Present Status and Future Prospects of Quantum Information Processing: With Special Focus on Optically Controlled Semiconductor Spins and Single-Photon Technologies

Abstract

The scheme of directly controlling electron spins trapped in semiconductor quantum dots or donor impurities as qubits using optical pulses has various advantages, such as the achievements of local excitation and fast operation, low power consumption, easy implementation of an interface with optical fiber communication networks, and the capability of transferring information to nuclear spins, which are expected to serve as quantum memories with a long coherence time. In this report, I introduce the present status of the research and development of this scheme and discuss its potential application to quantum information processing.