No Arabic abstract
Surface codes offer a very promising avenue towards fault-tolerant quantum computation. We argue that two-dimensional interacting networks of Majorana bound states in topological superconductor/semiconductor heterostructures hold several distinct advantages in that direction, both concerning the hardware realization and the actual operation of the code. We here discuss how topologically protected logical qubits in this Majorana surface code architecture can be defined, initialized, manipulated, and read out. All physical ingredients needed to implement these operations are routinely used in topologically trivial quantum devices. In particular, we show that by means of quantum interference terms in linear conductance measurements, composite single-electron pumping protocols, and gate-tunable tunnel barriers, the full set of quantum gates required for universal quantum computation can be implemented.
Quantum phenomena are typically observable at length and time scales smaller than those of our everyday experience, often involving individual particles or excitations. The past few decades have seen a revolution in the ability to structure matter at the nanoscale, and experiments at the single particle level have become commonplace. This has opened wide new avenues for exploring and harnessing quantum mechanical effects in condensed matter. These quantum phenomena, in turn, have the potential to revolutionize the way we communicate, compute and probe the nanoscale world. Here, we review developments in key areas of quantum research in light of the nanotechnologies that enable them, with a view to what the future holds. Materials and devices with nanoscale features are used for quantum metrology and sensing, as building blocks for quantum computing, and as sources and detectors for quantum communication. They enable explorations of quantum behaviour and unconventional states in nano- and opto-mechanical systems, low-dimensional systems, molecular devices, nano-plasmonics, quantum electrodynamics, scanning tunnelling microscopy, and more. This rapidly expanding intersection of nanotechnology and quantum science/technology is mutually beneficial to both fields, laying claim to some of the most exciting scientific leaps of the last decade, with more on the horizon.
Gate-defined quantum dots in gallium arsenide (GaAs) have been used extensively for pioneering spin qubit devices due to the relative simplicity of fabrication and favourable electronic properties such as a single conduction band valley, a small effective mass, and stable dopants. GaAs spin qubits are readily produced in many labs and are currently studied for various applications, including entanglement, quantum non-demolition measurements, automatic tuning, multi-dot arrays, coherent exchange coupling, and teleportation. Even while much attention is shifting to other materials, GaAs devices will likely remain a workhorse for proof-of-concept quantum information processing and solid-state experiments.
We study the time-dependent effect of Markovian readout processes on Majorana qubits whose parity degrees of freedom are converted into the charge of a tunnel-coupled quantum dot. By applying a recently established effective Lindbladian approximation [1-3], we obtain a completely positive and trace preserving Lindblad master equation for the combined dot-qubit dynamics, describing relaxation and decoherence processes beyond the rotating-wave approximation. This approach is applicable to a wide range of weakly coupled environments representing experimentally relevant readout devices. We study in detail the case of thermal decay in the presence of a generic Ohmic bosonic bath, in particular for potential fluctuations in an electromagnetic circuit. In addition, we consider the nonequilibrium measurement environment for a parity readout using a quantum point contact capacitively coupled to the dot charge.
Majorana bound states appearing in 1-D $p$-wave superconductor ($cal{PWS}$) are found to result in exotic quantum holonomy of both eigenvalues and the eigenstates. Induced by a degeneracy hidden in complex Bloch vector space, Majorana states are identified with a pair of exceptional point ($cal{EP}$) singularities. Characterized by a collapse of the vector space, these singularities are defects in Hilbert space that lead to M$ddot{rm o}$bius strip-like structure of the eigenspace and singular quantum metric. The topological phase transition in the language of $cal{EP}$ is marked by one of the two exception point singularity degenerating to a degeneracy point with non singular quantum metric. This may provide an elegant and useful framework to characterize the topological aspect of Majorana fermions and the topological phase transition.
Holographic quantum error-correcting codes have been proposed as toy models that describe key aspects of the AdS/CFT correspondence. In this work, we introduce a versatile framework of Majorana dimers capturing the intersection of stabilizer and Gaussian Majorana states. This picture allows for an efficient contraction with a simple diagrammatic interpretation and is amenable to analytical study of holographic quantum error-correcting codes. Equipped with this framework, we revisit the recently proposed hyperbolic pentagon code (HyPeC). Relating its logical code basis to Majorana dimers, we efficiently compute boundary state properties even for the non-Gaussian case of generic logical input. The dimers characterizing these boundary states coincide with discrete bulk geodesics, leading to a geometric picture from which properties of entanglement, quantum error correction, and bulk/boundary operator mapping immediately follow. We also elaborate upon the emergence of the Ryu-Takayanagi formula from our model, which realizes many of the properties of the recent bit thread proposal. Our work thus elucidates the connection between bulk geometry, entanglement, and quantum error correction in AdS/CFT, and lays the foundation for new models of holography.