Atomic and Nuclear Interference Effects for Quantum Information Processing

Recent experimental and theoretical results demonstrate that both populations and coherence in a system of nuclear spins in solids can be controlled by a laser field with high efficiency. Nearly 100% nuclear polarization can be achieved on a submicrosecond time scale. Both a high speed of the optical excitation of nuclear polarization and long storage times can be achieved simultaneously. The most promising candidates are rare-earth and possibly transition-metal impurities with a large constant of hyperfine interaction.