ratio. The thesis further investigates the decoherence and relaxation properties of metal atoms encapsulated in a carbon cage, termed metallofullerenes, discovering that exceptionally long electron spin decoherence times are possible, such that these can be considered a viable QC candidate.</p>
spellingShingle Nanostructures
Nanomaterials
Silicon
Physical & theoretical chemistry
NMR spectroscopy
Quantum information processing
Semiconductors
Spectroscopy and molecular structure
Condensed Matter Physics
Brown, R
Coherent transfer between electron and nuclear spin qubits and their decoherence properties
title Coherent transfer between electron and nuclear spin qubits and their decoherence properties
title_full Coherent transfer between electron and nuclear spin qubits and their decoherence properties
title_fullStr Coherent transfer between electron and nuclear spin qubits and their decoherence properties
title_full_unstemmed Coherent transfer between electron and nuclear spin qubits and their decoherence properties
title_short Coherent transfer between electron and nuclear spin qubits and their decoherence properties
title_sort coherent transfer between electron and nuclear spin qubits and their decoherence properties
topic Nanostructures
Nanomaterials
Silicon
Physical & theoretical chemistry
NMR spectroscopy
Quantum information processing
Semiconductors
Spectroscopy and molecular structure
Condensed Matter Physics
work_keys_str_mv AT brownr coherenttransferbetweenelectronandnuclearspinqubitsandtheirdecoherenceproperties