High-fidelity quantum memory utilizing inhomogeneous nuclear polarization in a quantum dot

Abstract: We numerically investigate the encoding and retrieval processes for a quantum memory realized in a semiconductor quantum dot, by focusing on the effect of inhomogeneously polarized nuclear spins whose polarization depends on the local hyperfine coupling strength. We find that the performance of the quantum memory is significantly improved by the inhomogeneous nuclear polarization, as compared to the homogeneous one. Moreover, the narrower the nuclear polarization distribution is, the better the performance of the quantum memory is. We ascribe the performance improvement to the full harnessing of the highly polarized and strongly coupled nuclear spins, by carefully studying the entropy change of individual nuclear spins during encoding process. Our results shed new light on the implementation of a quantum memory in a quantum dot.