Quantum states can contain correlations which are stronger than is possible in classical systems. Quantum information technologies use these correlations, which are known as entanglement, as a resource for implementing novel protocols in a diverse range of fields such as cryptography, teleportation and computing. However, current methods for generating the required entangled states are not necessarily robust against perturbations in the proposed systems. In this thesis, techniques will be developed for robustly generating the entangled states needed for these exciting new technologies. The thesis starts by presenting some basic concepts in quantum information proccessing. In Ch. 2, the numerical methods which will be used to generate solutions for the dynamic systems in this thesis are presented. It is argued that using a GPU-accelerated staggered leapfrog technique provides a very efficient method for propagating the wave function. In Ch. 3, a new method for generating maximally entangled two-qubit states using a pair of interacting particles in a one-dimensional harmonic oscillator is proposed. The robustness of this technique is demonstrated both analytically and numerically for a variety of interaction potentials. When the two qubits are initially in the same state, no entanglement is generated as there is no direct qubit-qubit interaction. Therefore, for an arbitrary initial state, this process implements a root-of-swap entangling quantum gate. Some possible physical implementations of this proposal for low-dimensional semiconductor systems are suggested. One of the most commonly used qubits is the spin of an electron. However, in semiconductors, the spin-orbit interaction can couple this qubit to the electron's momentum. In order to incorporate this e ffect into our numerical simulations, a new discretisation of this interaction is presented in Ch. 4 which is signi ficantly more accurate than traditional methods. This technique is shown to be similar to the standard discretisation for magnetic fields. In Ch. 5, a simple spin-precession model is presented to predict the eff ect of the spin-orbit interaction on the entangling scheme of Ch. 3. It is shown that the root-of-swap quantum gate can be restored by introducing an additional constraint on the system. The robustness of the gate to perturbations in this constraint is demonstrated by presenting numerical solutions using the methods of Ch. 4.
Quantum states can contain correlations which are stronger than is possible in classical systems. Quantum information technologies use these correlations, which are known as entanglement, as a resource for implementing novel protocols in a diverse range of fields such as cryptography, teleportation and computing. However, current methods for generating the required entangled states are not necessarily robust against perturbations in the proposed systems. In this thesis, techniques will be developed for robustly generating the entangled states needed for these exciting new technologies. The thesis starts by presenting some basic concepts in quantum information proccessing. In Ch. 2, the numerical methods which will be used to generate solutions for the dynamic systems in this thesis are presented. It is argued that using a GPU-accelerated staggered leapfrog technique provides a very efficient method for propagating the wave function. In Ch. 3, a new method for generating maximally entangled two-qubit states using a pair of interacting particles in a one-dimensional harmonic oscillator is proposed. The robustness of this technique is demonstrated both analytically and numerically for a variety of interaction potentials. When the two qubits are initially in the same state, no entanglement is generated as there is no direct qubit-qubit interaction. Therefore, for an arbitrary initial state, this process implements a root-of-swap entangling quantum gate. Some possible physical implementations of this proposal for low-dimensional semiconductor systems are suggested. One of the most commonly used qubits is the spin of an electron. However, in semiconductors, the spin-orbit interaction can couple this qubit to the electron's momentum. In order to incorporate this e ffect into our numerical simulations, a new discretisation of this interaction is presented in Ch. 4 which is signi ficantly more accurate than traditional methods. This technique is shown to be similar to the standard discretisation for magnetic fields. In Ch. 5, a simple spin-precession model is presented to predict the eff ect of the spin-orbit interaction on the entangling scheme of Ch. 3. It is shown that the root-of-swap quantum gate can be restored by introducing an additional constraint on the system. The robustness of the gate to perturbations in this constraint is demonstrated by presenting numerical solutions using the methods of Ch. 4.
Spins in a solid-state environment and photons are both promising physical systems regarding the implementation of qubits. Whereas electron and nuclear spins act very well as localized qubits that are able to store and process quantum information, photons are the primary candidates to transmit quantum information between distant locations. Entanglement, on the other hand, is a fundamental resource of quantum information processing enabling, e.g., secure communication over long distances. The generation and manipulation of entanglement are thus fundamental steps in order to leverage the benefits of quantum information processing. The aim of this dissertation is therefore to theoretically investigate entangling mechanisms for various physical systems. A functioning source of entangled photons is a basic hardware component required for quantum communication. To this end, we study a system composed of semiconductor quantum wells inside a microcavity, known as intersubband cavity system, in which the interaction of the electronic system with the cavity field can reach the ultrastrong coupling regime. The ground state contains a finite number of photons, and we find that these photons are entangled. The amount of entanglement is quantified analytically, and maximal entanglement is found to be possible. The technique of entanglement purification allows to restore maximal entanglement that has decreased, e.g. due to decoherence. Purification requires quantum memory, a role for which electron spins in electrically-defined quantum dots are well suited. However, existing purification protocols are rather unpractical in this case. Here, the concept of asymmetric bilateral two-qubit operations is introduced to purify spin entanglement by harnessing the typical interaction between electrons in neighboring quantum dots. As it turns out, this concept can be applied to a variety of qubit systems, e.g. superconducting qubits or spins in nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond. The latter example offers several possibilities to implement a qubit, of which the intrinsic nitro- gen nuclear spin has proven its viability in many ways. We develop a scheme to deterministically couple two nuclear spin qubits, in which the interaction is mediated by an optical cavity. It is found that an entangling two-qubit gate, also required for universal quantum computation, can be implemented with operation times below 100 nanoseconds, i.e. several orders of magnitude faster compared to the decoherence time of the nuclear spin. The verification of entanglement, which is required e.g. in entanglement-based quantum com- munication to detect an eavesdropping attack, typically involves a measurement of qubit states. Using the input-output formalism, we derive a fully quantum-mechanical model of an optical readout scheme to measure the spin state of an electron in a self-assembled quantum dot.
We present a scheme for generating entanglement between two qubits associated with a pair of particles, which move and interact, in a one-dimensional harmonic-oscillator potential. The spatial wave functions of the particles are initially localized on either side of the oscillator. As they ``fall'' toward each other, we find that the interaction between the two particles produces an effective exchange interaction between the qubits. This allows us to produce a ``power-of-swap'' operation on the initial two-qubit quantum state without requiring any time-dependent control. We find that under certain conditions, we can generate maximally entangled states from a product state with a fidelity that is only weakly dependent on initialization errors.
The goal of this thesis is to investigate theoretically the generation and behaviour of multipartite entanglement for solid-state nanosystems, in particular electron spin quantum bits (so-called 'qubits') in quantum dots. A quantum dot is a tiny potential well where a single electron can be trapped. A quantum bit can be implemented in this system by applying a magnetic field, and thereby lifting the degeneracy of the spin states of the electron. These spins can then be used as single qubits, and engineering many of these quantum dots next to each other gives as a register of qubits. In this scheme, the so-called Loss-DiVincenzo quantum computer, the single spins can be rotated e.g. by applying a time dependent magnetic field, and two spins can interact through controlling the potential barrier between them. A qubit cannot only be in a superposition of the two computational states 0 and 1 at the same time, but an even stranger characteristic arises for multiple qubits: this phenomenon is called entanglement and refers to a strong correlation between two or more qubits, which can not be achieved within the framework of classical physics, and exponentially enlarges the possible states for a N-qubit system as compared to a classical N-bit system. In this thesis we devise algorithms how to generate multipartite entangled states in electron spin qubits in quantum dots. We compare which classes of entangled states can be generated efficiently in this system. Once the states are created, they decay due to a process called decoherence. We compare how entangled states can be generated and detected in a realistic experiment, and which classes of states are the most suitable. Furthermore, we compare which classes conserve the entanglement, and quantify the robustness of various classes of entangled states. In the last chapter, we devise a scheme of how to execute a simple quantum algorithm, the Deutsch-Jozsa algorithm, in a system containing another type of solid-state qubit, the so-called flux qubit.
This thesis contains four projects: entanglement and quantum phase transition in one-dimensional quantum dots system; entanglement and electron correlation in molecular systems; quantum teleportation in one-dimensional quantum dots system and simulation of molecular systems on a quantum computer. Chapter 1 presents a general introduction to quantum computing. A brief history and motivation for quantum computing is introduced. In Chapter 2, we studied the entanglement of an array of quantum dots system modeled by one-dimensional Hubbard Hamiltonian and the relation between quantum entanglement and quantum phase transition. In Chapter 3, entanglement in molecular systems is studied. It is proved that the full configuration interaction (FCI) wave function violates Bell’s inequality, thus it is entangled; while the Hartree-Fock (HF) wave function does not violate Bell’s inequality, so it is unentangled. Based on this, we studied the relation between quantum entanglement and electron correlation in molecular systems. We suggested that quantum entanglement might be used as an alternative way to measure electron correlation in molecular systems. The application of entanglement in an array of quantum dots system in quantum teleportation is studied in Chapter 4. We showed that the space-spin entanglement in the quantum dots system can be filtered to obtain pure spin (space) entanglement, and it can be used in quantum teleportation. We also showed that by selecting appropriate Hamiltonian for the C-NOT gate, the spin-based information can be transformed into charge-based information. The pulse sequence for realizing the C-NOT operation is given. In Chapter 5, we studied the simulation of molecular systems on a quantum computer. We proposed a quantum algorithm to solve the Schrödinger equation using the basis set method based on the multi-configuration self-consistent (MCSCF) wave function. By using this algorithm, the potential energy surfaces of molecules, even some complicated regions, can be studied more efficiently than if the simpler HF wave function was employed. This algorithm can give high success probability, almost deterministic results for ground state and excited states. A small increase in the number of configuration state functions in the MCSCF wave function can dramatically increase the success probability of the quantum algorithm. A multi-reference configuration interaction approach is suggested for the treatment of larger systems. We generalized this method to the finite element method and simulated a quantum system of one particle in Yukawa potential. We showed that numerical methods for solving differential equations can be implemented efficiently on a quantum computer.
Building a working quantum computer that is able to perform useful calculations remains a challenge. With this thesis, we are trying to contribute a small piece to this puzzle by addressing three of the many fundamental questions one encounters along the way of reaching that goal. These questions are: (i) What is an easy way to create highly entangled states as a resource for quantum computation? (ii) What can we do to efficiently quantify states of noisy entanglement in systems coupled to the outside world? (iii) How can we protect and store fragile quantum states for arbitrary long times? \n \nThe first two questions are the subject of part one of this thesis, `Entanglement Measures & Highly Entangled States'. We devise a particular proposal for generating entanglement within a solid-state setup, starting first with the tripartite case and continuing with a generalization to four and more qubits. The main idea there is to realize systems with highly entangled ground states in order for entanglement to be created by merely cooling to low enough temperatures. We have addressed the issue of quantifying entanglement in these systems by numerically calculating mixed-state entanglement measures and maximizing the latter as a function of the external magnetic field strength. The research along these lines has led to the development of the numerical library 'libCreme'. \n \nThe second part of the thesis, 'Self-Correcting Quantum Memories', addresses the question how to reliably store quantum states long enough to perform useful calculations. Every computer, be it classical or quantum, needs the information it processes to be protected from corruption caused by faulty gates and perturbations from interactions with its environment. However, quantum states are much more susceptible to these adverse effects than classical states, making the manipulation and storage of quantum information a challenging task. Promising candidates for such 'quantum memories' are systems exhibiting topological order, because they are robust against local perturbations, and information encoded in their ground state can only be manipulated in a non-local fashion. We extend the so-called toric code by repulsive long-range interactions between anyons and show that this makes the code stable against thermal fluctuations. Furthermore, we investigate incoherent effects of quenched disorder in the toric code and similar systems.
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.