Irina Yakimenko

Nature of electron states and symmetry breaking in quantum point contacts according to the local spin density approximation

Electron states and local magnetization in quantum point contacts (QPCs) with different geometries and applied gate voltages are examined for a model GaAs/AlGaAs device. Using the local spin density approximation (LSDA) we recover ferromagnetic spatially split solutions in the pinch-off regime as well as antisymmetric solutions that occur with decreasing gate voltage. These kinds of spin states, which may appear in a repeated fashion in the few-electron regime, are precursors to an extended ferromagnetic state that may be associated with the 0.7 conductance anomaly. We briefly comment on some recent experiments indicating the presence of bound states (Yoon et al 2007 Phys. Rev. Lett. 99 136805). We have not found any indication of such states but suggest that the accumulations of spin and charge at the two ends of a QPC and associated singlet and triplet states are relevant in this context.

Probing dopants in wide semiconductor quantum point contacts

Effects of randomly distributed impurities on conductance, spin polarization and electron localization in realistic gated semiconductor quantum point contacts (QPCs) have been simulated numerically. To this end density functional theory in the local spin-density approximation has been used. In the case when the donor layer is embedded far from the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) the electrostatic confinement potential exhibits the conventional parabolic form, and thus the usual ballistic transport phenomena take place both in the devices with split gates alone and with an additional metallic gate on the top. In the opposite case, i.e. when the randomly distributed donors are placed not far away from the 2DEG layer, there are drastic changes like the localization of electrons in the vicinity of confinement potential minima which give rise to fluctuations in conductance and resonances. The conductance as a function of the voltage applied to the top gate for asymmetrically charged split gates has been calculated. In this case resonances in conductance caused by randomly distributed donors are shifted and decrease in amplitude while the anomalies caused by interaction effects remain unmodified. It has been also shown that for a wide QPC the polarization can appear in the form of stripes. The importance of partial ionization of the random donors and the possibility of short range order among the ionized donors are emphasized. The motivation for this work is to critically evaluate the nature of impurities and how to guide the design of high-mobility devices.

Simulation of the Time-Dependent Behavior of QCA Circuits with the Occupation-Number Hamiltonian

The Quantum Cellular Automaton (QCA) concept represents an attempt to break away from the traditional three-terminal device paradigm that has dominated digital computation. Since its early formulation in 1993 at Notre Dame University, the QCA idea has received significant attention and several physical implementations have been proposed. This book provides a comprehensive discussion of the simulation approaches and the experimental work that have been undertaken on the fabrication of devices capable of demonstrating the fundamentals of QCA action. Complementary views of future perspectives for QCA technology are presented, highlighting a process of realistic simulation and of targeted experiments that can be assumed as a model for the evaluation of future device proposals.

REALIZATION OF A TWO-QUBIT QUANTUM GATE UTILIZING EDGE STATES AROUND ANTIDOTS

It is known that a two-spin system with four energy levels can be used to realize a two-qubit quantum gate. A feasible realization of quantum gates should rely on stable quantum mechanical states. An example of such states are edge states which arise around regions with high potential in a strong magnetic field. In this paper we show that certain edge states around a pair of antidots may be suitable for quantum gate implementation.