The symmetry of the space where a spin qubit resides plays an essential role in the manipulation of quantum entanglement, which governs the performance of quantum information systems. Application of a magnetic field, which is usually necessary for spin manipulation and readout, inevitably breaks the spatial symmetry to induce competition among quantization axes between internal and external fields, thus limiting the purity of the entanglement. If we could manipulate and readout entanglement under a zero magnetic field, we would be able to avoid the competition among quantization axes to achieve ideally high fidelity. We here demonstrate the complete Bell state measurement, which is a core element of quantum processing, of two carbon nuclear spins in the vicinity of a diamond nitrogen-vacancy center. The demonstration was made possible by holonomic entanglement manipulations based on the geometric phase with a polarized microwave under a zero magnetic field, where the quantization axis is uniquely defined by the hyperfine field. The demonstrated scheme allows high-fidelity entanglement processing even when magnetic fields cannot be applied to the integration of superconducting and spin qubits, thereby paving the way for building fault-tolerant distributed quantum computers and quantum repeater networks.
The symmetry of the space where a spin qubit resides plays an essential role in the manipulation of quantum entanglement, which governs the performance of quantum information systems. Application of a magnetic field, which is usually necessary for spin manipulation and readout, inevitably breaks the spatial symmetry to induce competition among quantization axes between internal and external fields, thus limiting the purity of the entanglement. If we could manipulate and readout entanglement under a zero magnetic field, we would be able to avoid the competition among quantization axes to achieve ideally high fidelity. We here demonstrate the complete Bell state measurement, which is a core element of quantum processing, of two carbon nuclear spins in the vicinity of a diamond nitrogen-vacancy center. The demonstration was made possible by holonomic entanglement manipulations based on the geometric phase with a polarized microwave under a zero magnetic field, where the quantization axis is uniquely defined by the hyperfine field. The demonstrated scheme allows high-fidelity entanglement processing even when magnetic fields cannot be applied to the integration of superconducting and spin qubits, thereby paving the way for building fault-tolerant distributed quantum computers and quantum repeater networks.
Abstract Any quantum information system operates with entanglement as a resource, which should be deterministically generated by a joint measurement known as complete Bell state measurement (BSM). The determinism arises from a quantum nondemolition measurement of two coupled qubits with the help of readout ancilla, which inevitably requires extra physical qubits. We here demonstrate a deterministic and complete BSM with only a nitrogen atom in a nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond as a quantum memory without reliance on any carbon isotopes by exploiting electron‒nitrogen (14N) double qutrits at a zero magnetic field. The degenerate logical qubits within the subspace of qutrits on the electron and nitrogen spins are holonomically controlled by arbitrarily polarized microwave and radiofrequency pulses via zero-field-split states as the ancilla, enabling the complete BSM deterministically. Since the system works under an isotope-free and field-free environment, the demonstration paves the way for realizing high-yield, high-fidelity, and high-speed quantum repeaters for long-haul quantum networks and quantum interfaces for large-scale distributed quantum computers.
Abstract Fault-tolerant quantum memory plays a key role in interfacing quantum computers with quantum networks to construct quantum computer networks. Manipulation of spin quantum memory generally requires a magnetic field, which hinders the integration with superconducting qubits. Completely zero-field operation is desirable for scaling up a quantum computer based on superconducting qubits. Here we demonstrate quantum error correction to protect the nuclear spin of the nitrogen as a quantum memory in a diamond nitrogen-vacancy center with two nuclear spins of the surrounding carbon isotopes under a zero magnetic field. The quantum error correction makes quantum memory resilient against operational or environmental errors without the need for magnetic fields and opens a way toward distributed quantum computation and a quantum internet with memory-based quantum interfaces or quantum repeaters.
A microwave shares a nonintuitive phase called the geometric phase with an interacting electron spin after an elastic scattering. The geometric phase, generally discarded as a global phase, allows universal holonomic gating of an ideal logical qubit, which we call a geometric spin qubit, defined in the degenerate subspace of the triplet spin qutrit. We here experimentally demonstrate nonadiabatic and non-abelian holonomic quantum gates over the geometric spin qubit on an electron or nitrogen nucleus. We manipulate purely the geometric phase with a polarised microwave in a nitrogen-vacancy centre in diamond under a zero-magnetic field at room temperature. We also demonstrate a two-qubit holonomic gate to show universality by manipulating the electron-nucleus entanglement. The universal holonomic gates enable fast and fault-tolerant manipulation for realising quantum repeaters interfacing between universal quantum computers and secure communication networks.
Abstract Spins in diamond are ideal for large-scale quantum processors and memories. Localized laser field offers spatial selectivity for electron spin manipulation through spin-obit coupling. However, it has been difficult to simultaneously achieve the precise and universal manipulation by itself. Here, we demonstrate microwave-driven holonomic quantum gates on an optically selected electron spin in a nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond. The electron spin is precisely manipulated with global microwave tuned to the frequency shift induced by the local optical Stark effect. We show the universality of the operations, including state initialization, preparation, readout, and echo. We also generate optically addressable entanglement between the electron and adjacent nitrogen nuclear spin, thus satisfying the scalability requirement of qubits. High fidelity operations are achieved by amplitude-alternating pulse, which are tolerant to fluctuations in microwave intensity and detuning. These techniques enable site-selective quantum teleportation transfer from a photon to a nuclear spin memory, paving the way for the realization of distributed quantum computers and the quantum Internet with large-scale quantum storage.
Abstract Geometric nature, which appears in photon polarization, also appears in spin polarization under a zero magnetic field. These two polarized quanta, one travelling in vacuum and the other staying in matter, behave the same as geometric quantum bits or qubits, which are promising for noise resilience compared to the commonly used dynamic qubits. Here we show that geometric photon and spin qubits are entangled upon spontaneous emission with the help of the spin − orbit entanglement inherent in a nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond. The geometric spin qubit is defined in a degenerate subsystem of spin triplet electrons and manipulated with a polarized microwave. An experiment shows an entanglement state fidelity of 86.8%. The demonstrated entangled emission, combined with previously demonstrated entangled absorption, generates purely geometric entanglement between remote matters in a process that is insensitive of time, frequency, and space mode matching, which paves the way for building a noise-resilient quantum repeater network or a quantum internet.
In this thesis we experimentally investigate quantum nonlocality: entangled states of spatially separated objects. Entanglement is one of the most striking consequences of the quantum formalism developed in the 1920's; the predicted outcomes of independent measurements on entangled objects reveal strong correlations that cannot be explained by classical physics. Early on, such predictions led physicists to doubt the validity and completeness of quantum theory. At the same time, entanglement is a key resource for applications in quantum information processing and a pre-requisite for many tasks in quantum communication and computation. This thesis attempts to answer two application driven questions: Firstly, can we generate useful entangled states of solid state spins for applications in quantum information processing? Secondly, can we use such entangled states as a resource to teleport an unknown quantum state? Finally, we ask a foundational question: Are our entangled states indeed inconsistent with the classical notions of free choice, locality and realism? Can we prove this experimentally, under the minimal assumptions of a loophole-free Bell test? To answer these questions we use single spins in ultra-pure diamonds. In particular, we use the electronic and nuclear spins associated with single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) defects. The NV centre is a point defect in diamond, consisting of a substitutional nitrogen (N) atom and a neighbouring missing carbon atom (vacancy, V). The NV centre possesses bound electronic states, whose energy levels lie well within the bandgap of the diamond host and whose spin degree of freedom can be used as a quantum bit (qubit). Because of the large diamond bandgap and the 99% spin free carbon-12 environment, the electronic spin qubit has exceptional coherence properties even at room temperature. Optical and microwave fields allow control of the electronic spin, which in turn allows control of nearby nuclear spins (the host nitrogen nuclear spin, and nearby carbon-13 spins). At liquid helium temperatures, spin-preserving optical transitions provide a powerful optical interface to the electronic spin, allowing, for example, projective readout of the spin state. By employing a protocol where entanglement is heralded by the detection of a single photon from each of two NV centres in diamonds separated by three metres, we find we can answer the first question in the affirmative. We show for the first time heralded entanglement between solid state quantum systems separated by a human-scale distance. Then, by combining the heralded entanglement with a deterministic local Bell state measurement and fast feed-forward, we show for the first time unconditional quantum teleportation over human-scale distances. We teleport an unknown quantum state from a nuclear spin in one diamond to an electronic spin in a diamond three meters away. Finally, by employing techniques from the previous experiments, we implement the first loophole-free Bell test. We separate two diamonds by 1.3 kilometres and optimize all operational fidelities, collection efficiencies and rates. This allows us to generate heralded entanglement between them approximately once an hour. The distance provides us with time to read out the electronic spin state in each diamond, faster than any lightlike signal could travel between them. The high-fidelity entangled state preparation and spin readout are sufficient to violate the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt Bell-inequality. Combined with fast random number generators and a robust statistical analysis, we find a significant rejection of the local-realist hypothesis, without requiring additional experimental assumptions. The results in this thesis open the door to various applications in quantum information processing. In particular, a remote photonic entangling operation may enable future quantum networks. In such a network the nodes would be formed by the NV centre's combined electronic and nuclear spin register. The nodes would be linked by photonic entanglement operations. Such a network could be used for long distance secure communication, provide a connection between separated quantum computers, or form the basis of a fault tolerant quantum computer by itself. Furthermore, a loophole-free Bell test demonstrates the possibility to do device independent randomness generation and key distribution, that could form the basis for future secure communication channels.