Abstract
Many of the most promising quantum information platforms store quantum information in electronic or atomic spins. To incorporate these devices into quantum networks, a spin–photon interface is required. Currently, the best on-demand single-photon sources use a semiconductor quantum dot in an engineered photonic environment. However, it is difficult to achieve coherent spin control in a high-performance single-photon source, and spin coherence is limited by magnetic noise from nuclear spins in the semiconductor host material. Here we combine all-optical spin control with a quantum dot in an open microcavity. We demonstrate fast coherent rotations of a hole spin around an arbitrary axis of the Bloch sphere with a maximum π-pulse fidelity of 98.6%. To suppress the slow magnetic noise, we laser cool the nuclear spins using the hole as a central spin. This extends the hole spin free-induction-decay time by more than an order of magnitude. It becomes much larger than both rotation time and radiative recombination time of the spin, enabling the creation of many spin–photon pairs before the loss of spin coherence.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$32.99 / 30 days
cancel any time
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to the full article PDF.
USD 39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The data presented in the main text are available via Zenodo at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15721612 (ref. 72). Source data are provided with this paper.
Code availability
The code that supports the findings of this study is available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.
References
DiVincenzo, D. P. The physical implementation of quantum computation. Fortschr. Phys. 48, 771–783 (2000).
Kimble, H. J. The quantum internet. Nature 453, 1023–1030 (2008).
Lindner, N. H. & Rudolph, T. Proposal for pulsed on-demand sources of photonic cluster state strings. Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 113602 (2009).
Thomas, P., Ruscio, L., Morin, O. & Rempe, G. Efficient generation of entangled multiphoton graph states from a single atom. Nature 608, 677–681 (2022).
Tiurev, K. et al. High-fidelity multiphoton-entangled cluster state with solid-state quantum emitters in photonic nanostructures. Phys. Rev. A 105, L030601 (2022).
Raussendorf, R. & Briegel, H. J. A one-way quantum computer. Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 5188–5191 (2001).
Raussendorf, R., Browne, D. E. & Briegel, H. J. Measurement-based quantum computation on cluster states. Phys. Rev. A 68, 022312 (2003).
Briegel, H. J., Browne, D. E., Dür, W., Raussendorf, R. & Van den Nest, M. Measurement-based quantum computation. Nat. Phys. 5, 19–26 (2009).
Azuma, K., Tamaki, K. & Lo, H.-K. All-photonic quantum repeaters. Nat. Commun. 6, 6787 (2015).
Buterakos, D., Barnes, E. & Economou, S. E. Deterministic generation of all-photonic quantum repeaters from solid-state emitters. Phys. Rev. X 7, 041023 (2017).
Borregaard, J. et al. One-way quantum repeater based on near-deterministic photon-emitter interfaces. Phys. Rev. X 10, 021071 (2020).
Wilk, T., Webster, S. C., Kuhn, A. & Rempe, G. Single-atom single-photon quantum interface. Science 317, 488–490 (2007).
Ritter, S. et al. An elementary quantum network of single atoms in optical cavities. Nature 484, 195–200 (2012).
Togan, E. et al. Quantum entanglement between an optical photon and a solid-state spin qubit. Nature 466, 730–734 (2010).
Bernien, H. et al. Heralded entanglement between solid-state qubits separated by three metres. Nature 497, 86–90 (2013).
Stas, P.-J. et al. Robust multi-qubit quantum network node with integrated error detection. Science 378, 557–560 (2022).
Knaut, C. M. et al. Entanglement of nanophotonic quantum memory nodes in a telecom network. Nature 629, 573–578 (2024).
Gao, W. B., Fallahi, P., Togan, E., Miguel-Sanchez, J. & Imamoglu, A. Observation of entanglement between a quantum dot spin and a single photon. Nature 491, 426–430 (2012).
Schwartz, I. et al. Deterministic generation of a cluster state of entangled photons. Science 354, 434–437 (2016).
Appel, M. H. et al. Entangling a hole spin with a time-bin photon: a waveguide approach for quantum dot sources of multiphoton entanglement. Phys. Rev. Lett. 128, 233602 (2022).
Coste, N. et al. High-rate entanglement between a semiconductor spin and indistinguishable photons. Nat. Photon. 17, 582–587 (2023).
Cogan, D., Su, Z.-E., Kenneth, O. & Gershoni, D. Deterministic generation of indistinguishable photons in a cluster state. Nat. Photon. 17, 324–329 (2023).
Meng, Y. et al. Deterministic photon source of genuine three-qubit entanglement. Nat. Commun. 15, 7774 (2024).
Meng, Y. et al. Photonic fusion of entangled resource states from a quantum emitter. Preprint at https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.09070 (2023).
Zhai, L. et al. Quantum interference of identical photons from remote GaAs quantum dots. Nat. Nanotechnol. 17, 829–833 (2022).
Santori, C., Fattal, D., Vučković, J., Solomon, G. S. & Yamamoto, Y. Indistinguishable photons from a single-photon device. Nature 419, 594–597 (2002).
Somaschi, N. et al. Near-optimal single-photon sources in the solid state. Nat. Photon. 10, 340–345 (2016).
Wang, H. et al. Boson sampling with 20 input photons and a 60-mode interferometer in a 1014-dimensional Hilbert space. Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 250503 (2019).
Liu, F. et al. High Purcell factor generation of indistinguishable on-chip single photons. Nat. Nanotechnol. 13, 835–840 (2018).
Arcari, M. et al. Near-unity coupling efficiency of a quantum emitter to a photonic crystal waveguide. Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 093603 (2014).
Uppu, R. et al. Scalable integrated single-photon source. Sci. Adv. 6, eabc8268 (2020).
Liu, J. et al. A solid-state source of strongly entangled photon pairs with high brightness and indistinguishability. Nat. Nanotechnol. 14, 586–593 (2019).
Barbour, R. J. et al. A tunable microcavity. J. Appl. Phys. 110, 053107 (2011).
Tomm, N. et al. A bright and fast source of coherent single photons. Nat. Nanotechnol. 16, 399–403 (2021).
Ding, X. et al. High-efficiency single-photon source above the loss-tolerant threshold for efficient linear optical quantum computing. Nat. Photon. 19, 387–391 (2025).
Stockill, R. et al. Quantum dot spin coherence governed by a strained nuclear environment. Nat. Commun. 7, 12745 (2016).
Brunner, D. et al. A coherent single-hole spin in a semiconductor. Science 325, 70–72 (2009).
De Greve, K. et al. Ultrafast coherent control and suppressed nuclear feedback of a single quantum dot hole qubit. Nat. Phys. 7, 872–878 (2011).
Prechtel, J. H. et al. Decoupling a hole spin qubit from the nuclear spins. Nat. Mater. 15, 981–986 (2016).
Huthmacher, L. et al. Coherence of a dynamically decoupled quantum-dot hole spin. Phys. Rev. B 97, 241413 (2018).
Prechtel, J. H. et al. Electrically tunable hole g factor of an optically active quantum dot for fast spin rotations. Phys. Rev. B 91, 165304 (2015).
Fischer, J., Coish, W. A., Bulaev, D. V. & Loss, D. Spin decoherence of a heavy hole coupled to nuclear spins in a quantum dot. Phys. Rev. B 78, 155329 (2008).
Éthier-Majcher, G. et al. Improving a solid-state qubit through an engineered mesoscopic environment. Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 130503 (2017).
Gangloff, D. A. et al. Quantum interface of an electron and a nuclear ensemble. Science 364, 62–66 (2019).
Jackson, D. M. et al. Optimal purification of a spin ensemble by quantum-algorithmic feedback. Phys. Rev. X 12, 031014 (2022).
Nguyen, G. N. et al. Enhanced electron-spin coherence in a GaAs quantum emitter. Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 210805 (2023).
Zaporski, L. et al. Ideal refocusing of an optically active spin qubit under strong hyperfine interactions. Nat. Nanotechnol. 18, 257–263 (2023).
Press, D. et al. Ultrafast optical spin echo in a single quantum dot. Nat. Photon. 4, 367–370 (2010).
Bodey, J. H. et al. Optical spin locking of a solid-state qubit. npj Quantum Inf. 5, 95 (2019).
Jackson, D. M. et al. Quantum sensing of a coherent single spin excitation in a nuclear ensemble. Nat. Phys. 17, 585–590 (2021).
Najer, D. et al. A gated quantum dot strongly coupled to an optical microcavity. Nature 575, 622–627 (2019).
Atatüre, M. et al. Quantum-dot spin-state preparation with near-unity fidelity. Science 312, 551–553 (2006).
Xu, X. et al. Fast spin state initialization in a singly charged InAs-GaAs quantum dot by optical cooling. Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 097401 (2007).
Fuchs, G. D., Dobrovitski, V. V., Toyli, D. M., Heremans, F. J. & Awschalom, D. D. Gigahertz dynamics of a strongly driven single quantum spin. Science 326, 1520–1522 (2009).
Laucht, A. et al. Breaking the rotating wave approximation for a strongly driven dressed single-electron spin. Phys. Rev. B 94, 161302 (2016).
Nguyen, G. et al. Influence of molecular beam effusion cell quality on optical and electrical properties of quantum dots and quantum wells. J. Cryst. Growth 550, 125884 (2020).
Ludwig, A. et al. Ultra-low charge and spin noise in self-assembled quantum dots. J. Cryst. Growth 477, 193–196 (2017).
Hartmann, S. R. & Hahn, E. L. Nuclear double resonance in the rotating frame. Phys. Rev. 128, 2042–2053 (1962).
Ribeiro, H., Maier, F. & Loss, D. Inhibition of dynamic nuclear polarization by heavy-hole noncollinear hyperfine interactions. Phys. Rev. B 92, 075421 (2015).
Shofer, N. et al. Tuning the coherent interaction of an electron qubit and a nuclear magnon. Phys. Rev. X 15, 021004 (2025).
Hendrickx, N. W. et al. Sweet-spot operation of a germanium hole spin qubit with highly anisotropic noise sensitivity. Nat. Mater. 23, 920–927 (2024).
Medford, J. et al. Scaling of dynamical decoupling for spin qubits. Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 086802 (2012).
Kuhlmann, A. V. et al. A dark-field microscope for background-free detection of resonance fluorescence from single semiconductor quantum dots operating in a set-and-forget mode. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 84, 073905 (2013).
Trif, M., Simon, P. & Loss, D. Relaxation of hole spins in quantum dots via two-phonon processes. Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 106601 (2009).
Gerardot, B. D. et al. Optical pumping of a single hole spin in a quantum dot. Nature 451, 441–444 (2008).
Heiss, D. et al. Observation of extremely slow hole spin relaxation in self-assembled quantum dots. Phys. Rev. B 76, 241306 (2007).
Lochner, P. et al. Internal photoeffect from a single quantum emitter. Phys. Rev. B 103, 075426 (2021).
Mannel, H. et al. Auger and spin dynamics in a self-assembled quantum dot. J. Appl. Phys. 134, 154304 (2023).
Antoniadis, N. O. et al. Cavity-enhanced single-shot readout of a quantum dot spin within 3 nanoseconds. Nat. Commun. 14, 3977 (2023).
Appel, M. H. et al. A many-body quantum register for a spin qubit. Nat. Phys. 21, 368–373 (2025).
Hunger, D., Deutsch, C., Barbour, R. J., Warburton, R. J. & Reichel, J. Laser micro-fabrication of concave, low-roughness features in silica. AIP Adv. 2, 012119 (2012).
Hogg. M. R. et al. Research data for “Fast optical control of a coherent hole spin in a cavity”. Zenodo https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15721612 (2025).
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge financial support from Horizon 2020 FET-Open Project QLUSTER and Swiss National Science Foundation project 200020_204069. G.N.N. and A.J. acknowledge support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 861097 (QUDOT-TECH) and no. 840453 (HiFig), respectively. S.R.V., R.S., A.L. and A.D.W. gratefully acknowledge support from DFH/UFA CDFA05-06, DFG via ML4Q EXC 2004/1-390534769, and the BMBF projects QR.N 16KIS2200 and QuantERA EQSOTIC 16KIS2061.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
R.J.W., M.R.H., N.O.A. and A.J. conceived and designed the experiments. M.R.H. and N.O.A. performed the experiments with input from A.J., M.A.M., G.N.N., T.L.B. and R.J.W. R.S., S.R.V., A.D.W. and A.L. fabricated and processed the semiconductor device. M.R.H. and N.O.A. performed the analysis with input from R.J.W. M.R.H. and R.J.W. wrote the paper with input from all authors.
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Peer review
Peer review information
Nature Physics thanks the anonymous reviewers for their contribution to the peer review of this work.
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary information
Supplementary Information (download PDF )
Supplementary Figs. 1–11 and discussion.
Source data
Source Data Fig. 1 (download XLSX )
Underlying source data to create the plots in Fig. 1.
Source Data Fig. 2 (download XLSX )
Underlying source data to create the plots in Fig. 2.
Source Data Fig. 3 (download XLSX )
Underlying source data to create the plots in Fig. 3.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Hogg, M.R., Antoniadis, N.O., Marczak, M.A. et al. Fast optical control of a coherent hole spin in a microcavity. Nat. Phys. 21, 1475–1481 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-025-02988-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Version of record:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-025-02988-5
