We employ density functional calculated eigenstates as a basis for exact diagonalization studies of semiconductor double quantum dots, with two electrons, through the transition from the symmetric bias regime to the regime where both electrons occupy the same dot. We calculate the singlet-triplet splitting J(epsilon) as a function of bias detuning epsilon and explain its functional shape with a simple, double anticrossing model. A voltage noise suppression "sweet spot," where d J(epsilon)/d(epsilon) = 0 with nonzero J(epsilon), is predicted and shown to be tunable with a magnetic field B.
The exchange interaction in a singlet-triplet qubit defined by two-electron states in the double-quantum-dot system (``two-electron singlet-triplet qubit'') typically varies monotonically with the exchange interaction and thus carries no sweet spot. Here we study a singlet-triplet qubit defined by four-electron states in the double-quantum-dot system (``four-electron singlet-triplet qubit''). We demonstrate, using configuration-interaction calculations, that in the four-electron singlet-triplet qubit the exchange energy as a function of detuning can be nonmonotonic, suggesting existence of sweet spots. We further show that the tuning of the sweet spot and the corresponding exchange energy by perpendicular magnetic field can be related to the variation of orbital splitting. Our results suggest that a singlet-triplet qubit with more than two electrons can have advantages in the realization of quantum computing.
Singlet-triplet spin qubits in six-electron double quantum dots, in moderate magnetic fields, can show superior immunity to charge noise. This immunity results from the symmetry of orbitals in the second energy shell of circular quantum dots: singlet and triplet states in this shell have identical charge distributions. Our phase-gate simulations, which include
1/f charge noise from fluctuating traps, show that this symmetry is most effectively exploited if the gate operation switches rapidly between sweet spots deep in the (3,3) and (4,2) charge stability regions; fidelities very close to 1 are predicted if subnanosecond switching can be performed.
In the semiconductor double quantum dot singlet-triplet qubit architecture, the decoherence caused by the qubit's charge environment poses a serious obstacle towards large scale quantum computing. The effects of the charge decoherence can be mitigated by operating the qubit in the so-called sweet spot regions where it is insensitive to electrical noise. In this paper, we propose singlet-triplet qubits based on two quantum dots of different sizes. Such asymmetric double quantum dot systems allow the implementation of exchange gates with controllable exchange splitting
J operated in the doubly occupied charge region of the larger dot, where the qubit has high resilience to charge noise. In the larger dot,
J can be quenched to a value smaller than the intradot tunneling using magnetic fields, while the smaller dot and its larger splitting can be used in the projective readout of the qubit.
Exchange energies and charge densities for few electrons in electrically tunable quantum dot (QD) systems are investigated by using the variational Monte Carlo (VMC) method in the presence of magnetic fields. For N = 2 electrons in double QD, the singlet Coulomb energy decreases in magnetic fields as a consequence of magnetic localization in both strongly and weakly coupled QDs. However, the triplet Coulomb energy reaches a maximum value at intermediate magnetic fields before decreasing. We observe good agreement between the results for VMC with s-p orbital trial wavefunction and exact diagonalization (ED) method in the exchange energies. For N = 2 electrons in triple quantum dot (TQD), we observe a discontinuity in the J-derivative with detuning voltage ( dJdVT ) in triangular TQDs at B = 0 T as crossing of the eigenenergy levels leads to abrupt spatial symmetry change of the triplet densities (density rotation) and relocalization. For B ≠ 0 T, the angular momentum provided to the electrons quenches this effect. The density rotation is absent in collinear TQD for all magnetic fields as the lowest excited state remains the px state and as such, no change in symmetry is possible. By varying the triangular TQD configuration, we show the discontinuity in ( dJdVT ) persists for top angle between 20° and 70°. For N = 3 electrons in symmetric triangular TQD, the monotonicity of the exchange curve from B = 0 to 4 T remains intact for decoupled QDs but not for coupled QDs. Finally, additional energy for the triangular TQD system is computed for up to N = 3 electrons.
We investigate the behavior of qubits consisting of three electron spins in double and triple quantum dots subject to external electric fields. Our model includes two independent bias parameters, $\ensuremath{\varepsilon}$ and ${\ensuremath{\varepsilon}}_{M}$, which both couple to external electromagnetic fields and can be controlled by gate voltages applied to the quantum dot structures. By varying these parameters, one can switch the qubit type by shifting the energies in the single quantum dots, thus changing the electron occupancy in each dot. Starting from the asymmetric resonant exchange qubit with a (2,0,1) and (1,0,2) charge admixture, one can smoothly cross over to the resonant exchange qubit with a detuned (1,1,1) charge configuration, and to the exchange-only qubit with the same charge configuration but equal energy levels down to the hybrid qubits with (1,2,0) and (0,2,1) charge configurations. Here,
(l,m,n) describes a configuration with
l electrons in the left dot,
m electrons in the center dot, and
n electrons in the right dot. We first focus on random electromagnetic field fluctuations, i.e., ``charge noise,'' at each quantum dot resulting in dephasing of the qubit, and we provide a complete map of the resulting dephasing time as a function of the bias parameters. We pay special attention to the so-called sweet spots and double sweet spots of the system, which are least susceptible to noise. In the second part, we investigate the coupling of the qubit system to the coherent quantized electromagnetic field in a superconducting strip-line cavity, and we also provide a complete map of the coupling strength as a function of the bias parameters. We analyze the asymmetric qubit-cavity coupling via $\ensuremath{\varepsilon}$ and the symmetric coupling via ${\ensuremath{\varepsilon}}_{M}$.
We propose an optimal set of quantum gates for a singlet-triplet qubit in a double quantum dot with two electrons utilizing the S-T− subspace. Qubit rotations are driven by the applied magnetic field and an orthogonal field gradient provided by a micromagnet. We optimize the fidelity of this qubit as a function of magnetic fields, taking advantage of “sweet spots” where the rotation frequencies are independent of the energy level detuning, providing protection against charge noise. We simulate gate operations and qubit rotations in the presence of quasistatic noise from charge and nuclear spins as well as leakage to nonqubit states, and predict that in silicon quantum dots gate fidelities greater than 99% can be achieved for two nearly-orthogonal rotation axes.