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Quantum simulation of a frustrated Heisenberg spin system

Xiao‐Song Ma, Borivoje Dakić, William R. Naylor, Anton Zeilinger, Philip John Walther

Published Aug 24, 2010• 3 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

Quantum simulators are capable of calculating properties of quantum systems unfeasible for classical computers. Here we report the analog quantum simulation of arbitrary Heisenberg-type interactions among four spin-1/2 particles. This spin-1/2 tetramer is the two-dimensional archetype system whose ground state belongs to the class of valence-bond states. Depending on the interaction strength, frustration within the system emerges such that the ground state evolves from a localized to a resonating valence-bond state. This spin-1/2 tetramer is created using the polarization states of four photons. We utilize the particular advantages of the precise single-particle addressability and a tunable measurement-induced interaction to obtain fundamental insights into entanglement dynamics among individual particles. We also directly extract ground-state energies and pair-wise quantum correlations, which enable our quantum simulator to investigate the frustration of entanglement. Remarkably, the pair-wise correlations are restricted by quantum monogamy.

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Quantum simulators are capable of calculating properties of quantum systems unfeasible for classical computers. Here we report the analog quantum simulation of arbitrary Heisenberg-type interactions among four spin-1/2 particles. This spin-1/2 tetramer is the two-dimensional archetype system whose ground state belongs to the class of valence-bond states. Depending on the interaction strength, frustration within the system emerges such that the ground state evolves from a localized to a resonating valence-bond state. This spin-1/2 tetramer is created using the polarization states of four photons. We utilize the particular advantages of the precise single-particle addressability and a tunable measurement-induced interaction to obtain fundamental insights into entanglement dynamics among individual particles. We also directly extract ground-state energies and pair-wise quantum correlations, which enable our quantum simulator to investigate the frustration of entanglement. Remarkably, the pair-wise correlations are restricted by quantum monogamy.
In the context of spin systems, exchange interactions play a crucial role in generating quantum entanglement within the ground and thermal states. This entanglement has been identified as a valuable reserve for Quantum Information and Computation protocols. In our study, we focus on a spin tetramer composed of spins with a magnitude of 1/2. These spins interact with each other through pairwise nearest-neighbour and diagonal interactions denoted as J1 and J2, respectively, as well as arm-wise and diagonal-wise 4-spin interactions of strengths K1 and K2 respectively . The geometric arrangement of the tetramer leads to frustration – a phenomenon observed in physical systems. By performing analytical calculations, we explore the quantum correlation properties of the tetramer in both its ground and thermal states. Our investigation includes the study of bipartite and multipartite entanglements, Quantum Discord and Fidelity. Notably, we identify signatures of quantum critical transition lines, which can be referred as the ‘entanglement transition lines’ signalled differently by different measures.
Photonic quantum simulators are promising candidates for providing insight into other small- to medium-sized quantum systems. Recent experiments have shown that photonic quantum systems have the advantage to exploit quantum interference for the quantum simulation of the ground state of Heisenberg spin systems. Here we experimentally characterize this quantum interference at a tuneable beam splitter and further investigate the measurement-induced interactions of a simulated four-spin system by comparing the entanglement dynamics using pairwise concurrence. We also study theoretically a four-site square lattice with next-nearest neighbor interactions and a six-site checkerboard lattice, which might be in reach of current technology.
Quantum-mechanical correlations of interacting fermions result in the emergence of exotic phases.Magnetic phases naturally arise in the Mott-insulator regime of the Fermi-Hubbard model, where charges are localized and the spin degree of freedom remains.In this regime, the occurrence of phenomena such as resonating valence bonds, frustrated magnetism, and spin liquids is predicted.Quantum systems with engineered Hamiltonians can be used as simulators of such spin physics to provide insights beyond the capabilities of analytical methods and classical computers.To be useful, methods for the preparation of intricate many-body spin states and access to relevant observables are required.Here, we show the quantum simulation of magnetism in the Mott-insulator regime with a linear quantum-dot array.We characterize the energy spectrum for a Heisenberg spin chain, from which we can identify when the conditions for homogeneous exchange couplings are met.Next, we study the multispin coherence with global exchange oscillations in both the singlet and triplet subspace of the Heisenberg Hamiltonian.Last, we adiabatically prepare the low-energy global singlet of the homogeneous spin chain and probe it with two-spin singlettriplet measurements on each nearest-neighbor pair and the correlations therein.The methods and control presented here open new opportunities for the simulation of quantum magnetism benefiting from the flexibility in tuning and layout of gate-defined quantum-dot arrays.
Photonic quantum simulators are promising candidates for providing insight into other small- to medium-sized quantum systems. The available photonic quantum technology is reaching the state where significant advantages arise for the quantum simulation of interesting questions in Heisenberg spin systems. Here we experimentally simulate such spin systems with single photons and linear optics. The effective Heisenberg-type interactions among individual single photons are realized by quantum interference at the tunable direction coupler followed by the measurement process. The effective interactions are characterized by comparing the entanglement dynamics using pairwise concurrence of a four-photon quantum system. We further show that photonic quantum simulations of generalized Heisenberg interactions on a four-site square lattice and a six-site checkerboard lattice are in reach of current technology.
Models of interacting quantum spins have contributed significantly to our understanding of magnetism. The Heisenberg model on square lattice, which exhibits semiclassical N´eel order, is one of the canonical models. However, with frustration introduced by competing interactions, the system becomes computationally intractable. Exotic quantum phases that have no magnetic long range order may be present due to the frustration. The quantum phases do not have any classical analogue, and a valence bond crystal state with translational and/or rotational symmetry breaking as well as a quantum spin liquid state have been proposed as potential candidates. We construct several trial wavefunctions in the resonating valence bond basis and apply large-scale unbiased calculations to examine the possible descriptions of the ground state in the strongly frustrated region. An analytical master equation is also proposed to provide an approximate solution for the valence bond states. Our numerical and analytical studies suggest that the frustrated ground state exhibits a one-dimensional-like behaviour.
Frustration in quantum many body systems is quantified by the degree of incompatibility between the local and global orders associated, respectively, to the ground states of the local interaction terms and the global ground state of the total many-body Hamiltonian. This universal measure is bounded from below by the ground-state bipartite block entanglement. For many-body Hamiltonians that are sums of two-body interaction terms, a further inequality relates quantum frustration to the pairwise entanglement between the constituents of the local interaction terms. This additional bound is a consequence of the limits imposed by monogamy on entanglement shareability. We investigate the behavior of local pair frustration in quantum spin models with competing interactions on different length scales and show that valence bond solids associated to exact ground-state dimerization correspond to a transition from generic frustration, i.e. geometric, common to classical and quantum systems alike, to genuine quantum frustration, i.e. solely due to the non-commutativity of the different local interaction terms. We discuss how such frustration transitions separating genuinely quantum orders from classical-like ones are detected by observable quantities such as the static structure factor and the interferometric visibility.