Single-Shot Quantum Non-Demolition Measurement of a Quantum Dot Electron Spin, using Cavity Exciton-Polaritons

Abstract

We propose a scheme to perform single-shot quantum non-demolition (QND) readout of the spin of an electron trapped in a semiconductor quantum dot (QD). Our proposal relies on the interaction of the QD electron spin with optically excited, quantum well (QW) microcavity exciton-polaritons. The spin-dependent Coulomb exchange interaction between the QD electron and cavity polaritons causes the phase and intensity response of left circularly polarized light to be different to that of the right circularly polarized light, in such a way that the QD electron's spin can be inferred from the response to a linearly polarized probe. We show that, by careful design of a sample with coupled QD and QW, it is possible to eliminate spin-flip Raman transitions. Thus, a QND measurement of the QD electron spin can be performed within a few 10's of nanoseconds with fidelity $\sim 99.9$%. This improves upon current optical QD spin readout techniques across multiple metrics, including speed and scalability.