Electronic Raman scattering of donor atoms in silicon: applications to quantum computing

Development of a quantum computer capable of massively parallel computation is one of the most important scientific and technological goals of this century. The Australian Centre of Excellence for Quantum Computer Technology is attempting to construct a quantum computer whose operational elements (i.e. qubits) are single phosphorus donor atoms placed with atomic precision in a silicon matrix. This paper reports on the application of electronic Raman scattering (ERS) and photoluminescence (PL) techniques to the fabrication of such a solid-state quantum computing (QC) device. ERS has the potential to provide a direct measure of the degree of overlap of the donor wavefunctions, knowledge of which is crucial to the successful operation of a solid state quantum computer.