New Routes from Topological Materials to Quantum Computing

从拓扑材料到量子计算的新路线

• 批准号: RGPIN-2018-04380
• 负责人: Hsieh, Timothy
• 金额: $ 3.35万
• 依托单位: University of Waterloo
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2019-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=653946
• 关键词: New; Routes; Topological; Materials; Quantum

In recent years, concepts from topology have found remarkable applications to real materials at room temperature. There exists an entirely new class of “topological materials” which are semiconductors with robust metallic states on their surfaces. In the same way that a ball cannot be deformed into a donut without a drastic transformation, these topological materials cannot be stripped of their fascinating properties without a phase transition. Beyond such topological materials, theorists have predicted “fractionalized” topological phases which host emergent particles completely different from the original degrees of freedom. Such phases contain particles called anyons which are neither bosons nor fermions. These ingredients are essential for topological quantum computation, which involves moving (“braiding”) these anyons around each other to realize computational operations. Such nonlocal actions are robust against imperfections, making these systems a promising platform for quantum computing—a fundamentally new technology with broad repercussions for science and society. ******However, a severe, persistent challenge that has limited the field is predicting new experimental systems realizing such fractionalized phases. My long-term research program will involve developing new routes to achieve such fractionalized systems by using existing topological materials as building blocks. In the proposed research, I will apply a fundamentally new technique that I recently developed; this innovative technique yields both microscopic models and concrete proposals for fractionalized phases in synthetic quantum systems such as ultracold atoms and superconducting platforms. In parallel, my research program will explore new techniques to manipulate objects called “Majorana modes” arising from superconducting topological materials. ******These new concrete roadmaps from topological materials to quantum computing will strengthen Canada's role in the rapidly growing fields of condensed matter theory, quantum information, and quantum computation. The fields of condensed matter and quantum information theory have become progressively intertwined in recent years, and this Discovery grant will draw heavily from both fields to make progress. Such an interdisciplinary program is very beneficial for training students, who will gain a well-rounded skill set and synthetic perspective after working in this initiative. The Discovery grant will thus play a critical role in both enabling progress on the important problem of realizing fractionalized phases and topological quantum computing platforms and providing students with essential research skills.

近年来，拓扑的概念在室温下发现了对真实材料的显着应用。存在一类全新的“拓扑材料”类，它们是其表面上具有强大金属状态的半导体。就像没有急剧变化的情况下，球不能变形为甜甜圈，这些拓扑材料就无法在没有相跃迁的情况下剥夺其迷人的特性。除了这样的拓扑材料之外，理论家还预测了“分数化”拓扑阶段，这些拓扑阶段的紧急颗粒与原始自由度完全不同。这样的阶段包含既不是玻色子也不是费米子的颗粒。这些因素对于拓扑量子计算至关重要，这涉及移动（“编织”）彼此之间以实现计算操作。这种非局部行动对瑕疵是有力的，使这些系统成为量子计算的有前途的平台，这是一种对科学和社会产生广泛影响的新技术。 *****然而，限制领域的严重，持续的挑战正在预测实现这种分数阶段的新实验系统。我的长期研究计划将涉及通过使用现有拓扑材料作为构建块来开发新的途径来实现此类分数化系统。在拟议的研究中，我将采用我最近开发的一项新技术。这种创新的技术在合成量子系统（例如超电原子和超导平台）中的分数化相的显微模型和混凝土提案都产生。同时，我的研究计划将探索新技术，以操纵由超导拓扑材料引起的称为“主要模式”的物体。 *****这些新的混凝土路线图从拓扑材料到量子计算将增强加拿大在凝结物质理论，量子信息和量子计算的快速增长领域中的作用。近年来，凝结物质和量子信息理论的领域已经逐渐交织在一起，这项发现赠款将大力从这两个领域吸引以取得进步。这样的跨学科课程对培训学生非常有益，他们将在该计划工作后获得全面的技能和合成观点。因此，Discovery Grant将在实现分数阶段和拓扑量子计算平台的重要问题上取得进展以及为学生提供基本的研究技能的重要问题。