We map electron spin dynamics from time to space in quantum wires with spatially uniform and oscillating Rashba spin-orbit coupling. The presence of the spin-orbit interaction introduces pseudo-Zeeman couplings of the electron spins to effective magn
etic fields. We show that by periodically modulating the spin-orbit coupling along the quantum wire axis, it is possible to create the spatial analogue of spin resonance, without the need for any real magnetic fields. The mapping of time-dependent operations onto a spatial axis suggests a new mode for quantum information processing in which gate operations are encoded into the band structure of the material. We describe a realization of such materials within nanowires at the interface of LaAlO3/SrTiO3 heterostructures.
The nature of the exchange coupling variation in an antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 system can be used to tailor its ground-state properties. In particular, dimerized Heisenberg rings containing domain walls have localized states which can serve as flying
spin qubits when the domain walls are moved. We show theoretically that, when two of these rings are coupled, the movement of the domain walls leads to modulation of the effective exchange interaction between the qubits. Appropriately chosen configurations of domain walls can give rise to ferromagnetic effective exchange. We describe how these spin rings may be used as basic building blocks to construct quantum spin systems whose properties are tunable by virtue of the exchange variation within the rings.
