Optical spin locking of a solid-state qubit

Abstract

Abstract Quantum control of solid-state spin qubits typically involves pulses in the microwave domain, drawing from the well-developed toolbox of magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Driving a solid-state spin by optical means offers a high-speed alternative, which in the presence of limited spin coherence makes it the preferred approach for high-fidelity quantum control. Bringing the full versatility of magnetic spin resonance to the optical domain requires full phase and amplitude control of the optical fields. Here, we imprint a programmable microwave sequence onto a laser field and perform electron spin resonance in a semiconductor quantum dot via a two-photon Raman process. We show that this approach yields full SU(2) spin control with over $$98 \%$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>98</mml:mn> <mml:mi>%</mml:mi> <mml:mspace/> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> $$\pi$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>π</mml:mi> </mml:math> -rotation fidelity. We then demonstrate its versatility by implementing a particular multi-axis control sequence, known as spin locking. Combined with electron-nuclear Hartmann–Hahn resonances which we also report in this work, this sequence will enable efficient coherent transfer of a quantum state from the electron spin to the mesoscopic nuclear ensemble.