Parallel single-shot measurement and coherent control of solid-state spins below the diffraction limit

Abstract

Solid-state spin defects are a promising platform for quantum science and technology, having realized demonstrations of a variety of key components for quantum information processing, particularly in the area of quantum networks. An outstanding challenge for building larger-scale quantum systems with solid-state defects is realizing high-fidelity control over multiple defects with nanoscale separations, which is required to realize strong spin-spin interactions for multi-qubit logic and the creation of entangled states. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate an optical frequency-domain multiplexing technique, allowing high-fidelity initialization and single-shot spin measurement of six rare earth (Er$^{3+}$) ions, within the sub-wavelength volume of a single, silicon photonic crystal cavity. We also demonstrate sub-wavelength control over coherent spin rotations using an optical AC Stark shift. The demonstrated approach may be scaled to large numbers of ions with arbitrarily small separation, and is a significant step towards realizing strongly interacting atomic defect arrays with applications to quantum information processing and fundamental studies of many-body dynamics.