Dr. Stefano Chesi

We investigate the exact solution of the Kitaev honeycomb model and derive an explicit formula for the projector onto the physical subspace. We show that in general there is a fundamental difference between the exact solutions of the projected and unprojected models. We consider physically relevant quantities such as spin-spin correlations and vortex energies and show that their true value can be substantially different from the one calculated in the unprojected space. Our projection protocol makes it possible to numerically study large spin models, intractable by direct diagonalization, whenever Kitaev's exact mapping is applicable.

Evidence is presented for the finite wave vector crossing of the two lowest one-dimensional spin-split subbands in quantum point contacts fabricated from two-dimensional hole gases with strong spin-orbit interaction. This phenomenon offers an elegant explanation for the anomalous sign of the spin polarization filtered by a point contact, as observed in magnetic focusing experiments. Anticrossing is introduced by a magnetic field parallel to the channel or an asymmetric potential transverse to it. Controlling the magnitude of the spin splitting affords a novel mechanism for inverting the sign of the spin polarization.

We discuss by analytic means the theory of the high-density limit of the unpolarized two-dimensional electron liquid in the presence of Rashba or Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling. A generalization of the ring-diagram expansion is performed. We find that in this regime the spin-orbit coupling leads to small changes of the exchange and correlation energy contributions, while modifying also, via repopulation of the momentum states, the noninteracting energy. As a result, the leading corrections to the chirality and total energy of the system stem from the Hartree-Fock contributions. The final results are found to be vanishing to lowest order in the spin-orbit coupling, in agreement with a general property valid to every order in the electron-electron interaction. We also show that recent quantum Monte Carlo data in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit coupling are well understood by neglecting corrections to the exchange-correlation energy, even at low density values.

We have identified two useful exact properties of the perturbative expansion for the case of a two-dimensional electron liquid with Rashba or Dresselhaus spin-orbit interaction and in the absence of magnetic field. The results allow us to draw interesting conclusions regarding the dependence of the exchange and correlation energy and of the quasiparticle properties on the strength of the spin-orbit coupling which are valid to all orders in the electron-electron interaction.

Spin-orbit-coupled two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs) are a textbook example of helical Fermi liquids, i.e., quantum liquids in which spin (or pseudospin) and momentum degrees of freedom at the Fermi surface have a well-defined correlation. Here we study the long-wavelength plasmon dispersion and the Drude weight of archetypical spin-orbit-coupled 2DEGs. We first show that these measurable quantities are sensitive to electron-electron interactions due to broken Galilean invariance and then discuss in detail why the popular random phase approximation is not capable of describing the collective dynamics of these systems even at very long wavelengths. This work is focused on presenting approximate microscopic calculations of these quantities based on the minimal theoretical scheme that captures the basic physics correctly, i.e., the time-dependent Hartree-Fock approximation. We find that interactions enhance the "plasmon mass" and suppress the Drude weight. Our findings can be tested by inelastic light scattering, electron energy loss, and far-infrared optical-absorption measurements.

Inspired by spin-electric couplings in molecular magnets, we introduce in the Kitaev honeycomb model a linear modification of the Ising interactions due to the presence of quantized cavity fields. This allows to control the properties of the low-energy toric code Hamiltonian, which can serve as a quantum memory, by tuning the physical parameters of the cavity modes, like frequencies, photon occupations, and coupling strengths. We study the properties of the model perturbatively by making use of the Schrieffer-Wolff transformation and show that, depending on the specific setup, the cavity modes can be useful in several ways. They allow to detect the presence of anyons through frequency shifts and to prolong the lifetime of the memory by enhancing the anyon excitation energy or mediating long-range anyon-anyon interactions with tunable sign. We consider both resonant and largely detuned cavity modes.

We study theoretically the statistical properties of the Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) interaction between localized magnetic moments in a disordered two-dimensional electron gas with both Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit couplings. Averaging over disorder, the static spin susceptibility tensor is evaluated diagrammatically in the mesoscopic (phase-coherent) regime. The disorder-averaged susceptibility leads to a twisted exchange interaction suppressed exponentially with distance, whereas the second-order correlations, which determine the fluctuations (variance) of the RKKY energy, decay with the same power-law as in the clean case. We obtain analytic expressions in the limits of large/small spin orbit interactions and for equal Rashba and Dresselhaus couplings. Beside these limiting cases, we study numerically the variance of the RKKY interaction in the presence of pure Rashba spin-orbit coupling. Our results are relevant for magnetic impurities or nuclear moments embedded in III-V two-dimensional heterostructures or in contact with surface states of metals and metal alloys, which can display a sizable Rashba spin-orbit coupling.

The ability to store information is of fundamental importance to any computer, be it classical or quantum. To identify systems for quantum memories, which rely, analogously to classical memories, on passive error protection ("self-correction"), is of greatest interest in quantum information science. While systems with topological ground states have been considered to be promising candidates, a large class of them was recently proven unstable against thermal fluctuations. Here, we propose two-dimensional (2D) spin models unaffected by this result. Specifically, we introduce repulsive long-range interactions in the toric code and establish a memory lifetime polynomially increasing with the system size. This remarkable stability is shown to originate directly from the repulsive long-range nature of the interactions. We study the time dynamics of the quantum memory in terms of diffusing anyons and support our analytical results with extensive numerical simulations. Our findings demonstrate that self-correcting quantum memories can exist in 2D at finite temperatures.

We propose a one-step scheme to generate Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states for superconducting flux qubits or charge qubits in a circuit QED setup. The GHZ state can be produced within the coherence time of the multiqubit system. Our scheme is independent of the initial state of the transmission line resonator and works in the presence of higher harmonic modes. Our analysis also shows that the scheme is robust to various operation errors and environmental noise.

We discuss several thermodynamic criteria that have been introduced to characterize the thermal stability of a self-correcting quantum memory. We first examine the use of symmetry-breaking fields in analyzing the properties of self-correcting quantum memories in the thermodynamic limit; we show that the thermal expectation values of all logical operators vanish for any stabilizer and any subsystem code in any spatial dimension. On the positive side, we generalize the results of Alicki et al. to obtain a general upper bound on the relaxation rate of a quantum memory at nonzero temperature, assuming that the quantum memory interacts via a Markovian master equation with a thermal bath. This upper bound is applicable to quantum memories based on either stabilizer or subsystem codes.

Several topics on the implementation of spin qubits in quantum dots are reviewed. We first provide an introduction to the standard model of quantum computing and the basic criteria for its realization. Other alternative formulations such as measurement-based and adiabatic quantum computing are briefly discussed. We then focus on spin qubits in single and double GaAs electron quantum dots and review recent experimental achievements with respect to initialization, coherent manipulation and readout of the spin states. We extensively discuss the problem of decoherence in this system, with particular emphasis on its theoretical treatment and possible ways to overcome it.

We consider the effect of rescattering of pairs of quasiparticles in the Cooper channel resulting in the strong renormalization of second-order corrections to the spin susceptibility in a two-dimensional electron system. We use the Fourier expansion of the scattering potential in the vicinity of the Fermi surface to find that each harmonic becomes renormalized independently. Since some of those harmonics are negative, the first derivative of the spin susceptibility is bound to be negative at small momenta, in contrast to the lowest order perturbation theory result, which predicts a positive slope. We present in detail an effective method to calculate diagrammatically corrections to the spin susceptibility to infinite order.

The competition between the Zeeman energy and the Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit couplings is studied for fractional quantum Hall states by including correlation effects. A transition of the direction of the spin-polarization is predicted at specific values of the Zeeman energy. We show that these values can be expressed in terms of the pair-correlation function, and thus provide information about the microscopic ground state. We examine the particular examples of the Laughlin wavefunctions and the 5/2-Pfaffian state. We also include effects of the nuclear bath.

The orientation of the local electron spin quantization axis in momentum space is identified as the most significant physical variable in determining the states of a two-dimensional electron liquid in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit coupling. Within mean field theory several phases can be identified that are characterized by a simple symmetric momentum space occupation. The problem admits uniform paramagnetic as well as spin polarized chiral solutions. The latter have a nontrivial spin texture in momentum space and are constructed out of states that are not solutions of the non interacting Hamiltonian. The concept of generalized chirality as well as the stability of spatially homogeneous states are also discussed.

Because of the peculiar coupling of spatial and spin degrees of freedom effected by the Rashba spin-orbit interaction, lateral confinement of a two dimensional electronic system leads to a finite transverse spin polarization near the longitudinal edges of a current carrying quantum wire. The sign of this component of the polarization is opposite at the two edges and can be reversed upon inversion of the current. Interestingly for small spin orbit coupling this is the largest contribution to the total polarization, its magnitude being of second order in the coupling constant. As a consequence this phenomenon cannot be revealed in lowest order perturbative approaches. An in plane spin polarization component is also present that is perpendicular to the current. Within the same model this component would be also present in the bulk. On the other hand while in the latter case its magnitude is linear in the coupling constant, we find that it only represents a third order effect in the wire geometry. Our results are consistent with a general rigorous argument on the parity of the components of the spin polarization with respect to the sign of the spin orbit coupling constant.

We discuss a general form of the exchange energy for a homogeneous system of interacting electrons in two spatial dimensions which is particularly suited in the presence of a generic spin-orbit interaction. The theory is best formulated in terms of a generalized fractional electronic polarization. Remarkably we find that a net generalized polarization does not necessarily translate into an increase in the magnitude of the exchange energy, a fact that in turn favors unpolarized states. Our results account qualitatively for the findings of recent experimental investigations.

We have obtained an analytic expression for the ring diagrams contribution to the correlation energy of a two dimensional electron liquid as a function of the uniform fractional spin polarization. Our results can be used to improve on the interpolation formulas which represent the basic ingredient for the constructions of modern spin-density functionals in two dimensions.

A coherently driven exciton-biexciton transition in CuCl enables one to propagate a probe light beam within the exciton-polariton stop-band where radiation is otherwise completely reflected. The stop-band transparency window can be controlled via the pump beam frequency and intensity. The phenomenon is reminiscent of quantum coherence effects occurring in three-level atomic systems, except that it here involves delocalized electronic excitations in a crystal via a frequency and wave-vector selective polaritonic mechanism. Both a free standing slab and a microcavity configuration are theoretically studied.

Radiation is almost completely reflected within the exciton-polariton stop band of a semiconductor, as in the typical case of CuCl. We predict, however, that a coherently driven exciton-biexciton transition allows for the propagation of a probe light beam within the stop band. The phenomenon is reminiscent of electromagnetically induced transparency effects occurring in three-level atomic systems, except that it here involves delocalized electronic excitations in a crystalline structure via a frequency and wave-vector selective polaritonic mechanism. A well-developed transparency, favored by the narrow linewidth of the biexciton, is established within the stop band where a probe pulse may propagate with significant delays. The transparency window can be controlled via the pump beam detuning and intensity.