Fast control of nuclear spin polarization in an optically pumped single quantum dot

Highly polarized nuclear spins within a semiconductor quantum dot induce effective magnetic (Overhauser) fields of up to several Tesla acting on the electron spin(1-12), or up to a few hundred mT for the hole spin(13,14). Recently this has been recognized as a resource for intrinsic control of quantum-dot-based spin quantum bits. However, only static long-lived Overhauser fields could be used(10,11). Here we demonstrate fast redirection on the microsecond timescale of Overhauser fields on the order of 0.5 T experienced by a single electron spin in an optically pumped GaAs quantum dot. This has been achieved using coherent control of an ensemble of 105 optically polarized nuclear spins by sequences of short radiofrequency pulses. These results open the way to a new class of experiments using radiofrequency techniques to achieve highly correlated nuclear spins in quantum dots, such as adiabatic demagnetization in the rotating frame(15) leading to sub-mu K nuclear spin temperatures, rapid adiabatic passage(15), and spin squeezing(16).