arXiv subjects

Nathan L. Foulk

Publications and source records attributed to Nathan L. Foulk.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Singlet-only always-on gapless exchange (SAGE) spin qubits: Charge noise effects and two-qubit gates

Singlet-only always-on gapless exchange (SAGE) spin qubits are an alternative type of exchange-only (EO) qubits that encode a single qubit in the spins of four electrons located in four tunnel-coupled quantum dots. While conventional EO qubits are susceptible to local magnetic field gradients caused by local nuclear environments and $g$-factor variations, the SAGE qubit subspace is inherently protected from magnetic-gradient-induced Pauli errors by virtue of the singlet-only encoding, which is invariant under magnetic field gradients, and the always-on exchange couplings, which provide energetic leakage protection. However, the always-on operation simultaneously increases the qubit's sensitivity to charge noise. Here, starting from a Hubbard model describing the underlying electronic structure of the coupled quantum dots, we characterize the performance of SAGE qubits in the presence of $1/f$ charge noise that induces fluctuations in both the dot chemical potentials and the interdot tunnel couplings. We calculate SAGE idle coherence times and show that realistic CPMG-like pulse sequences can be used to significantly extend SAGE single-qubit coherence times for experimentally relevant charge noise strengths. We likewise study the fidelity of SAGE two-qubit gates in the presence of charge and magnetic noise and again propose a simple refocusing strategy to mitigate the noise, while increased ramp times of the entangling pulse suppress leakage into noncomputational states.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Singlet-only Always-on Gapless Exchange Qubits with Baseband Control

We propose a singlet-only always-on gapless exchange (SAGE) spin qubit that encodes a single qubit in the spins of four electrons while allowing universal baseband control. While conventional exchange-only qubits suffer from magnetic-field-gradient-induced leakage and coherent errors, for instance due to local nuclear environments and variations in the $g$-factor, the SAGE qubit subspace is protected from coherent errors due to local magnetic field gradients and leakage out of the computational subspace is energetically suppressed due to the exchange interactions between electrons being always-on. Consequently, we find that when magnetic gradient noise dominates over charge noise, coherence times and single-qubit gate infidelities of the SAGE qubit improve by an order of magnitude compared to conventional exchange-only qubits. Moreover, using realistic parameters, two-qubit gates can be performed with a single interqubit exchange pulse with times comparable in duration to conventional exchange-only qubits but with a significantly simplified pulse sequence.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Theory of charge stability diagrams in coupled quantum dot qubits

We predict large regions of the charge stability diagram using a multi-band and multi-electron configuration interaction model of a double quantum dot system. We account for many-body interactions within each quantum dot using full configuration interaction and solve for single-particle density operators. This allows charge states to be predicted more accurately than the extensively used classical capacitance model or the single-band Hubbard model. The resulting single-particle mixed states then serve as inputs into an atomic orbital picture that allows for the explicit calculation of the underlying Hubbard model parameters by performing the appropriate integrals. This numerical approach allows for arbitrary choices of electrostatic potential and gate geometry. A common assumption when calculating charge stability diagrams from the Hubbard model is that the charge stability diagrams are periodic, but we find that the tunnel couplings for valence electrons in dots with $N=3$ electrons are significantly enhanced when compared to single-electron dots. This difference is apparent in the charge stability diagram for higher occupancy Coulomb diamonds. We also quantitatively explore how the barrier gate strength and dot pitch impact this behavior. Our work should help improve the future realistic modeling of semiconductor-dot-based quantum circuits.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Assessing quantum dot SWAP gate fidelity using tensor network methods

Advanced tensor network numerical methods are used to explore the fidelity of repeated SWAP operations on a system comprising 20-100 quantum dot spin qubits in the presence of valley leakage and electrostatic crosstalk. The fidelity of SWAP gates is largely unaffected by Zeeman splitting and valley splitting, except when these parameters come into resonance. The fidelity remains independent of the overall valley phase for valley eigenstates, while for generic valley states, some minor corrections arise. We analyze the fidelity scaling for long qubit chains without valley effects, where crosstalk represents the only error source.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Realizable time crystal of four silicon quantum dot qubits

We demonstrate that exciting possible realizations of quantum Floquet matter are within reach for modern silicon spin qubits based in quantum dots, most notably the discrete time crystal (DTC). This is significant given that spin qubits have fallen behind other qubit architectures in terms of size and control. However, silicon spin qubits are especially well suited to this task as the charge noise that usually foils gate operations can now be leveraged as an asset in this time-crystal realization. We illustrate differences between prethermal phenomena and true time-crystalline spatiotemporal order. We demonstrate that even for a spin chain of four qubits, rich regime structures can be established by observing signatures of the discrete time crystal and the Floquet symmetry-protected topological regime both distinct from the thermal regime. We also analyze the persistence of these signatures at longer chain lengths, showing that the DTC lifetime grows exponentially with the system length and that these signatures may even be detectable for chains as small as three qubits. We also discuss the effects of longer pulse durations and the effectiveness of pulse sequences for converting the exchange interaction to an Ising model. Our theoretical predictions are well suited for immediate experimental implementations using currently existing quantum dot spin qubit systems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Dissipation and gate timing errors in SWAP operations of qubits

We examine how dissipation and gate timing errors affect the fidelity of a sequence of SWAP gates on a chain of interacting qubits in comparison to noise in the interqubit interaction. Although interqubit interaction noise and gate timing errors are always present in any qubit platform, dissipation is a special case that can arise in multivalley semiconductor spin qubit systems, such as Si-based qubits, where dissipation may be used as a general model for valley leakage. In our Hamiltonian, each qubit is coupled via Heisenberg exchange to every other qubit in the chain, with the strength of the exchange interaction decreasing exponentially with distance between the qubits. Dissipation is modeled through the term $-iγ\mathbf{1}$ in the Hamiltonian, and $γ$ is chosen so as to be consistent with the experimentally observed intervalley tunneling in Si. We show that randomness in the dissipation parameter should have little to no effect on the SWAP gate fidelity in the currently fabricated Si circuits. We introduce quasistatic noise in the interqubit interaction and random gate timing error and average the fidelities over 10,000 realizations for each set of parameters. The fidelities are then plotted against $J_\text{SWAP}$, the strength of the exchange coupling corresponding to the SWAP gate. We find that dissipation decreases the fidelity of the SWAP operation -- though the effect is small compared to that of the known noise in the interqubit interaction -- and that gate timing error creates an effective optimal value of $J_\text{SWAP}$, beyond which infidelity begins to increase.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Scattering of electron from a disk in 2D electron gas: full cross section, transport cross section, and the interaction correction

It is known that the presence of the Fermi sea modifies the scattering of an electron from a point-like impurity. This is due to the Friedel oscillations of the electron density around the impurity. These oscillations create an additional scattering potential for incident electrons. The closer the energy of the incident electron to the Fermi level, the stronger the additional scattering. We study this effect for the case when the impurity is not point-like but rather a hard disk, with a radius much bigger than the de Broglie wavelength. We start with a careful examination of the full and transport cross sections from an extended target. Both cross sections approach their limiting values upon increasing the wave vector of the incident electron. We establish that the transport cross section saturates much faster than the full cross section. With regard to the interaction correction, we establish that it vanishes for the full cross section, while for the transport cross section, it is enhanced compared to the case of a point-like scatterer.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗