NTT Basic Research Laboratories in collaboration with the Japan Science and Technology Agency have successfully demonstrated coherent control over nuclear spins, which are expected to be highly suitable for quantum computation as quantum bits, using an all-electrical semiconductor nanoscale device, and furthermore, demonstrated coherent oscillations with all possible transitions in all constituent nuclides (types of nuclei) of the device.
The nuclear spin controlling device is constructed by combing a point contact, which is a standard semiconductor nanodevice, and an antenna gate for applying electromagnetic radiation. The present work clearly demonstrates that the device is highly suited as a nuclear spin based quantum information processing device. By manipulating the various coherences of the device, solid-state quantum algorithms will become possible and further steps can be taken toward achieving a real practical quantum computer.

The present achievements will be published in the 21st April issue of the British journal Nature.

G. Yusa, K. Muraki, K. Takashina, K. Hashimoto, and Y. Hirayama, "Controlled multiple quantum coherences of nuclear spins in a nanometre-scale device" (NTT Basic Research Laboratories and SORST-JST), Nature434, 1001-1005 (21st April 2005).

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