Coherent transfer of time-bin photons to electron spins in a semiconductor

We demonstrate that a coherent superposition state of two temporally separated optical pulses, called a time-bin state, can be transferred to that of up/down electron spins in a semiconductor by synchronizing the time separation to the precession period of either electrons or holes. The time-bin transfer scheme does not require polarization mode degeneracy and can map the time-bin state to the electron spin state that is not accessible directly using only polarization. The scheme offers a new approach for quantum interfaces between photons and electron spins.