Long spin coherence in silicon with an electrical spin trap readout

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that highly polarized conduction electrons interacting with phosphorus donors in silicon enable electrical detection of spin coherence times exceeding 100 microseconds, significantly surpassing previous results.

Contribution

It introduces a method for electrical spin readout in silicon that achieves much longer coherence times by utilizing highly polarized electrons at high magnetic fields.

Findings

Electrical detection of spin coherence times over 100 microseconds

Polarized conduction electrons reduce decoherence in silicon

Achieved 50-fold increase over previous spin readout durations

Abstract

Pulsed electrically-detected magnetic resonance of phosphorous (31P) in bulk crystalline silicon at very high magnetic fields (B > 8.5 T) and low temperatures (T = 2.8 K) is presented. We find that the spin-dependent capture and reemission of highly polarized (>95%) conduction electrons by equally highly polarized 31P donor electrons introduces less decoherence than other mechanisms for spin-to-charge conversion. This allows the electrical detection of spin coherence times in excess of 100 microseconds: 50 times longer than the previous maximum for electrically-detected spin readout experiments.