This thesis discusses various schemes and protocols for quantum information processing in mesoscopic systems with particular focus on using the spin of a particle as the bearer of information. The first chapter introduce various aspects of the field of quantum information used in this thesis such as qubits, entanglement, its quantification, quantum logic gates and entanglement swapping. In this chapter concepts such as AKLT states, decoherence and adiabatic elimination are introduced as they will be relevant in the thesis. In chapter 2 we introduce the Quantum Dots as the solid state system that will primarily be used as the hardware for the development of Quantum Information Processing (QIP). The different properties of quantum dots depending on their size are discussed. The exchange interaction between tunnel coupled quantum dots and the background of quantum computation in quantum dots is described. The principal sources of decoherence and the measurement techniques for spin qubits are presented. In chapter 3, carbon nanowires filled with N@C60 dimers are studied to analyse the entanglement between nuclear spins. The dimer is modelled as a two coupled nuclear spin- electron spin pair with a Heisenberg interaction. The entanglement have been studied depending on the temperature and the intensity of an external magnetic field. Witnessing the entanglement, and particularly bound entanglement are discussed. In chapter 4, the way to extract a singlet from a quantum dot is explored. The system that we model will be consisting of a triple dot and analyse the best way to get the singlet out, with each electron in a separate dot. The chief motivation is to create a singlet between separate dots in a time-scale much faster than that given by spinspin exchange interactions. In chapter 5, quantum logic gates in a triple dot system has been studied. Such gates have been widely studied in double and single quantum dots. Motivated by the advent of experimental set ups of triple dots, we have studied the natural quantum gates that came out of a triple dot system. There are still two spin quantum bits in the three dots and there is an empty intervening dot, which imparts the scheme some advantages, as well as a substantial difference from the class of schemes studied so far. In chapter 6, we model a large square dot. As we describe in chapter 2, the properties of the large dots make them behave with some interesting properties such as hosting Wigner molecules of electrons inside. We explore the application of these structures for quantum information processing. We show here how to get singlet/triplet measurement, entanglement swapping, and how to prepare a 1D AKLT state, using the square dot as a construction block of the system. Finally in chapter 7 conclusions and further work. Here we indicate the further work that could be done with the knowledge present in this thesis and motivated by future advances in the technology.
This thesis discusses various schemes and protocols for quantum information processing in mesoscopic systems with particular focus on using the spin of a particle as the bearer of information. The first chapter introduce various aspects of the field of quantum information used in this thesis such as qubits, entanglement, its quantification, quantum logic gates and entanglement swapping. In this chapter concepts such as AKLT states, decoherence and adiabatic elimination are introduced as they will be relevant in the thesis. In chapter 2 we introduce the Quantum Dots as the solid state system that will primarily be used as the hardware for the development of Quantum Information Processing (QIP). The different properties of quantum dots depending on their size are discussed. The exchange interaction between tunnel coupled quantum dots and the background of quantum computation in quantum dots is described. The principal sources of decoherence and the measurement techniques for spin qubits are presented. In chapter 3, carbon nanowires filled with N@C60 dimers are studied to analyse the entanglement between nuclear spins. The dimer is modelled as a two coupled nuclear spin- electron spin pair with a Heisenberg interaction. The entanglement have been studied depending on the temperature and the intensity of an external magnetic field. Witnessing the entanglement, and particularly bound entanglement are discussed. In chapter 4, the way to extract a singlet from a quantum dot is explored. The system that we model will be consisting of a triple dot and analyse the best way to get the singlet out, with each electron in a separate dot. The chief motivation is to create a singlet between separate dots in a time-scale much faster than that given by spinspin exchange interactions. In chapter 5, quantum logic gates in a triple dot system has been studied. Such gates have been widely studied in double and single quantum dots. Motivated by the advent of experimental set ups of triple dots, we have studied the natural quantum gates that came out of a triple dot system. There are still two spin quantum bits in the three dots and there is an empty intervening dot, which imparts the scheme some advantages, as well as a substantial difference from the class of schemes studied so far. In chapter 6, we model a large square dot. As we describe in chapter 2, the properties of the large dots make them behave with some interesting properties such as hosting Wigner molecules of electrons inside. We explore the application of these structures for quantum information processing. We show here how to get singlet/triplet measurement, entanglement swapping, and how to prepare a 1D AKLT state, using the square dot as a construction block of the system. Finally in chapter 7 conclusions and further work. Here we indicate the further work that could be done with the knowledge present in this thesis and motivated by future advances in the technology.
This thesis addresses the concept of quantum computing with semiconductor quantum dots. The basic unit of a quantum computer is a quantum mechanical two-level system, the so-called quantum bit (qubit). The qubit can be defined as the spin of an electron confined in a quantum dot or as a two-dimensional subspace of the Hilbert space for several spins. Some semiconductors have several minima in their conduction band, socalled valleys. A two-dimensional valley degree of freedom can also be considered as a qubit. In this thesis, quantum registers storing spin as well as valley qubits are described theoretically. Virtual hopping yields an exchange interaction between neighboring quantum dots, which reduces the energy of antisymmetric spin-valley states according to the Pauli principle. Considering the spin and the valley degrees of freedom of two electrons in neighboring quantum dots as qubits, the exchange interaction is a four-qubit interaction. In this thesis, it will be shown that it is, nevertheless, possible to generate a universal two-qubit gate for spin qubits or for valley qubits by combining the exchange interaction and individual single-qubit gates. The exchange interaction in this two-electron double quantum dot directly provides a universal two-qubit gate for one spin and one valley qubit as well. For this, the qubits are defined as suitable subspaces, spanned by the singlet and one triplet state of the spin and the valley states, respectively, Using those gates, arbitrary quantum operations can be performed for single-spin and single-valley qubits in the same quantum register, where in one double quantum dot the quantum states are restricted to the singlet-triplet subspace. While in this register single-spin and single-valley rotations are required, these gates are dispensable in a quantum register storing spin and valley singlet-triplet qubits. The single-qubit operations, in this case, can be provided by the exchange interaction and a gradient in the energy splitting of spin and valley states when the spin qubit is stored in a double quantum dot with spin degrees of freedom only and when the spin states in the double quantum dot which stores the valley qubit are polarized. For providing the two-qubit gate, the spin and the valley qubits need to be stored in the same double quantum dot. The crucial task for this register is to interchange the spin of a spin-only and a spin-valley quantum dot in order to switch between the single-qubit and the two-qubit operation mode. This interchanging of the spin can be achieved by a valley-depending virtual hopping between the quantum dots. Furthermore, echo sequences for a so-called exchange-only qubit are considered. An exchange-only qubit is defined as a subspace in a system of three electron spins in a triple quantum dot. An inhomogeneous magnetic field, which may be caused by nuclear spins in the semiconductor, can lead to decoherence and leakage, i.e., the state might leave the qubit subspace. Suppressing this effect by an echo sequence which consists of pulses interchanging neighboring spin states, so-called SWAP gates, was proposed. Controllability over these quantum operations is provided via the exchange interaction. In this thesis, the performance of different such sequences is investigated. The analysis shows that optimization strategies developed for single spin echoes can be adapted for the three spin system. The echo sequences can be different in their order of applied SWAP gates interchanging the spins in the first and second dots or in the second and third dots. The noise suppression performance depends slightly on this order of SWAP gates. For two spins in a double quantum dot a scheme for quantum state tomography is presented. The corresponding measurement operators are constructed from a set of mutually unbiased bases of the four-dimensional two-qubit Hilbert space. These measurements are represented by short sequences of no more than three elementary quantum gates and projective measurements by the well-established spin-to-charge conversion.
A two-level quantum system is the building block of a quantum computer. This pair of quantum states defines the computational unit of a quantum computer, and it is called a quantum bit or qubit in analogy to the bit that is the binary unit of a classical computer. The spin of a single electron naturally defines such a two-level quantum system. A quantum dot can be tuned to the single-electron regime, and an array of singly occupied quantum dots provides a multi-qubit register. This thesis describes the multielectron encoding of a spin qubit using a pair or a trio of quantum dots, and it analyzes the coherence properties and manipulation protocols of this system. The singlet-triplet qubit, coded using the singlet state and the spinless triplet state of a pair of singly occupied quantum dots, can be controlled all electrically when applying voltages to gates close to the quantum dot structure. Rapid, subnanosecond modifications of the double quantum dot's charge configuration have been realized successfully. A small magnetic field gradient across the double quantum dot enables universal qubit control. Two modifications of the normal singlet-triplet encoding are introduced. (1) The six-electron configuration of a double quantum dot encodes a singlet-triplet qubit in the same way as for the two-electron double quantum dot. Two electrons at each quantum dot are irrelevant for the qubit manipulations because they are paired in a singlet state; the remaining two electrons encode the qubit. The qubit's wave function is immune to charge noise at moderate out-of-plane magnetic fields. (2) A singlet-triplet qubit encoded using two quantum dots of different sizes has an orbital state degeneracy of the singlet state and the spinless triplet state at finite out-of-plane magnetic fields. Spin-orbit interactions lift this state degeneracy, while the magnitude of the state coupling is determined by the size difference of the QDs. This setup enables the manipulations of singlet-triplet qubits without the need for magnetic field gradients. Finally, two-qubit gates between singlet-triplet qubits are proposed that use mediated exchange interactions via one quantum state. These operations are well controlled and highly noise insensitive. Orbital interactions alone can control spin qubits coded in a three electron Hilbert space. For example, the exchange-only qubit is encoded using three singly occupied quantum dots. The exchange interactions of two quantum dot pairs need to be modified to manipulate this qubit. The noise sensitivity of the exchange-only qubit is discussed. Alternatively, a three-electron qubit at a double quantum dot can be operated when single electrons are transferred between the quantum dots. Fast, subnanosecond manipulations of the double quantum dot's charge configuration are required to realize single-qubit gates. A novel two-qubit pulse gate for the three-electron double quantum dot qubit is proposed.
Since information has been regarded as a physical entity, the field of quantum information theory has blossomed. This brings novel applications, such as quantum computation. This field has attracted the attention of numerous researchers with backgrounds ranging from computer science, mathematics and engineering, to the physical sciences. Thus, we now have an interdisciplinary field where great efforts are being made in order to build devices that should allow for the processing of information at a quantum level, and also in the understanding of the complex structure of some physical processes at a more basic level. This thesis is devoted to the theoretical study of structures at the nanometer-scale, "nanostructures," through physical processes that mainly involve the solid-state and quantum optics, in order to propose reliable schemes for the processing of quantum information. Initially, the main results of quantum information theory and quantum computation are briefly reviewed. Next, the state-of-the-art of quantum dots technology is described. In so doing, the theoretical background and the practicalities required for this thesis are introduced. A discussion of the current quantum hardware used for quantum information processing is given. In particular, the solid-state proposals to date are emphasised. A detailed prescription is given, using an optically-driven coupled quantum dot system, to reliably prepare and manipulate exciton maximally entangled Bell and Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states. Manipulation of the strength and duration of selective light-pulses needed for producing these highly entangled states provides us with crucial elements for the processing of solid-state based quantum information. The all-optical generation of states of the so-called Bell basis for a system of two quantum dots (QDs) is exploited for performing the quantum teleportation of the excitonic state of a dot in an array of three coupled QDs. Theoretical predictions suggest that several hundred single quantum bit rotations and controlled-NOT gates could be performed before decoherence of the excitonic states takes place. In addition, the exciton coherent dynamics of a coupled QD system confined within a semiconductor single mode microcavity is reported. It is shown that this system enables the control of exciton entanglement by varying the coupling strength between the optically-driven dot system and the microcavity. The exciton entanglement shows collapses and revivals for suitable amplitudes of the incident radiation field and dot-cavity coupling strengths. The results given here could offer a new approach for the control of decoherence mechanisms arising from entangled "artificial molecules." In addition to these ultrafast coherent optical control proposals, an approach for reliable implementation of quantum logic gates and long decoherence times in a QD system based on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is given, where the nuclear resonance is controlled by the ground state "magic number" transitions of few-electron QDs in an external magnetic field. The dynamical evolution of quantum registers of arbitrary length in the presence of environmentally-induced decoherence effects is studied in detail. The cases of quantum bits (qubits) coupling individually to different environments ("independent decoherence"), and qubits interacting collectively with the same reservoir ("collective decoherence") are analysed in order to find explicit decoherence functions for any number of qubits. The decay of the coherences of the register is shown to strongly depend on the input states: this sensitivity is a characteristic of both types of coupling (collective and independent) and not only of the collective coupling, as has been reported previously. A non-trivial behaviour - "recoherence" - is found in the decay of the off-diagonal elements of the reduced density matrix in the specific situation of independent decoherence. The results lead to the identification of decoherence-free states in the collective decoherence limit. These states belong to subspaces of the system's Hilbert space that do not become entangled with the environment, making them ideal elements for the engineering of "noiseless" quantum codes. The relations between decoherence of the quantum register and computational complexity based on the new dynamical results obtained for the register density matrix are also discussed. This thesis concludes by summarising and pointing out future directions, and in particular, by discussing some biological resonant energy transfer processes that may be useful for the processing of information at a quantum level.
Quantum information processing in semiconductor quantum dots using single and multi-spin qubitsThe idea of a quantum computer, a device capable of processing information using quantum bits (qubit) instead of classical bits that outperforms classical computer in terms of computation speed, is still science ction. However, recent advances in quantum information processing showed that this ction may come true faster than anticipated. A promising platform for the physical realization of a qubit are spin qubits where the information is encoded in the quantum mechanical spin of an electron con ned in a semiconductor quantum dot. There are a variety of di erent implementations how the logical qubit is physically encoded, the use of a single electron spin or the use of the spins of multi electrons. This thesis focuses on the implementation of the spin- 1/2 qubit using the spin of a single electron in a single quantum dot, the exchangeonly (EO) qubit using three electron spins distributed in three quantum dots, and the novel quadrupolar exchange-only (QUEX) qubit using four electron spins distributed in three quantum dots. In this thesis we investigate several theoretical aspects of the physical implementation of the aforementioned qubit encodings. Since all three qubit encodings are allelectric controlled these implementations su er decoherence, the loss of information, from electric uctuations of the environment commonly called charge noise. Typically, the use of more quantum dots increases the decoherence due to charge noise while it decreases the decoherence due to magnetic noise. The rst main aspect investigated in this thesis is the protection of the quantum information encoded in the di erent qubit implementations against charge noise. Special attention is paid to the multi-electron spin implementations where high-symmetry points of operation are discovered which are less sensitive to the charge noise. Protection against charge noise is even better by increasing the number of electrons while keeping the number of quantum dots making the QUEX qubit superior to the EO qubit. So far the main direction in this thesis is the reduction of the qubit sensitivity to electric uctuations. However, coherent electromagnetic elds in form of microwaves v can be used to interconnect qubits. In this thesis also a high-performance coupling between two spin-1/2 is investigated. The use of a resonator, subsequently, allows for a coupling of qubits over macroscopic distances as well as to extract valuable information about the physical system. Because of the larger susceptibility of multi-spin qubits to the electric eld of the resonator, this thesis focuses on the coupling between an EO or a QUEX qubit and a microwave resonator. Points of operations are discovered for both qubit implementations which o er a strong coupling towards a microwave resonator while maintaining their protection against charge noise. Subsequently, a series of measurements are proposed to extract information about the microscopic structure of the quantum dots. Finally, a promising high-performance protocol for coupling two qubits remotely via the resonator is investigated in detail.
Semiconductor quantum dot systems offer a promising platform for quantum computation. And these quantum computation candidates are normally based on spin or charge properties of electrons. In these systems, we focus on quantum computation based on electron spins since these systems has good scalability, long coherence times, and rapid gate operations. And this thesis focuses on building a theoretical description of quantum dot systems and the link between theory and experiments. In many quantum dot systems, exchange interactions are the primary mechanism used to control spins and generate entanglement. And exchange energies are normally positive, which limits control flexibility. However, recent experiments show that negative exchange interactions can arise in a linear three-dot system when a two-electron double quantum dot is exchange coupled to a larger quantum dot containing on the order of one hundred electrons. The origin of this negative exchange can be traced to the larger quantum dot exhibiting a spin triplet-like rather than singlet-like ground state. Here we show using a microscopic model based on the configuration interaction (CI) method that both triplet-like and singlet-like ground states are realized depending on the number of electrons. In the case of only four electrons, a full CI calculation reveals that triplet-like ground states occur for sufficiently large dots. These results hold for symmetric and asymmetric quantum dots in both Si and GaAs, showing that negative exchange interactions are robust in few-electron double quantum dots and do not require large numbers of electrons. Recent experiments also show the potential to utilize large quantum dots to mediate superexchange interaction and generate entanglement between distant spins. This opens up a possible mechanism for selectively coupling pairs of remote spins in a larger network of quantum dots. Taking advantage of this opportunity requires a deeper understanding of how to control superexchange interactions in these systems. Here, we consider a triple-dot system arranged in linear and triangular geometries. We use CI calculations to investigate the interplay of superexchange and nearest-neighbor exchange interactions as the location, detuning, and electron number of the mediating dot are varied. We show that superexchange processes strongly enhance and increase the range of the net spin-spin exchange as the dots approach a linear configuration. Furthermore, we show that the strength of the exchange interaction depends sensitively on the number of electrons in the mediator. Our results can be used as a guide to assist further experimental efforts towards scaling up to larger, two-dimensional quantum dot arrays.
Electron spins confined in quantum dots (QDs) are among the leading contenders for implementing quantum information processing. In this Thesis we address two of the most significant technological challenges towards developing a scalable quantum information processor based on spins in quantum dots: (i) decoherence of the electronic spin qubit due to the surrounding nuclear spin bath, and (ii) long-range spin-spin coupling between remote qubits. To this end, we develop novel strategies that turn the unavoidable coupling to the solid-state environment (in particular, nuclear spins and phonons) into a valuable asset rather than a liability. In the first part of this Thesis, we investigate electron transport through single and double QDs, with the aim of harnessing the (dissipative) coupling to the electronic degrees of freedom for the creation of coherence in both the transient and steady-state behaviour of the ambient nuclear spins. First, we theoretically show that intriguing features of coherent many-body physics can be observed in electron transport through a single QD. To this end, we first develop a master-equation-based formalism for electron transport in the Coulomb-blockade regime assisted by hyperfine (HF) interaction with the nuclear spin ensemble in the QD. This general tool is then used to study the leakage current through a single QD in a transport setting. When starting from an initially uncorrelated, highly polarized state, the nuclear system experiences a strong correlation buildup, due to the collective nature of the coupling to the central electron spin. We demonstrate that this results in a sudden intensity burst in the electronic tunneling current emitted from the QD system, which exceeds the maximal current of a corresponding classical system by several orders of magnitude. This gives rise to the new paradigm of electronic superradiance. Second, building upon the insight that the nuclear spin dynamics are governed by collective interactions giving rise to coherent effects such as superradiance, we propose a scheme for the deterministic generation of steady-state entanglement between the two nuclear spin ensembles in an electrically defined double quantum dot. Because of quantum interference in the collective coupling to the electronic degrees of freedom, the nuclear system is actively driven into a two-mode squeezedlike target state. The entanglement buildup is accompanied by a self-polarization of the nuclear spins towards large Overhauser field gradients. Moreover, the feedback between the electronic and nuclear dynamics is shown to lead to intriguing effects such as multistability and criticality in the steady-state solutions. In the second part of this Thesis, our focus turns towards the realization of long-range spin-spin coupling between remote qubits. We propose a universal, on-chip quantum transducer based on surface acoustic waves in piezo-active materials. Because of the intrinsic piezoelectric (and/or magnetostrictive) properties of the material, our approach provides a universal platform capable of coherently linking a broad array of qubits, including quantum dots, trapped ions, nitrogen-vacancy centers or superconducting qubits. The quantized modes of surface acoustic waves lie in the gigahertz range, can be strongly confined close to the surface in phononic cavities and guided in acoustic waveguides. We show that this type of surface acoustic excitations can be utilized efficiently as a quantum bus, serving as an on-chip, mechanical cavity-QED equivalent of microwave photons and enabling long-range coupling of a wide range of qubits. In summary, this thesis provides contributions towards developing a scalable quantum information processor based on spins in quantum dots in two different aspects. The first part is dedicated to a deeper understanding of the nuclear spin dynamics in quantum dots. In the second part we put forward a novel sound-based strategy to realize long-range spin-spin coupling between remote qubits. This completes a broad picture of spin-based quantum information processing which integrates different perspectives, ranging from the single-qubit level to a broader quantum network level.