High temperature spin selectivity in a quantum dot qubit using reservoir spin accumulation

Employing spins in quantum dots for fault-tolerant quantum computing in large-scale qubit arrays with on-chip control electronics requires high-fidelity qubit operation at elevated temperature. This poses a challenge for single spin initialization and readout. Existing schemes rely on Zeeman splitting or Pauli spin blockade with typical energy scales of 0.1 or 1 meV for electron-based qubits, so that sufficient fidelity is obtained only at temperatures around or below 0.1 or 1 K, respectively. Here we describe a method to achieve high temperature spin selectivity in a quantum dot using a reservoir with a spin accumulation, which deterministically sets the spin of a single electron on the dot. Since spin accumulation as large as 10 meV is achievable in silicon, spin selection with electrically adjustable error rates below 10−4 is possible even in a liquid He bath at 4 K. Via the reservoir spin accumulation, induced and controlled by a nearby ferromagnet, classical information (magnetization direction) is mapped onto a spin qubit. These features provide the prospect of spin qubit operation at elevated temperatures and connect the worlds of quantum computing and spintronics.