Repetitive single electron spin readout in silicon

Abstract: Single electron spins confined in silicon quantum dots hold great promise as a quantum computing architecture with demonstrations of long coherence times, high-fidelity quantum logic gates, basic quantum algorithms and device scalability. While single-shot spin detection is now a laboratory routine, the need for quantum error correction in a large-scale quantum computing device demands a quantum non-demolition (QND) implementation. Unlike conventional counterparts, the QND spin readout imposes minimal disturbance to the probed spin polarization and can therefore be repeated to extinguish measurement errors. However, it has remained elusive for an electron spin in silicon as it involves exquisite exposure of the system to the external circuitry for readout while maintaining the coherence and integrity of the qubit. Here we show that an electron spin qubit in silicon can be measured in a highly non-demolition manner by probing another electron spin in a neighboring dot Ising-coupled to the qubit spin. The high non-demolition fidelity (99% on average) enables over 20 readout repetitions of a single spin state, yielding an overall average measurement fidelity of up to 95% within 1.2 ms. We further demonstrate that our repetitive QND readout protocol can realize heralded high-fidelity (> 99.6%) ground-state preparation. Our QND-based measurement and preparation, mediated by a second qubit of the same kind, will allow for a new class of quantum information protocols with electron spins in silicon without compromising the architectural homogeneity.