A quantum phase switch between a single solid-state spin and a photon

Interactions between single spins and photons are essential for quantum networks and distributed quantum computation. Achieving spin–photon interactions in a solid-state device could enable compact chip-integrated quantum circuits operating at gigahertz bandwidths. Many theoretical works have sugges...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inNature nanotechnology Vol. 11; no. 6; pp. 539 - 544
Main Authors Sun, Shuo, Kim, Hyochul, Solomon, Glenn S., Waks, Edo
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.06.2016
Nature Publishing Group
Subjects
639/624/400/3925
639/624/400/482
639/766/483/3925
639/766/483/481
639/925/927/1021
Devices
Embedded structures
High speed
Information processing
Materials Science
Nanostructure
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology and Microengineering
Networks
Photons
Proposals
Quantum computing
Quantum phenomena
Solid state devices
Switches
Switching theory
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Summary:Interactions between single spins and photons are essential for quantum networks and distributed quantum computation. Achieving spin–photon interactions in a solid-state device could enable compact chip-integrated quantum circuits operating at gigahertz bandwidths. Many theoretical works have suggested using spins embedded in nanophotonic structures to attain this high-speed interface. These proposals implement a quantum switch where the spin flips the state of the photon and a photon flips the spin state. However, such a switch has not yet been realized using a solid-state spin system. Here, we report an experimental realization of a spin–photon quantum switch using a single solid-state spin embedded in a nanophotonic cavity. We show that the spin state strongly modulates the polarization of a reflected photon, and a single reflected photon coherently rotates the spin state. These strong spin–photon interactions open up a promising direction for solid-state implementations of high-speed quantum networks and on-chip quantum information processors using nanophotonic devices. Placing a single solid-state spin in an optical nanocavity results in a switch that operates at the fundamental quantum limit, where the spin modulates the polarization of a photon and a single photon flips the spin state.
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ISSN:1748-3387
1748-3395
DOI:10.1038/nnano.2015.334