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arXiv:0908.0101 · Physical Review Letters

Storage of Multiple Coherent Microwave Excitations in an Electron Spin Ensemble

Hua Wu, Richard E. George, Janus H. Wesenberg, Klaus Mølmer, David Schuster, Robert J. Schoelkopf, Kohei M. Itoh, Arzhang Ardavan, John J. L. Morton, G. A. D. Briggs

Published Sep 27, 2010• 177 citations
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Abstract

Strong coupling between a microwave photon and electron spins, which could enable a long-lived quantum memory element for superconducting qubits, is possible using a large ensemble of spins. This represents an inefficient use of resources unless multiple photons, or qubits, can be orthogonally stored and retrieved. Here we employ holographic techniques to realize a coherent memory using a pulsed magnetic field gradient and demonstrate the storage and retrieval of up to 100 weak 10 GHz coherent excitations in collective states of an electron spin ensemble. We further show that such collective excitations in the electron spin can then be stored in nuclear spin states, which offer coherence times in excess of seconds.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.105.140503

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Strong coupling between a microwave photon and electron spins, which could enable a long-lived quantum memory element for superconducting qubits, is possible using a large ensemble of spins. This represents an inefficient use of resources unless multiple photons, or qubits, can be orthogonally stored and retrieved. Here we employ holographic techniques to realize a coherent memory using a pulsed magnetic field gradient and demonstrate the storage and retrieval of up to 100 weak 10 GHz coherent excitations in collective states of an electron spin ensemble. We further show that such collective excitations in the electron spin can then be stored in nuclear spin states, which offer coherence times in excess of seconds.
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The controllable storage and on demand retrieval of the microwave pulses by using the photon echo quantum memory approach based on a spin frequency comb of inhomogeneous broadening (SFC- protocol) have been demonstrated. We have used an electron-nuclear spin ensemble of tetracyanoethylene anion radicals in toluene which has a natural periodic structure of narrow electron-spin resonance (ESR) hyperfine lines. On-demand retrieval of the stored field has been realized by using two pulses of the magnetic field gradient of an opposite polarity which hold the electron spins in a dephased excited state during the storage time. The obtained experimental results demonstrate promising properties for coherent controlling the electron-nuclear spin ensemble of radicals in liquid that could be useful for implementation of room-temperature broadband quantum memory.
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Coupling a qubit coherently to an ensemble is the basis for collective quantum memories. A single driven electron in a quantum dot can deterministically excite low-energy collective modes of a nuclear spin ensemble in the presence of lattice strain. We propose to gate a quantum state transfer between this central electron and these low-energy excitations-spin waves-in the presence of a strong magnetic field, where the nuclear coherence time is long. We develop a microscopic theory capable of calculating the exact time evolution of the strained electron-nuclear system. With this, we evaluate the operation of quantum state storage and show that fidelities up to 90% can be reached with a modest nuclear polarization of only 50%. These findings demonstrate that strain-enabled nuclear spin waves are a highly suitable candidate for quantum memory.
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