Quantum information transfer between photonic and
quantum-dot spin qubits
Ruitong Zhao (赵瑞通) and Ruisheng Liang (梁瑞生)*
Laboratory of Nanophotonic Functional Materials and Devices, School for Information and Optoelectronic Science and
Engineering, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China
*Corresponding author: liangrs@scnu.edu.cn
Received November 18, 2015; accepted March 11, 2016; posted online May 3, 2016
We propose schemes for the efficient information transfer between a propagating photon and a quantum-dot
(QD) spin qubit in an optical microcavity that have no auxiliary particles required. With these methods, the
information transfer between two photons or two QD spins can also be achieved. All of our proposals can work
with high fidelity, even with a high leakage rate. What is more, each information transfer process above can also
be seen as a controlled-NOT (CNOT) operation. It is found that the information transfer can be equivalent to a
CNOT gate. These proposals will promote more efficient quantum information networks and quantum
computation.
OCIS codes: 270.0270, 270.5565, 270.5585.
doi: 10.3788/COL201614.062701.
The faithful transfer of quantum information and logical
operation between a propagating photon and a stationary
qubit plays a significant role in quantum information
science such as quantum networks
[1]
, quantum repeaters
[2]
,
and optics quantum computing
[3,4]
, since photons are the
perfect candidates for fast and reliable long-distance
communication, while stationary qubits are suitable for
processor and local storage. Some schemes for the interac-
tion between photonic and stationary qubits, for example
atomic qubits
[5,6]
, have been reported. In recent years,
semiconductor quantum dots (QDs) have attracted exten-
sive attention. As romising solid-state qubits, single spin
confined in QD has a long coherence time
[7,8]
and a
potential for integration on a chip
[9,10]
. Moreover, QD
manipulation has had significant progress
[11–13]
. Many
quantum communication and quantum computation
schemes have been proposed based on QD spins combined
with optical microcavities such as entanglement measure-
ments
[14,15]
, quantum logic gates
[16–19]
, entanglement gener-
ators
[20]
, and quantum repeaters
[21]
. In 2013, Gao et al.
experimentally demonstrated the transfer of quantum in-
formation carried by a photonic qubit to a QD spin qubit
using quantum teleportation
[22]
. They generated an en-
tangled spin-photon state in a QD and interfered the pho -
ton with a single photon in a superposition state of two
colors, i.e., a photonic qubit in a Hong–Ou–Mandel
setup. A coincidence detection at the output of the inter-
ferometer heralds a successful teleportation. The demon-
stration of successful quantum teleportation of photonic
and QD spin qubits could promote the realization of
on-chip quantum networks based on semiconductor
nanostructures.
The interaction between a circularly polarized beam of
light and a QD-cavity system is introduced first. Then, we
propose information transfer between a photon and a QD
spin in an optical microcavity, with no auxiliary particle
required. The information transfer between two photons
or two QD spins is proposed with a QD spin or a photon
as auxiliary photon. All of the information transfer proc-
esses above can be achieved deterministically and can be
seen as controlled-NOT (CNOT) gates for quantum
computation.
Considering a singly charged QD in an optical micro-
cavity shown in Fig.
1, if the injected excess electron spin
is in the state j↑i, the QD-cavity system resonantly ab-
sorbs a left-handed circularly polarized beam of light
jLi and creates a negatively charged exciton in the state
j↑↓⇑i. If the injected excess electron spin is in the state j↓i,
the QD-cavity system resonantly absorbs a right-handed
circularly polarized beam of light jRi and creates a nega-
tively charged exciton in the state j↓↑⇓i. Here, j⇑i and j⇓i
represent the heavy-hole spin states jþ
3
2
i and j −
3
2
i, re-
spectively. Due to this spin selection rule, the L- and
R-light encounter different phase shifts after reflection
from the cavity syste m.
The Heisenberg equations for the cavity field operator
ˆ
a
and the QD dipole (X
−
) operator ˆσ
−
in the interaction
picture, and the input-output equation are given by
[23]
Fig. 1. Spin-dependent transitions for negatively charged exci-
ton X
−
. (a) A charged QD inside a micropillar microcavity with
circular cross section. (b) The spin selection rule for optical
transitions of negatively charged exciton X
−
due to the Pauli’s
exclusion principle. L and R represent the left- and the right-
hand circularly polarized lights, respectively.
COL 14(6), 062701(2016) CHINESE OPTICS LETTERS June 10, 2016
1671-7694/2016/062701(5) 062701-1 © 2016 Chinese Optics Letters