Understanding decoherence in open quantum many-spin systems is important for many fields of physics, from quantum computations (QC) to the nuclear and electronic spin resonance. We use numerical simulations to study some particularly interesting situations where the destructive impact of environment can be suppressed, so that the quantum oscillations in the system fall off very slowly, demonstrating a power-law decay. Such a slow decay may be experimentally relevant for the QC architectures based on electron spins in quantum dots or nuclear spins in semiconductors.
Understanding decoherence in open quantum many-spin systems is important for many fields of physics, from quantum computations (QC) to the nuclear and electronic spin resonance. We use numerical simulations to study some particularly interesting situations where the destructive impact of environment can be suppressed, so that the quantum oscillations in the system fall off very slowly, demonstrating a power-law decay. Such a slow decay may be experimentally relevant for the QC architectures based on electron spins in quantum dots or nuclear spins in semiconductors.
The computer industry has seen an immense development in the last decades. \nPersonal computers have become available for everybody living in industrialized \ncountries with rapidly increasing performance in terms of speed and storage capacities. \nHowever, the performance of nowadays' computers is fundamentally limited by the \nlaws of classical physics: a classical bit can only take on either of the two distinct \nvalues `0' or `1'. \nIn contrast, a quantum computer could, in principle, make direct use \nof quantum phenomena, such as state superpositions \n-- a quantum bit can be in both states `0' and `1' simultaneously --, \nto perform complex computational tasks much faster than any classical computer. \n \nThe idea of building computers that work according to the laws of quantum physics \nhas opened various fields of research, one of which is the search for the best \nphysical system to use as a quantum bit (qubit). One important criterion for determining \nthe optimal qubit system is the lifetime of state superpositions. \nTypically, once initialized, such superpositions are destroyed on remarkably short \ntimescales due to interactions with the environment -- a process which is referred to \nas decoherence --, posing the question which physical qubit candidate system might show a high-enough robustness against the \ninfluence of the `outside world' to allow for viable quantum computation. \n \nIn this thesis, we will consider three particular realizations of one specific and \nvery promising type of qubit candidate system: \nan electron (or hole) confined to a quantum dot -- a nanoscale structure \nwithin a (typically semiconducting) material --, where the spin states `down' \nand `up' of our electron (or hole) encode the logical states `0' and `1'. \nOur task will be to study the decay of spin-state superpositions in such quantum-dot \nsystems. The main objective of this thesis is to understand the most important physical \nprocesses that lead to spin decoherence and to show ways to suppress this undesirable effect. \nIt turns out that at low temperatures, the main source of decoherence \nis the coupling of the electron (hole) to the surrounding nuclear spins. \n \nThis thesis is divided into three logical parts, corresponding to the three qubit candidate \nsystems under consideration. First we will study electron-spin qubits in III-V semiconductor \nquantum dots, where the electron spin interacts with the nuclear spins of the semiconducting \nhost material \nvia the isotropic Fermi contact hyperfine interaction. Second we consider quantum-dot-confined \nheavy holes and the decoherence of their (pseudo-)spin states due to anisotropic interactions with the \nnuclear spins. Third and last, we study electron-spin qubits made from carbon-nanotube and \ngraphene quantum dots. Quantum dots made of carbon have the advantage of a low abundance \nof spin-carrying nuclear isotopes, therefore reducing decoherence effects significantly. \n \nFor each of the systems under consideration, we will carry out analytical calculations on \nthe nuclear-spin interactions and the spin dynamics of the qubit. Although one main goal of \nthis thesis is to show ways to extend spin decoherence times, we will also focus on physically more \nfundamental questions. Not only the timescale of the decay is relevant for \nthe system's applicability as a qubit, but also the form of the decay which can vary \nsignificantly from system to system. For example, the decay of spin-state superpositions \ncan follow an exponential, super-exponential or power-law decay, and can even pass through \nvarious stages. This is not only of academic interest, but also important for practical \npurposes, such as the implementation of quantum error-correction schemes in a potential \nquantum computer. \n
The dominant source of decoherence for an electron spin in a quantum dot is the hyperfine interaction with the surrounding bath of nuclear spins. The decoherence process may be slowed down by subjecting the electron spin to suitable sequences of external control pulses. We investigate the performance of a variety of dynamical decoupling protocols using exact numerical simulation. Emphasis is given to realistic pulse delays and the long-time limit, beyond the domain where available analytical approaches are guaranteed to work. Our results show that both deterministic and randomized protocols are capable to significantly prolong the electron coherence time, even when using control pulse separations substantially larger than what expected from the upper cutoff frequency of the coupling spectrum between the electron and the nuclear spins. In a realistic parameter range, the total width of such a coupling spectrum appears to be the physically relevant frequency scale affecting the overall quality of the decoupling.
The dominant source of decoherence for an electron spin in a quantum dot is the hyperfine interaction with the surrounding bath of nuclear spins. The decoherence process may be slowed down by subjecting the electron spin to suitable sequences of external control pulses. We investigate the performance of a variety of dynamical decoupling protocols using exact numerical simulation. Emphasis is given to realistic pulse delays and the long-time limit, beyond the domain where available analytical approaches are guaranteed to work. Our results show that both deterministic and randomized protocols are capable to significantly prolong the electron coherence time, even when using control pulse separations substantially larger than what expected from the upper cutoff frequency of the coupling spectrum between the electron and the nuclear spins. In a realistic parameter range, the total width of such a coupling spectrum appears to be the physically relevant frequency scale affecting the overall quality of the decoupling. 1
Decoherence causes the decay of the quantum information that is stored in highly correlated states during quantum computation. It is thus a limiting factor for all implementations of a quantum computer. Because a scalable quantum computer with hundreds or thousands of qubits is not available yet, experimental data about decoherence rates was restricted to small quantum registers. With solid state nuclear magnetic resonance we create highly correlated multiqubit states that serve as a model quantum register and measure their decay. By measuring the decay as a function of the system size, we determined the scaling of the decoherence rate with the number of qubits. Using the same system, we also used decoupling techniques to reduce the coupling between system and environment and thereby the decoherence rate by more than an order of magnitude, independent of the system size. For the free decay as well as for the decoupled case, we found a relatively weak scaling with system size, which could be fitted to a power law $\ensuremath{\propto}{\overline{K}}^{p}$ with an exponent $p\ensuremath{\approx}1∕2$. This raises the prospect for large-scale quantum computation.
In this Thesis, we study open quantum spin systems from di↵erent perspectives.The first part is motivated by technological challenges of quantum computation.An important building block for quantum computation and quantum communication networks is an interface between material qubits for storage and data processing and travelling photonic qubits for communication.We propose the realisation of a quantum interface between a travelling-wave light field and the nuclear spins in a quantum dot strongly coupled to a cavity.Our scheme is robust against cavity decay as it uses the decay of the cavity to achieve the coupling between nuclear spins and the travelling-wave light fields.A prerequiste for such a quantum interface is a highly polarized ensemble of nuclear spins.High polarization of the nuclear spin ensemble is moreover highly desirable as it protects the potential electron spin qubit from decoherence.Here we present the theoretical description of an experiment in which highly asymmetric dynamic nuclear spin pumping is observed in a single self-assembled InGaAs quantum dot.The second part of this Thesis is devoted to fundamental studies of dissipative spin systems.We study general one-dimensional spin chains under dissipation and propose a scheme to realize a quantum spin system using ultracold atoms in an optical lattice in which both coherent interaction and dissipation can be engineered and controlled.This system enables the study of non-equilibrium and steady state physics of open and driven spin systems.We find, that the steady state expectation values of di↵erent spin models exhibit discontinuous behaviour at degeneracy points of the Hamiltonian in the limit of weak dissipation.This e↵ect can be used to dissipatively probe the spectrum of the Hamiltonian.We moreover study spin models under the aspect of state preparation and show that dissipation drives certain spin models into highly entangled state.Finally,
The control of open quantum systems has a fundamental relevance for fields ranging from quantum information processing to nanotechnology. Typically, the system whose coherent dynamics one wants to manipulate, interacts with an environment that smoothly degrades its quantum dynamics. Thus, a precise understanding of the inner mechanisms of this process, called "decoherence", is critical to develop strategies to control the quantum dynamics. In this thesis we solved the generalized Liouville-von Neumann quantum master equation to obtain the dynamics of many-spin systems interacting with a spin bath. We also solve the spin dynamics within the Keldysh formalism. Both methods lead to identical solutions and together gave us the possibility to obtain numerous physical predictions that contrast well with Nuclear Magnetic Resonance experiments. We applied these tools for molecular characterizations, development of new numerical methodologies and the control of quantum dynamics in experimental implementations. But, more important, these results contributed to fundamental physical interpretations of how quantum dynamics behaves in open systems. In particular, we found a manifestation of an environmentally induced quantum dynamical phase transition.