Dispersively Probed Microwave Spectroscopy of a Silicon Hole Double Quantum Dot
R. Ezzouch, Simon Zihlmann, V. P. Michal, Jing Li, A. Aprá, Benoît Bertrand, Louis Hutin, M. Vinet, Matias Urdampilleta, Tristan Meunier, X. Jehl, Yann‐Michel Niquet, M. Sanquer, Silvano De Franceschi, Romain Maurand
Hole spin qubits are appealing for quantum information processing, because they can be coherently manipulated with radio-frequency electric fields. The underlying physical mechanism relies on spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in the semiconductor's valence band, and operating a hole spin qubit requires accurate knowledge of SOC-dependent parameters that can vary from one qubit to another. To this end, the authors employ a two-tone-spectroscopy technique that exploits the same tools used for qubit control and readout: microwave gate-voltage excitation and dispersive gate reflectometry. Their approach will facilitate accurate quantum control of hole spin qubits in scaled semiconductor structures.
Hole spin qubits are appealing for quantum information processing, because they can be coherently manipulated with radio-frequency electric fields. The underlying physical mechanism relies on spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in the semiconductor's valence band, and operating a hole spin qubit requires accurate knowledge of SOC-dependent parameters that can vary from one qubit to another. To this end, the authors employ a two-tone-spectroscopy technique that exploits the same tools used for qubit control and readout: microwave gate-voltage excitation and dispersive gate reflectometry. Their approach will facilitate accurate quantum control of hole spin qubits in scaled semiconductor structures.
Hole spin qubits in semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) are promising candidates for quantum information processing due to their weak hyperfine coupling to nuclear spins, and to the strong spin-orbit coupling, which allows for rapid operation time. We propose a coherent control on two heavy-hole spin qubits in a double QD by a fast adiabatic driving protocol, which helps to achieve higher fidelities than other experimentally commonly used protocols as linear ramping, $\ensuremath{\pi}$ pulses or Landau-Zener passages. Using fast quasiadiabatic driving via spin-orbit coupling, it is possible to reduce charge noise significantly for qubit manipulation and achieve high robustness for the qubit initialization. We also implement one- and two-qubit gates, in particular, not, cnot, and swaplike gates, of hole spins in a double QD achieving fidelities above $99\mathrm{%}$, exhibiting the capability of hole spins to implement universal gates for quantum computing.
Semiconductor quantum dots in silicon demonstrate exceptionally long spin lifetimes as qubits and are therefore promising candidates for quantum information processing. However, control and readout techniques for these devices have thus far employed low frequency electrons, in contrast to high speed temperature readout techniques used in other qubit architectures, and coupling between multiple quantum dot qubits has not been satisfactorily addressed.This dissertation presents the design and characterization of a semiconductor charge qubit based on double quantum dot in silicon with an integrated microwave resonator for control and readout. The 6 GHz resonator is designed to achieve strong coupling with the quantum dot qubit, allowing the use of circuit QED control and readout techniques which have not previously been applicable to semiconductor qubits. To achieve this coupling, this document demonstrates successful operation of a novel silicon double quantum dot design with a single active metallic layer and a coplanar stripline resonator with a bias tee for dc excitation.Experiments presented here demonstrate quantum localization and measurement of both electrons on the quantum dot and photons in the resonator. Further, it is shown that the resonator-qubit coupling in these devices is sufficient to reach the strong coupling regime of circuit QED. The details of a measurement setup capable of performing simultaneous low noise measurements of the resonator and quantum dot structure are also presented here.The ultimate aim of this research is to integrate the long coherence times observed in electron spins in silicon with the sophisticated readout architectures available in circuit QED based quantum information systems. This would allow superconducting qubits to be coupled directly to semiconductor qubits to create hybrid quantum systems with separate quantum memory and processing components.
Hole spins in silicon quantum dots are a promising platform for quantum computing due to their strong intrinsic spin-orbit coupling (SOC), which enables fast, all-electrical control. However, this coupling also increases their susceptibility to charge noise, thereby limiting coherence times. Moreover, holes in silicon are also affected by hyperfine interactions with residual nuclear spins in the silicon substrate, introducing a non-negligible source of low-frequency noise. Here, we implement a phase-modulated concatenated continuous driving (CCD) technique for hole spin qubits to suppress low-frequency noise through microwave phase modulation. This approach stabilizes Rabi oscillations and extends the oscillation decay time compared to the conventional method. Furthermore, by defining a qubit in the CCD frame, we achieve coherent control while simultaneously protecting the qubit from noise, confirming coherence protection during gate operations. These results demonstrate a viable route toward noise-robust hole spin qubits.
Spin qubits in gate-defined semiconductor quantum dots are a promising platform for realising a scalable quantum computer. This platform encodes quantum information into the intrinsic angular momentum (spin) of individual electrons or holes. In particular, hole spins in quantum dots enable the possibility of all-electrical spin control due to their intrinsic spin-orbit coupling. One important criterion of a quantum computer is the ability to reliably read out the state of the qubit. This is done by mapping spin information to the charge degree of freedom, combined with a method for charge detection. Charge detection can be facilitated by coupling a resonator directly to the quantum dot gate or to a charge sensor and measuring the resonator's phase or amplitude response. In this thesis, we describe a set of experiments relating to the implementation of hole spin qubit readout with superconducting resonators. First, we study gate-based charge sensing in a Si fin field-effect transistor (finFET) device using a superconducting NbN nanowire resonator. We find that the resonator amplifies capacitive crosstalk when electrical control pulses are applied to gate electrodes in this device. This occurs whenever a spectral component of qubit control pulses overlaps with the resonance frequency, which we show may occur for both baseband and radio-frequency (RF) drive signals. We quantify this crosstalk in a transport-based method, and attribute its source to the capacitance between the bondpads of neighbouring gate electrodes. In a second experiment, we use an RF charge sensor with the same nanowire technology to read out hole spin qubits formed in the quantum well of a Ge/SiGe heterostructure. A screening layer approach is used to facilitate RF matching due to large RF dissipation found in the heterostructure. We implement a double-latched readout scheme in this system to reduce errors arising from both spin and charge decay during readout. The spin-to-charge conversion process and its dependence on magnetic field orientation is studied. Spin and charge decay processes arising after spin-to-charge conversion are mitigated by choosing an optimal working point for the field orientation, field amplitude and readout pulse times. By doing so, we achieve an average single-shot state-preparation-and-measurement fidelity of 97%, primarily bounded by imperfect state preparation and limited signal-to-noise ratio. Finally, we study coplanar waveguide resonators fabricated from NbN. We investigate the feasibility of integrating this type of resonator onto the same chip as the Si finFET quantum dots. We then develop a novel resonator readout technique by the interference of two microwave sidebands. We demonstrate the insensitivity of this technique to common-mode phase and amplitude noise both theoretically and experimentally. This technique is then used to study resonator noise arising from two-level system defects. These results highlight both the practical constraints and the potential for achieving high readout fidelities using resonator-based hole spin qubit readout. This work establishes a blueprint for mitigating resonator-induced crosstalk and enabling high-fidelity readout in lossy materials by incorporating a screening layer.
Developing fast and accurate control and readout techniques is an important challenge in quantum information processing with semiconductor qubits. Here, we study the dynamics and the coherence properties of a GaAs/AlGaAs double quantum dot charge qubit strongly coupled to a frequency-tunable high-impedance resonator. We drive qubit transitions with synthesized microwave pulses and perform qubit readout through the state-dependent frequency shift imparted by the qubit on the dispersively coupled resonator. We perform Rabi oscillation, Ramsey fringe, energy relaxation, and Hahn-echo measurements and find significantly reduced decoherence rates down to γ_{2}/2π∼3 MHz corresponding to coherence times of up to T_{2}∼50 ns for charge states in gate-defined quantum dot qubits. We realize Rabi π pulses of width down to σ∼0.25 ns.
Coherent and strong coupling between photons and solid-state qubits, in the form of circuit quantum electrodynamics (QED), has been harnessed for two-qubit gates mediated by photons and high-fidelity quantum non-demolition readout, which are the building blocks of large-scale quantum computation. Recently, circuit QED has been extended to gate-defined semiconductor quantum dots. In this thesis, we develop a novel hybrid circuit QED architecture composed of a high-impedance superconducting microwave resonator and spins localized in silicon-MOS quantum dots. To control and measure the spin degrees of freedom, this hybrid system needs to operate at finite magnetic field. Consequently, we develop and characterize microwave resonators based on thin niobium nitride (NbN) films featuring a high kinetic inductance. We demonstrate high-impedance resonators with magnetic field resilience and low photon loss rates. We then co-integrate the NbN resonators on silicon spin qubit chips. With a hole confined in a double quantum dot (DQD), we report the first realization of a strong hole charge-photon interaction bordering the ultra-strong coupling regime. At finite magnetic field, putting the spin transition energy in resonance with the microwave cavity, we observe large vacuum Rabi mode splittings, signature of a strong spin-photon coupling. Our findings are well captured by the modelling of a hole DQD with different anisotropic Zeeman response in each dot and spin-orbit coupling dependent tunnel rates. We also find a sizeable spin-photon coupling when the hole is localized in the single quantum dot, in line with recent theoretical predictions. The different works presented in this manuscript pave the way for circuit QED with hole spins in gate-defined semiconductor quantum dots.