Torsten Karzig

Scalable Designs for Quasiparticle-Poisoning-Protected Topological Quantum Computation with Majorana Zero Modes

We present designs for scalable quantum computers composed of qubits encoded in aggregates of four or more Majorana zero modes, realized at the ends of topological superconducting wire segments that are assembled into superconducting islands with significant charging energy. Quantum information can be manipulated according to a measurement-only protocol, which is facilitated by tunable couplings between Majorana zero modes and nearby semiconductor quantum dots. Our proposed architecture designs have the following principal virtues: (1) the magnetic field can be aligned in the direction of all of the topological superconducting wires since they are all parallel; (2) topological T junctions are not used, obviating possible difficulties in their fabrication and utilization; (3) quasiparticle poisoning is abated by the charging energy; (4) Clifford operations are executed by a relatively standard measurement: detection of corrections to quantum dot energy, charge, or differential capacitance induced by quantum fluctuations; (5) it is compatible with strategies for producing good approximate magic states.

Topological polaritons and excitons in garden-variety systems

We present a practical scheme for creating topological polaritons in garden-variety systems based, for example, on zinc-blende semiconductor quantum wells. Our proposal requires a moderate magnetic field and a potential landscape which can be implemented, e.g., via surface acoustic waves or patterning. We identify indirect excitons in double quantum wells as an appealing alternative for topological states in exciton-based systems. Topological polaritons and indirect excitons open a new frontier for topological states in solid-state systems, which can be directly probed and manipulated while offering a system with nonlinear interactions.

Chiral Bogoliubov excitations in nonlinear bosonic systems

We present a versatile scheme for creating topological Bogoliubov excitations in weakly interacting bosonic systems. Our proposal relies on a background stationary field that consists of a Kagome vortex lattice, which breaks time-reversal symmetry and induces a periodic potential for Bogoliubov excitations. In analogy to the Haldane model, no external magnetic field or net flux is required. We construct a generic model based on the two-dimensional (2D) nonlinear Schrodinger equation and demonstrate the emergence of topological gaps crossed by chiral Bogoliubov edge modes. Our scheme can be realized in a wide variety of physical systems ranging from nonlinear optical systems to exciton-polariton condensates.

Shortcuts to non-Abelian braiding

Topological quantum information processing relies on adiabatic braiding of non-Abelian quasiparticles. Performing the braiding operations in finite time introduces transitions out of the ground-state manifold and deviations from the non-Abelian Berry phase. We show that these errors can be eliminated by suitably designed counterdiabatic correction terms in the Hamiltonian. We implement the resulting shortcuts to adiabaticity for simple protocols of non-Abelian braiding and show that the error suppression can be substantial even for approximate realizations of the counterdiabatic terms.

Energy relaxation and thermalization of hot electrons in quantum wires.

We develop a theory of energy relaxation and thermalization of hot carriers in clean quantum wires. Our theory is based on a controlled perturbative approach for large excitation energies and emphasizes the important roles of the electron spin and finite temperature. Unlike in higher dimensions, relaxation in one-dimensional electron liquids requires three-body collisions and is much faster for particles than holes which relax at nonzero temperatures only. Moreover, comoving carriers thermalize more rapidly than counterpropagating carriers. Our results are quantitatively consistent with a recent experiment.

Boosting Majorana Zero Modes

constant velocity. We exploit an effective Lorentz invariance of the Hamiltonian to obtain an exact solution of the associated quasiparticle spectrum and wave functions for arbitrary velocities. Essential features of the solution have a natural interpretation in terms of the familiar relativistic effects of Lorentz contraction and time dilation. We find that the Majorana zero modes remain stable as long as the domain wall moves at subluminal velocities with respect to the effective speed of light of the system. However, the Majoranaboundstatedissolvesintoacontinuousquasiparticlespectrumafterthedomainwallpropagatesat luminal or even superluminal velocities. This relativistic catastrophe implies that there is an upper limit for possible braiding frequencies even in a perfectly clean system with an arbitrarily large topological gap. We also exploit our exact solution to consider domain walls moving past static impurities present in the system.

Optimal Control of Majorana Zero Modes

Braiding of Majorana zero modes provides a promising platform for quantum information processing, which is topologically protected against errors. Strictly speaking, however, the scheme relies on infinite braiding times as it utilizes the adiabatic limit. Here we show how to minimize nonadiabatic errors for finite braiding times by finding an optimal protocol for the Majorana movement. Interestingly, these protocols are characterized by sharp transitions between Majorana motion at maximal and minimal velocities. We find that these so-called bang-bang protocols can minimize the nonadiabatic transitions of the system by orders of magnitude in comparison with naive protocols.

Energy Partitioning of Tunneling Currents into Luttinger Liquids

Tunneling of electrons of definite chirality into a quantum wire creates counterpropagating excitations, carrying both charge and energy. We find that the partitioning of energy is qualitatively different from that of charge. The partition ratio of energy depends on the excess energy of the tunneling electrons (controlled by the applied bias) and on the interaction strength within the wire (characterized by the Luttinger-liquid parameter κ), while the partitioning of charge is fully determined by κ. Moreover, unlike for charge currents, the partitioning of energy current should manifest itself in dc experiments on wires contacted by conventional (Fermi-liquid) leads.

Universal Geometric Path to a Robust Majorana Magic Gate

A universal quantum computer requires a full set of basic quantum gates. With Majorana bound states one can form all necessary quantum gates in a topologically protected way, bar one. In this paper, we present a scheme that achieves the missing, so-called, π/8 magic phase gate without the need of fine-tuning for distinct physical realizations. The scheme is based on the manipulation of geometric phases described by a universal protocol and converges exponentially with the number of steps in the geometric path. Furthermore, our magic gate proposal relies on the most basic hardware previously suggested for topologically protected gates, and can be extended to an any-phase gate, where π/8 is substituted by any α.

Topological polaritons from photonic Dirac cones coupled to excitons in a magnetic field

We introduce an alternative scheme for creating topological polaritons (topolaritons) by exploiting the presence of photonic Dirac cones in photonic crystals with triangular lattice symmetry. As recently proposed, topolariton states can emerge from a coupling between photons and excitons combined with a periodic exciton potential and a magnetic field to open up a topological gap. We show that in photonic crystals the opening of the gap can be substantially simplified close to photonic Dirac points. Coupling to Zeeman-split excitons breaks time reversal symmetry and allows to gap out the Dirac cones in a nontrival way, leading to a topological gap similar to the strength of the periodic exciton potential. Compared to the original topolariton proposal [T. Karzig et al., Phys. Rev. X 5, 031001 (2015)], this scheme significantly increases the size of the topological gap over a wide range of parameters. Moreover, the gap opening mechanism highlights an interesting connection between topolaritons and the scheme of [F. D. M. Haldane and S. Raghu, Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 013904 (2008)] to create topological photons in magneto-optically active materials.