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arXiv:quant-ph/0703207 · Physical Review A

Spin chains with electrons in Penning traps

Giacomo Ciaramicoli, Irene Marzoli, P. Tombesi

Published Mar 30, 2007• 25 citations
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Abstract

We demonstrate that spin chains are experimentally feasible using electrons confined in micro-Penning traps, supplemented with local magnetic field gradients. The resulting Heisenberg-like system is characterized by coupling strengths showing a dipolar decay. These spin chains can be used as a channel for short-distance quantum communication. Our scheme offers high accuracy in reproducing an effective spin chain with relatively large transmission rate.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.75.032348

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We demonstrate that spin chains are experimentally feasible using electrons confined in micro-Penning traps, supplemented with local magnetic field gradients. The resulting Heisenberg-like system is characterized by coupling strengths showing a dipolar decay. These spin chains can be used as a channel for short-distance quantum communication. Our scheme offers high accuracy in reproducing an effective spin chain with relatively large transmission rate.
We propose to use a linear array of singly trapped electrons to implement a spin chain for quantum communication. The effective spin-spin interaction is realized by means of a magnetic field gradient, which couples the electron spin to the motional degrees of freedom. Then the Coulomb repulsion between the particles transmits this coupling throughout the array. The resulting system can be described in terms of a Heisenberg model with long-range interactions showing a dipolar decay. We estimate the fidelity of the system in reproducing an ideal spin chain by taking into account the influence of the electron spatial motion.
We propose a scheme to engineer an effective spin Hamiltonian starting from a system of electrons confined in micro-Penning-traps. By means of appropriate sequences of electromagnetic pulses, alternated with periods of free evolution, we control the shape and strength of the spin-spin interaction. Moreover, we can modify the effective magnetic field experienced by the particle spin. This procedure enables us to reproduce notable quantum spin systems, such as Ising and XYXYXY models. Thanks to its scalability, our scheme can be applied to a fairly large number of trapped particles within the reach of near future technology.
One of the great challenges for the large-scale development of quantum technologies is to generate and control the entanglement of quantum bits through interactions of sufficiently long range. Two decades ago, spin chains have been proposed for quantum communication. Unfortunately, couplings are of very short range in general which drastically limits the communication to very short distances. Here, we demonstrate that the presence of flat bands (FBs) can trigger very long-distance magnetic couplings in spin chains. Furthermore, we show that the typical decaying lengthscale is directly related to the quantum metric of the flat band eigenstates. We have validated the robustness of our results in the case where flat bands become weakly dispersive. We believe that our unexpected findings could open up an alternative route to enable long-distance quantum communication.
Quantum simulation of interacting many-body spin systems is routinely performed with cold trapped ions, and systems with hundreds of spins have been studied in one and two dimensions. In the most common realizations of these platforms, spin degrees of freedom are encoded in low-lying electronic levels, and interactions among the spins are mediated through crystal vibrations. Here we propose a new approach which enables the quantum simulation of two-dimensional spin systems with interaction strengths that are increased by orders of magnitude. This, together with the unprecedented longevity of trapped ions, opens an avenue for the exploration of phenomena that take place on long timescales, e.g., slow and collective relaxation in frustrated and kinetically constrained systems. Our platform makes use of the strong dipolar interactions among electronic Rydberg states and planar confinement provided by a Penning trap. We investigate how the strong electric and magnetic fields that form this trap affect the properties of the Rydberg states and show that spin-spin interaction strengths on the order of MHz are achievable under experimentally realistic conditions. As a brief illustration of the capabilities of this quantum simulator, we study the entanglement in a frustrated spin system realized by three ions.
An array of planar Penning traps, holding single electrons, can realize an artificial molecule suitable for NMR-like quantum-information processing. The effective spin-spin coupling is accomplished by applying a magnetic field gradient, combined to the Coulomb interaction acting between the charged particles. The system lends itself to scalability, since the same substrate can easily accommodate an arbitrary number of traps. Moreover, the coupling strength is tunable and under experimental control. Our theoretical predictions take into account a realistic setting, within the reach of current technology.
Quantum computers have the potential to solve problems far beyond the reach of classical computers by using the principles of superposition and entanglement. However, existing platforms face challenges such as short coherence times, interference from the environment, and difficulties in scaling up.Trapped electrons in a planar Penning trap offer a promising alternative. Unlike other qubits, electrons do not interact with nuclear spins, which helps maintain quantum states for much longer. Additionally, their strong confinement allows for fast and precise quantum operations. In our approach, electron spins serve as logical qubits, while their motional states are used for entanglement. Our setup consists of 2-dimensional array of micro-sized Penning traps fabricated on a ceramic chip, placed inside a 1T superconducting magnet and cooled in a dilution refrigerator to reach millikelvin temperatures. This extreme cooling reduces unwanted motion and makes it possible to entangle electron spins and perform quantum gates with high accuracy. At Inter-University Accelerator Centre (IUAC), New Delhi, India, we are developing a prototype planar Penning trap. This new system offers a stable, scalable, and high-coherence platform for quantum computing.