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

We numerically investigate the encoding and retrieval processes for 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 quantum memory is significantly improved by inhomogeneous nuclear polarization, as compared with homogeneous nuclear polarization. Moreover, the narrower the nuclear polarization distribution is, the better is the performance of the quantum memory. We ascribe the improvement in performance to the full harnessing of the highly polarized and strongly coupled nuclear spins by carefully studying the entropy change of individual nuclear spins during the encoding process. Our results shed light on the implementation of quantum memory in a quantum dot.