Mircea Trif

Spin-Electric Coupling in Molecular Magnets

We study the triangular antiferromagnet Cu3 in external electric fields, using symmetry group arguments and a Hubbard model approach. We identify a spin-electric coupling caused by an interplay between spin exchange, spin-orbit interaction, and the chirality of the underlying spin texture of the molecular magnet. This coupling allows for the electric control of the spin (qubit) states, e.g., by using an STM tip or a microwave cavity. We propose an experimental test for identifying molecular magnets exhibiting spin-electric effects.

Spin dynamics in InAs nanowire quantum dots coupled to a transmission line

We study theoretically electron spins in nanowire quantum dots placed inside a transmission line resonator. Because of the spin-orbit interaction, the spins couple to the electric component of the resonator electromagnetic field and enable coherent manipulation, storage, and readout of quantum information in an all-electrical fashion. Coupling between distant quantum-dot spins, in one and the same or different nanowires, can be efficiently performed via the resonator mode either in real time or through virtual processes. For the latter case, we derive an effective spin-entangling interaction and suggest means to turn it on and off. We consider both transverse and longitudinal types of nanowire quantum dots and compare their manipulation time scales against the spin relaxation times. For this, we evaluate the rates for spin relaxation induced by the nanowire vibrations (phonons) and show that, as a result of phonon confinement in the nanowire, this rate is a strongly varying function of the spin operation frequency and thus can be drastically reduced compared to lateral quantum dots in GaAs. Our scheme is a step forward to the formation of hybrid structures where qubits of different nature can be integrated in a single device.

Strong spin-orbit interaction and helical hole states in Ge/Si nanowires

Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA(Dated: July 25, 2011)Westudytheoreticallythelow-energyholestatesofGe /Sicore /shellnanowires. Thelow-energyvalencebandis quasi-degenerate, formed by two doublets of di erent orbital angular momentum, and can be controlled viathe relative shell thickness and via external elds. We nd that direct (dipolar) coupling to a moderate electriceld leads to an unusually large spin-orbit interaction of Rashba-type on the order of meV which gives rise topronounced helical states enabling electrical spin-control. The system allows for quantum dots and spin-qubitswith energy levels that can vary from nearly zero to several meV, depending on the relative shell thickness.

Long-Distance Spin-Spin Coupling via Floating Gates

The electron spin is a natural two-level system that allows a qubit to be encoded. When localized in a gate-defined quantum dot, the electron spin provides a promising platform for a future functional quantum computer. The essential ingredient of any quantum computer is entanglement-for the case of electronspin qubits considered here-commonly achieved via the exchange interaction. Nevertheless, there is an immense challenge as to how to scale the system up to include many qubits. In this paper, we propose a novel architecture of a large-scale quantum computer based on a realization of long-distance quantum gates between electron spins localized in quantum dots. The crucial ingredients of such a long-distance coupling are floating metallic gates that mediate electrostatic coupling over large distances. We show, both analytically and numerically, that distant electron spins in an array of quantum dots can be coupled selectively, with coupling strengths that are larger than the electron-spin decay and with switching times on the order of nanoseconds.

Spin electric effects in molecular antiferromagnets

Molecular nanomagnets show clear signatures of coherent behavior and have a wide variety of effective low-energy spin Hamiltonians suitable for encoding qubits and implementing spin-based quantum information processing. At the nanoscale, the preferred mechanism for the control of a quantum systems is the application of electric fields, which are strong, can be locally applied, and rapidly switched. In this work, we provide the theoretical tools for identifying molecular nanomagnets suitable for electric control. By group-theoretical symmetry analysis we find that the spin-electric coupling in triangular molecules is governed by the modification of the exchange interaction and is possible even in the absence of spin-orbit coupling. In pentagonal molecules the spin-electric coupling can exist only in the presence of spin-orbit interaction. This kind of coupling is allowed for both

Relaxation of hole spins in quantum dots via two-phonon processes.

s=1∕2

Circuit QED with hole-spin qubits in Ge/Si nanowire quantum dots

and

Two-dimensional topological superconductivity in Pb/Co/Si(111)

s=3∕2

Spin interactions, relaxation and decoherence in quantum dots

spins at the magnetic centers. Within the Hubbard model, we find a relation between the spin-electric coupling and the properties of the chemical bonds in a molecule, suggesting that the best candidates for strong spin-electric coupling are molecules with nearly degenerate bond orbitals. We also investigate the possible experimental signatures of spin-electric coupling in nuclear magnetic resonance and electron spin resonance spectroscopy, as well as in the thermodynamic measurements of magnetization, electric polarization, and specific heat of the molecules.

Resonantly tunable Majorana polariton in a microwave cavity.

We investigate theoretically spin relaxation in heavy-hole quantum dots in low external magnetic fields. We demonstrate that two-phonon processes and spin-orbit interaction are experimentally relevant and provide an explanation for the recently observed saturation of the spin-relaxation rate in heavy-hole quantum dots with vanishing magnetic fields. We propose further experiments to identify the relevant spin-relaxation mechanisms in low magnetic fields.