A single hole spin with enhanced coherence in natural silicon

Area of Science:

• Quantum computing
• Semiconductor physics
• Spintronics

Background:

• Semiconductor spin qubits utilize spin-orbit states for electric field control, enabling practical and scalable qubit operations.
• However, spin electric susceptibility makes these qubits susceptible to electrical noise, limiting their coherence times.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate a single-hole spin-orbit qubit in a natural silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor device.
• To identify operational conditions that minimize charge noise while maintaining efficient electric-dipole spin control.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a single-hole qubit in a natural silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor structure.
• Systematic variation of magnetic field orientation to locate qubit operation sweet spots.
• Measurement of Hahn-echo coherence times to assess qubit performance.

Main Results:

• Identification of operation sweet spots that significantly reduce charge noise impact.
• Observation of extended Hahn-echo coherence times up to 88 microseconds for hole spin qubits.
• Coherence times approaching state-of-the-art values for electron spin qubits in purified silicon.

Conclusions:

• Demonstration of a viable strategy to mitigate charge noise in silicon spin-orbit qubits.
• Significant enhancement of coherence times for hole spin qubits, improving their suitability for quantum information processing.
• Increased prospects for scalable silicon-based quantum computing utilizing hole spin qubits.