G. Scappucci
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Constricting transport through a one-dimensional quantum point contact in the quantum Hall regime enables gate-tunable selection of the edge modes propagating between voltage probe electrodes. Here, we investigate the quantum Hall effect in a quantum point contact fabricated on low disorder strained germanium quantum wells. For increasing magnetic field, we observe Zeeman spin-split 1D ballistic hole transport evolving to integer quantum Hall states, with well-defined quantized conductance increasing in multiples of e 2 / h down to the first integer filling factor ν = 1. These results establish strained germanium as a viable platform for complex experiments probing many-body states and quantum phase transitions.
Understanding scattering mechanisms in semiconductor heterostructures is crucial to reducing sources of disorder and ensuring high yield and uniformity in large spin qubit arrays. Disorder of the parent two-dimensional electron or hole gas is commonly estimated by the critical, percolation-driven density associated with the metal–insulator transition. However, a reliable estimation of the critical density within percolation theory is hindered by the need to measure conductivity with high precision at low carrier densities, where experiments are most difficult. Here, we connect experimentally percolation density and quantum Hall plateau width, in line with an earlier heuristic intuition, and offer an alternative method for characterizing semiconductor heterostructure disorder.
The simplicity of encoding a qubit in the state of a single electron spin and the potential for their integration into industry-standard microchips continue to drive the field of semiconductor-based quantum computing. After a series of key first-principles demonstrations validating universal gate operations, initialization and readout, three-qubit algorithms have already been realized with silicon-based quantum dots in past years. Devices containing more qubits have become available since then but experiments have not gone beyond meeting the DiVincenzo criteria. In this work, we fully exploit the capacity of a spin-qubit array and implement a six-qubit quantum circuit, the largest utilizing semiconductor quantum technology. By programming the quantum processor, we execute quantum circuits across all permutations of three, four, five, and six neighboring qubits, demonstrating successful programmable multi-qubit operation throughout the array. Using an error model that incorporates quasi-static noise allows us to qualitatively explain some key trends in our experimental results and highlight the necessity to minimize idling times through simultaneous operations, extending dephasing times, and consistently improving state preparation and measurement fidelities.
Quantum simulators enable studies of many-body phenomena, which are intractable with classical hardware. The manipulation of electronic spin states in devices based on semiconductor quantum dots promises precise electrical control and scalability advantages, but accessing many-body phenomena has so far been restricted by challenges in nanofabrication and simultaneous control of multiple interactions. in this study, we performed spectroscopy of up to eight interacting spins using a 2-×-4 array of gate-defined germanium quantum dots. The spectroscopy protocol is based on ramsey interferometry and adiabatic mapping of many-body eigenstates to single-spin eigenstates, enabling complete energy spectrum reconstruction. As the interaction strength exceeds magnetic disorder, we observed signatures of the crossover from localization to a chaotic phase marking a step toward the observation of many-body phenomena in quantum dot systems.
Silicon-quantum-dot spin qubits have become a promising platform for scalable quantum computing because of their small size and compatibility with industrial semiconductor manufacturing processes. Although Si/SiGe heterostructures are commonly used to host spin qubits due to their high mobility and low percolation density, the SiGe spacer creates a gap between the qubits and control electrodes, which limits the ability to tune the exchange coupling. As a result, residual coupling leads to unwanted single-qubit phase shifts, making multi-qubit control more difficult. In this work, we explore swapping the roles of overlapping nanogates to overcome this issue. By reconfiguring the gate voltages, we demonstrate in situ role switching while maintaining multi-qubit control. Additionally, this method improves the tunability of the exchange coupling by up to 3.6 times. This strategy reduces unintended single-qubit phase shifts and minimizes the complexity of multi-qubit control, supporting scalable growth with minimal experimental overhead.
Germanium spin qubits offer high-fidelity control via strong spin-orbit interaction, but their magnetic field sensitivity typically requires bulky superconducting vector magnets that limit scalability. This study investigates replacing these with an external permanent magnet located outside the cryostat to reclaim internal sample space. By operating in a hybrid mode (internal and external magnets), we fine-tuned the field to an in-plane orientation, achieving a dephasing time T2*=13μs and single-qubit Clifford gate fidelities exceeding 99.9%. Remarkably, we demonstrate qubit operation even with the internal superconducting magnet deactivated. In this regime, we observed extended coherence times of T2*=31μs and T2H=266μs, on a natural Germanium heterostructure. These results demonstrate that room-temperature magnets allow for high qubit performance. This approach facilitates scaling by freeing cryogenic space for essential control circuitry and wiring, paving the way for large-scale quantum processors.
Evaluation of the quantum lifetime in two-dimensional hole systems, together with band-structure parameters such as the effective mass and g factor, becomes challenging when competing energy scales shape Shubnnikov–de Haas oscillations in a magnetic field. Here, we overcome this challenge for holes with pseudospin Jz = ± 2 3, confined in low-disorder strained germanium quantum wells. We extract self-consistently the effective mass, g factor, and quantum lifetime, and estimate a maximum quantum mobility of 133(3) × 103 cm2/V s, setting a benchmark for holes in group IV semiconductors. The high quality of the hole gas if further highlighted by observing clean fractional quantum Hall states at low magnetic field and density.
We investigate low-frequency noise in a spin-qubit device made in isotopically purified Si/Si-Ge. Observing sizable cross-correlations among energy fluctuations of different qubits, we conclude that these fluctuations are dominated by charge noise. At low frequencies, the noise spectra are not well described by a power law; instead, they reveal the presence of a few individual two-level fluctuators (TLFs). We demonstrate that the noise cross-correlations allow one to get information on the spatial location of such individual TLFs.
Buried Unstrained Germanium Channels
A Lattice-Matched Platform for Quantum Technology
The large-scale integration of semiconductor spin qubits into quantum processors will require the characterization of quantum components at scale. However, such characterization is challenging and typically requires radio-frequency measurements at millikelvin temperatures and the presence of magnetic fields. Here we report a scalable architecture for characterizing spin qubits using a quantum dot crossbar array. The approach, which we term as the qubit-array research platform for engineering and testing, uses a crossbar array comprising tightly pitched spin-qubit tiles and is implemented in planar germanium, with the potential to host 1,058 single-hole spin qubits. We measure a subset of 40 tiles and demonstrate key device functionality at millikelvin temperatures, including tile addressability, threshold voltage and charge noise statistics, as well as the characterization of hole spin qubits and their coherence times in a single tile.
Electron spins in silicon offer a promising path toward scalable, fault-tolerant quantum computing, with the potential to host millions of qubits. However, scaling up dense quantum-dot arrays and enabling qubit interconnections through shuttling are hindered by uncontrolled lateral variations of the valley splitting energy EVS. We map EVS across a 40 nm × 400 nm region of a 28Si/Si0.7Ge0.3 shuttle device and analyze the spin coherence of a single electron spin transported by conveyor-belt shuttling. We observe that the EVS varies over a wide range from 1.5 μeV to 200 μeV and is dominated by SiGe alloy disorder. In regions of low EVS and at spin-valley resonances, spin coherence is reduced and its dependence on shuttle velocity matches predictions. Rapid and frequent traversal of low-EVS regions induces a regime of enhanced spin coherence explained by motional narrowing. By selecting shuttle trajectories that avoid problematic areas on the EVS map, we achieve transport over tens of microns with coherence limited by the coupling to a static electron spin entangled with the mobile qubit. Our results provide experimental confirmation of the theory of spin decoherence of mobile electron spin-qubits and present practical strategies to integrate conveyor-mode qubit shuttling into silicon quantum chips.
The optical generation of an out-of-equilibrium spin population is a keystone process for quantum technologies and spintronics alike. Although this is an established technique for studying direct band-gap semiconductors, it has been proven limited in materials that possess weak oscillator strengths for the optical transitions. We address the problem by presenting an all-optical analog of the spin-pumping method. By applying this concept to a Ge-on-Si heterostructure, we observe luminescence from Si with a polarization degree as high as 9%. The progressive etching of the absorbing layer, assisted by magneto-optic experiments, allows us to ascertain that the polarized emission is determined by effective spin injection aided by the carrier lifetime shortening due to extended defects. These findings can facilitate the use of highly promising spin-dependent phenomena of Si, whose optical exploitation has been hampered by fundamental limitations due to its peculiar electronic structure.
The scalability and power of quantum computing architectures depend critically on high-fidelity operations and robust and flexible qubit connectivity1, 2–3. In this respect, mobile qubits are particularly attractive as they enable dynamic and reconfigurable qubit arrays. This approach allows quantum processors to adapt their connectivity patterns during operation, implement different quantum error correction codes on the same hardware and optimize resource use through dedicated functional zones for specific operations such as measurement or entanglement generation4, 5, 6–7. Such flexibility also relieves architectural constraints, as recently demonstrated in atomic systems based on trapped ions4,5 and neutral atoms manipulated with optical tweezers6,7. In solid-state platforms, highly coherent shuttling of electron spins was recently reported8,9. A key outstanding question is whether it may be possible to perform quantum gates directly on the mobile spins. Here we demonstrate two-qubit operations between two electron spins carried towards each other in separate travelling potential minima in a semiconductor device. We find that the interaction strength is highly tunable by their spatial separation. When we shuttle the two spins towards the centre by 120 nm each for a total displacement of 240 nm, we achieve an average two-qubit gate fidelity of about 99%. Furthermore, we implement conditional post-selected quantum state teleportation between qubits separated by 320 nm with an average gate fidelity of 87%, showcasing the potential of mobile spin qubits for non-local quantum information processing. We expect that operations on mobile qubits will become a universal feature of future large-scale semiconductor quantum processors.
Recent advances in coherent spin shuttling have made sparse semiconductor spin-qubit arrays an appealing solid-state platform to realize quantum processors1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6–7. The dynamic and long-range connectivity enabled by shuttling is also essential for many quantum error-correction schemes8, 9–10. Here we demonstrate a silicon spin-qubit device comprising a shuttling bus for coherently transporting qubits that can interact at four isolated locations that we call bus stops. We dynamically populate the array and tune all single- and two-qubit operations using shuttling and quantum non-demolition spin measurements, without access to charge sensing in most of the device. We achieve universal control of the effective five-qubit processor and select the connectivity required to form a surface-code stabilizer plaquette that supports X- and Z-type parity checks up to weight four. We use the parity checks to generate multi-qubit entanglement between all qubit combinations in the array and report the genuine entanglement of a five-qubit Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger state, constituting one of the largest such states constructed with gate-defined semiconductor spins. The protocols developed here lay the groundwork for modular calibration and operation of sparse spin-qubit arrays, and we highlight the feasibility of near-term quantum error-correction experiments with mobile spin qubits.
Semiconductor spin qubits have emerged as a promising platform for quantum computing, following a significant improvement in their control fidelities over recent years. Increasing the qubit count remains challenging, beginning with the fabrication of small features and complex fan-outs. A particular challenge has been formed by the need for individual barrier gates to control the exchange interaction between adjacent spin qubits. Here, we propose a method to vary two-qubit interactions without applying pulses on individual barrier gates while also remaining insensitive to detuning noise in first order. Experimentally we find that changing plunger gate voltages over 300 mV can tune the exchange energy J from 100 kHz to 60 MHz. This allows us to perform two-qubit operations without changing the barrier gate voltage. Based on these findings we conceptualize a spin qubit architecture without individual barrier gates, simplifying the fabrication while maintaining the control necessary for universal quantum computation.
The computational power and fault tolerance of future large-scale quantum processors derive in large part from the connectivity between the qubits. One approach to increase connectivity is to engineer qubit–qubit interactions at a distance. Alternatively, the connectivity can be increased by physically displacing the qubits. For semiconductor spin qubits, several studies have investigated spin coherent shuttling of individual electrons, but high-fidelity transport over extended distances remains to be demonstrated. Here we report shuttling of an electron inside an isotopically purified Si/SiGe heterostructure using electric gate potentials. In a first set of experiments, we form static quantum dots and study how spin coherence decays during bucket-brigade shuttling, where we repeatedly move a single electron between up to five dots. Next, for conveyor-mode shuttling, we create a travelling-wave potential, formed with either one or two sets of sine waves, to transport an electron in a moving quantum dot. This method shows a spin coherence an order of magnitude better than the bucket-brigade shuttling. It allows us to displace an electron over an effective distance of 10 μm in under 200 ns while preserving the spin state with a fidelity of 99.5% on average. These results will guide future efforts to realize large-scale semiconductor quantum processors, making use of electron shuttling both within and between qubit arrays.
Electron-spin qubits in Si/SiGe quantum wells are limited by the small and variable energy separation of the conduction-band valleys. While sharp quantum-well interfaces are pursued to increase the valley-splitting energy deterministically, here we explore an alternative approach to enhancing the valley splitting on average. We grow increasingly thinner quantum wells with broad interfaces to controllably increase the electron wave function overlap with Ge atoms. Quantum Hall measurements of two-dimensional electron gases reveal a linear correlation between valley splitting and disorder-induced single-particle energy-level broadening, driven by increasing alloy scattering at the Si/SiGe interface. We demonstrate enhanced valley splitting while maintaining respectable electron mobility, indicating a low-disorder electrostatic potential environment. Simulations using experimental Ge concentration profiles predict an average valley splitting in quantum dots that matches the enhancement observed in two-dimensional systems. Our results motivate the experimental realization of quantum-dot spin qubits in these heterostructures.
An electron confined by a semiconductor quantum dot (QD) can be displaced by changes in electron occupations of surrounding QDs owing to the Coulomb interaction. For a single-spin qubit in an inhomogeneous magnetic field, such a positional displacement of the host electron results in a qubit energy shift, which must be handled carefully for high-fidelity operations. Here, we spectroscopically investigate the qubit energy shift induced by changes in charge occupations of nearby QDs for a silicon single-spin qubit in a magnetic field gradient. Between two different charge configurations of an adjacent double QD, a spin qubit shows an energy shift of about 4 MHz, which necessitates strict management of electron positions over a QD array. We confirm a correlation between the qubit frequency and the charge configuration by using a postselection analysis.
Micromagnet-enabled electric-dipole spin resonance (EDSR) is an established method for high-fidelity single-spin control in silicon, although so far experiments have been restricted to one-dimensional arrays. In contrast, qubit control based on hopping spins has recently emerged as a compelling alternative, with high-fidelity baseband control realized in sparse two-dimensional hole arrays in germanium. In this work, we commission a 28Si/SiGe 2 × 2 quantum dot array both as a four-qubit device using EDSR and as a two-qubit device using baseband hopping control. We establish a lower bound on the fidelity of the hopping gate of 99.50(6)%, which is similar to the average fidelity of the resonant gate. The hopping gate also circumvents the transient pulse-induced resonance shift from heating observed during EDSR operation. To motivate hopping spins as an attractive means of scaling silicon spin-qubit arrays, we propose an extensible nanomagnet design that enables engineered baseband control of large spin arrays.