Abstract: Quantum information processing and quantum sensing is a central topic for researchers who are part of the Materials Research Society and the Quantum Staging Group is providing leadership and guidance in this context. We convened a workshop before the 2022 MRS Spring Meeting and covered four topics to explore challenges that need to be addressed to further promote and accelerate the development of materials with applications in quantum technologies. This article captures the discussions at this workshop and refers to the pertinent literature. Graphical abstract: (Figure presented.).

Magnetic fields are a standard tool in the toolbox of every physicist and are required for the characterization of materials, as well as the polarization of spins in nuclear magnetic resonance or electron paramagnetic resonance experiments. Quite often, a static magnetic field of sufficiently large, but fixed, magnitude is suitable for these tasks. Here, we present a permanent magnet assembly that can achieve magnetic field strengths of up to 1.5 T over an air gap length of 7 mm. The assembly is based on a Halbach array of neodymium magnets, with the inclusion of the soft magnetic material Supermendur to boost the magnetic field strength inside the air gap. We present the design, simulation, and characterization of the permanent magnet assembly, measuring an outstanding magnetic field stability with a drift rate of |D| < 2.8 ppb/h. Our measurements demonstrate that this assembly can be used for spin qubit experiments inside a dilution refrigerator, successfully replacing the more expensive and bulky superconducting solenoids.

Quantum phenomena are typically observable at length and time scales smaller than those of our everyday experience, often involving individual particles or excitations. The past few decades have seen a revolution in the ability to structure matter at the nanoscale, and experiments at the single particle level have become commonplace. This has opened wide new avenues for exploring and harnessing quantum mechanical effects in condensed matter. These quantum phenomena, in turn, have the potential to revolutionize the way we communicate, compute and probe the nanoscale world. Here, we review developments in key areas of quantum research in light of the nanotechnologies that enable them, with a view to what the future holds. Materials and devices with nanoscale features are used for quantum metrology and sensing, as building blocks for quantum computing, and as sources and detectors for quantum communication. They enable explorations of quantum behaviour and unconventional states in nano- and opto-mechanical systems, low-dimensional systems, molecular devices, nano-plasmonics, quantum electrodynamics, scanning tunnelling microscopy, and more. This rapidly expanding intersection of nanotechnology and quantum science/technology is mutually beneficial to both fields, laying claim to some of the most exciting scientific leaps of the last decade, with more on the horizon.

For the past three decades nanoscience has widely affected many areas in physics, chemistry and engineering, and has led to numerous fundamental discoveries, as well as applications and products. Concurrently, quantum science and technology has developed into a cross-disciplinary research endeavour connecting these same areas and holds burgeoning commercial promise. Although quantum physics dictates the behaviour of nanoscale objects, quantum coherence, which is central to quantum information, communication and sensing, has not played an explicit role in much of nanoscience. This Review describes fundamental principles and practical applications of quantum coherence in nanoscale systems, a research area we call quantum-coherent nanoscience. We structure this Review according to specific degrees of freedom that can be quantum-coherently controlled in a given nanoscale system, such as charge, spin, mechanical motion and photons. We review the current state of the art and focus on outstanding challenges and opportunities unlocked by the merging of nanoscience and coherent quantum operations.

Single nuclear spins in the solid state are a potential future platform for quantum computing^1–3, because they possess long coherence times^4–6 and offer excellent controllability⁷. Measurements can be performed via localized electrons, such as those in single atom dopants^8,9 or crystal defects^10–12. However, establishing long-range interactions between multiple dopants or defects is challenging^13,14. Conversely, in lithographically defined quantum dots, tunable interdot electron tunnelling allows direct coupling of electron spin-based qubits in neighbouring dots^15–20. Moreover, the compatibility with semiconductor fabrication techniques²¹ may allow for scaling to large numbers of qubits in the future. Unfortunately, hyperfine interactions are typically too weak to address single nuclei. Here we show that for electrons in silicon metal–oxide–semiconductor quantum dots the hyperfine interaction is sufficient to initialize, read out and control single ²⁹Si nuclear spins. This approach combines the long coherence times of nuclear spins with the flexibility and scalability of quantum dot systems. We demonstrate high-fidelity projective readout and control of the nuclear spin qubit, as well as entanglement between the nuclear and electron spins. Crucially, we find that both the nuclear spin and electron spin retain their coherence while moving the electron between quantum dots. Hence we envision long-range nuclear–nuclear entanglement via electron shuttling³. Our results establish nuclear spins in quantum dots as a powerful new resource for quantum processing.

Silicon quantum dot spin qubits provide a promising platform for large-scale quantum computation because of their compatibility with conventional CMOS manufacturing and the long coherence times accessible using 28Si enriched material. A scalable error-corrected quantum processor, however, will require control of many qubits in parallel, while performing error detection across the constituent qubits. Spin resonance techniques are a convenient path to parallel two-axis control, while Pauli spin blockade can be used to realize local parity measurements for error detection. Despite this, silicon qubit implementations have so far focused on either single-spin resonance control, or control and measurement via voltage-pulse detuning in the two-spin singlet-triplet basis, but not both simultaneously. Here, we demonstrate an integrated device platform incorporating a silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor double quantum dot that is capable of single-spin addressing and control via electron spin resonance, combined with high-fidelity spin readout in the singlet-triplet basis.

The understanding of weak measurements and interaction-free measurements has greatly expanded the conceptual and experimental toolbox to explore the quantum world. Here we demonstrate single-shot variable-strength weak measurements of the electron and nuclear spin states of a P31 single-atom donor in silicon. We first show how the partial collapse of the nuclear spin due to measurement can be used to coherently rotate the spin to a desired pure state. We explicitly demonstrate that phase coherence is preserved with high fidelity throughout multiple sequential single-shot weak measurements and that the partial state collapse can be reversed. Second, we use the relation between measurement strength and perturbation of the nuclear state as a physical meter to extract the tunnel rates between the P31 donor and a nearby electron reservoir from data conditioned on observing no tunneling events. Our experiments open avenues to measurement-based state preparation, steering and feedback protocols for spin systems in the solid state, and highlight the fundamental connection between information gain and state modification in quantum mechanics.