Hyperfine-assisted fast electric control of dopant nuclear spins in semiconductors

Abstract

Nuclear spins of dopant atoms in semiconductors are promising candidates as quantum bits, due to the long lifetime of their quantum states. Conventionally, coherent control of nuclear spins is done using ac magnetic fields. Using the example of a phosphorus atom in silicon, we theoretically demonstrate that hyperfine interaction can enhance the speed of magnetic control: the electron on the donor amplifies the ac magnetic field felt by the nuclear spin. Based on that result, we show that hyperfine interaction also provides a means to control the nuclear spin efficiently using an ac electric field, in the presence of intrinsic or artificial spin-orbit interaction. This electric control scheme is especially efficient and noise-resilient in a hybrid dot-donor system holding two electrons in the presence of an inhomogeneous magnetic field. The mechanisms proposed here could be used as building blocks in nuclear-spin-based electronic quantum information architectures.