Coherent storage of microwave excitations in rare-earth nuclear spins

Interfacing between various elements of a computer - from memory to processors to long range communication - will be as critical for quantum computers as it is for classical computers today. Paramagnetic rare earth doped crystals, such as Nd³⁺:Y₂SiO₅ (YSO), are excellent candidates for such a quantum interface: they are known to exhibit long optical coherence lifetimes (for communication via optical photons), possess a nuclear spin (memory) and have in addition an electron spin that can offer hybrid coupling with superconducting qubits (processing). Here we study two of these three elements, demonstrating coherent storage and retrieval between electron and ¹⁴⁵Nd nuclear spin states in Nd³⁺:YSO. We find nuclear spin coherence times can reach 9 ms at approx 5 K, about two orders of magnitude longer than the electron spin coherence, while quantum state and process tomography of the storage/retrieval operation reveal an average state fidelity of 0.86. The times and fidelities are expected to further improve at lower temperatures and with more homogeneous radio-frequency excitation.