QUANTUM INFORMATION. Coherent coupling of a single spin to microwave cavity photons.

Electron spins and photons are complementary quantum-mechanical objects that can be used to carry, manipulate, and transform quantum information. To combine these resources, it is desirable to achieve the coherent coupling of a single spin to photons stored in a superconducting resonator. Using a circuit design based on a nanoscale spin valve, we coherently hybridize the individual spin and charge states of a double quantum dot while preserving spin coherence. This scheme allows us to achieve spin-photon coupling up to the megahertz range at the single-spin level. The cooperativity is found to reach 2.3, and the spin coherence time is about 60 nanoseconds. We thereby demonstrate a mesoscopic device suitable for nondestructive spin readout and distant spin coupling.