N. E. Bonesteel

Braid topologies for quantum computation.

In topological quantum computation, quantum information is stored in states which are intrinsically protected from decoherence, and quantum gates are carried out by dragging particlelike excitations (quasiparticles) around one another in two space dimensions. The resulting quasiparticle trajectories define world lines in three-dimensional space-time, and the corresponding quantum gates depend only on the topology of the braids formed by these world lines. We show how to find braids that yield a universal set of quantum gates for qubits encoded using a specific kind of quasiparticle which is particularly promising for experimental realization.

Anisotropic spin exchange in pulsed quantum gates.

We show how to eliminate the first-order effects of the spin-orbit interaction in the performance of a two-qubit quantum gate. Our procedure involves tailoring the time dependence of the coupling between neighboring spins. We derive an effective Hamiltonian which permits a systematic analysis of this tailoring. Time-symmetric pulsing of the coupling automatically eliminates several undesirable terms in this Hamiltonian. Well chosen pulse shapes can produce an effectively isotropic exchange gate, which can be used in universal quantum computation with appropriate coding.

Gauge Fields and Pairing in Double-Layer Composite Fermion Metals.

A symmetrically doped double-layer electron system with total filling fraction {nu}=1/{ital m} decouples into two even-denominator composite fermion {open_quote}{open_quote}metals{close_quote}{close_quote} when the layer spacing is large. Statistical gauge fluctuations in this system mediate an attractive pairing interaction between composite fermions in different layers. A strong-coupling analysis shows that for any layer spacing {ital d} this pairing interaction leads to the formation of a paired quantum Hall state. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}

Topological quantum compiling

A method for compiling quantum algorithms into specific braiding patterns for non-Abelian quasiparticles described by the so-called Fibonacci anyon model is developed. The method is based on the observation that a universal set of quantum gates acting on qubits encoded using triplets of these quasiparticles can be built entirely out of three-stranded braids (three-braids). These three-braids can then be efficiently compiled and improved to any required accuracy using the Solovay-Kitaev algorithm.

Topological quantum computing with only one mobile quasiparticle.

In a topological quantum computer, universal quantum computation is performed by dragging quasiparticle excitations of certain two dimensional systems around each other to form braids of their world lines in 2 + 1 dimensional space-time. In this Letter we show that any such quantum computation that can be done by braiding n identical quasiparticles can also be done by moving a single quasiparticle around n - 1 other identical quasiparticles whose positions remain fixed.

Universal Quantum Computation through Control of Spin-Orbit Coupling

We propose a method for quantum computation which uses control of spin-orbit coupling in a linear array of single electron quantum dots. Quantum gates are carried out by pulsing the exchange interaction between neighboring electron spins, including the anisotropic corrections due to spin-orbit coupling. Control over these corrections, even if limited, is sufficient for universal quantum computation over qubits encoded into pairs of electron spins. The number of voltage pulses required to carry out either single-qubit rotations or controlled-Not gates scales as the inverse of a dimensionless measure of the degree of control of spin-orbit coupling.

Numerical Analysis of Quasiholes of the Moore-Read Wave Function

We demonstrate numerically that non-Abelian quasihole (qh) excitations of the nu=5/2 fractional quantum Hall state have some of the key properties necessary to support quantum computation. We find that as the qh spacing is increased, the unitary transformation which describes winding two qhs around each other converges exponentially to its asymptotic limit and that the two orthogonal wave functions describing a system with four qhs become exponentially degenerate. We calculate the length scales for these two decays to be xi(U) approximately 2.7l(0) and xi(E) approximately 2.3l(0), respectively. Additionally, we determine which fusion channel is lower in energy when two qhs are brought close together.

Infinite-randomness fixed points for chains of non-abelian quasiparticles

One-dimensional chains of non-Abelian quasiparticles described by SU(2)k Chern-Simons-Witten theory can enter random singlet phases analogous to that of a random chain of ordinary spin-1/2 particles (corresponding to k-->infinity). For k=2 this phase provides a random singlet description of the infinite-randomness fixed point of the critical transverse field Ising model. The entanglement entropy of a region of size L in these phases scales as S(L) approximately lnd/3 log(2)L for large L, where d is the quantum dimension of the particles.

Possibility of {ital p}-wave pairing of composite fermions at {nu}= (1) /(2)

We find that the composite Fermi sea at {nu}=1/2 is on the verge of an instability to triplet pairing of composite fermions. It is argued that a transition into the paired state, described by a Pfaffian wave function, may be induced if the short-range part of the interaction is softened by increasing the thickness of the two-dimensional electron system. {copyright} {ital 1998} {ital The American Physical Society}

Singular Pair Breaking in the Composite Fermi Liquid Description of the Half-Filled Landau Level

Fluctuations of the Chern-Simons gauge field in the composite Fermi liquid description of the half-filled Landau level are pair breaking in all angular momentum channels. For short-range electron-electron interactions these fluctuations are sufficiently strong to drive any T=0 pairing transition first order. For Coulomb interactions these fluctuations are weaker and a continuous transition is possible. {copyright} {ital 1999} {ital The American Physical Society }