Letter abstract


Nature Nanotechnology 2, 622 - 625 (2007)
Published online: 30 September 2007 | doi:10.1038/nnano.2007.302

Subject Categories: Electronic properties and devices | Quantum information

A Ge/Si heterostructure nanowire-based double quantum dot with integrated charge sensor

Yongjie Hu1,4, Hugh O. H. Churchill2,4, David J. Reilly2, Jie Xiang1, Charles M. Lieber1,3 & Charles M. Marcus2


One proposal for a solid-state-based quantum bit (qubit) is to control coupled electron spins on adjacent semiconductor quantum dots1, 2. Most experiments have focused on quantum dots made from III–V semiconductors; however, the coherence of electron spins in these materials is limited by hyperfine interactions with nuclear spins3, 4, 5, 6. Ge/Si core/shell nanowires seem ideally suited to overcome this limitation, because the most abundant nuclei in Ge and Si have spin zero and the nanowires can be chemically synthesized defect-free with tunable properties7. Here, we present a double quantum dot based on Ge/Si nanowires in which we can completely control the coupling between the dots and to the leads. We also demonstrate that charge on the double dot can be detected by coupling it capacitively to an adjacent nanowire quantum dot. The double quantum dot and integrated charge sensor serve as an essential building block to form a solid-state qubit free of nuclear spin.

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  1. Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
  2. Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
  3. School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
  4. These authors contributed equally to this work.

Correspondence to: Charles M. Lieber1,3 e-mail: cml@cmliris.harvard.edu

Correspondence to: Charles M. Marcus2 e-mail: marcus@harvard.edu

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