ABSTRACT Spin is a fundamental property of electrons, with an important role in information storage1,2,3,4. For spin-based quantum information technology, preparation and read-out of the

electron spin state are essential functions5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13. Coherence of the spin state is a manifestation of its quantum nature, so both the preparation and read-out should be

spin-coherent. However, the traditional spin measurement technique based on Kerr rotation, which measures spin population using the rotation of the reflected light polarization that is due

to the magneto-optical Kerr effect, requires an extra step of spin manipulation or precession to infer the spin coherence14,15,16,17,18,19,20. Here we describe a technique that generalizes

light is transferred to the spin coherence of electrons, and confirm this by applying the tomographic Kerr rotation method to semiconductor quantum wells with precessing and non-precessing

electrons. Spin state transfer and tomography offers a tool for performing basis-independent preparation and read-out of a spin quantum state in a solid. Access through your institution Buy

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Download references ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work was supported in part by the Strategic Information and Communications R & D Promotion Program (SCOPE No. 41402001) of the Ministry of

Internal Affairs and Communications in Japan. AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Laboratory for Nanoelectronics and Spintronics, Research Institute of Electrical Communication,

Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan Hideo Kosaka, Takahiro Inagaki, Yasuyoshi Mitsumori & Keiichi Edamatsu * CREST-JST, Saitama 332-0012, Japan Hideo Kosaka, Yoshiaki Rikitake, 

Hiroshi Imamura & Yasuyoshi Mitsumori * Department of Information Engineering, Sendai National College of Technology, Sendai 989-3128, Japan Yoshiaki Rikitake * Nanotechnology Research

Institute, AIST, Tsukuba 305-8568, Japan , Hiroshi Imamura Authors * Hideo Kosaka View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Takahiro Inagaki View

author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Yoshiaki Rikitake View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar *

Hiroshi Imamura View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Yasuyoshi Mitsumori View author publications You can also search for this author

inPubMed Google Scholar * Keiichi Edamatsu View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Hideo Kosaka.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION This file contains Supplementary Data (PDF 122 kb) POWERPOINT SLIDES POWERPOINT SLIDE FOR FIG. 1 POWERPOINT SLIDE FOR FIG. 2 POWERPOINT

SLIDE FOR FIG. 3 RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Kosaka, H., Inagaki, T., Rikitake, Y. _et al._ Spin state tomography of optically

injected electrons in a semiconductor. _Nature_ 457, 702–705 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature07729 Download citation * Received: 18 June 2008 * Accepted: 09 December 2008 * Issue Date:

05 February 2009 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature07729 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content: Get shareable link Sorry, a

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