Fast topological pumping for the generation of large-scale Greenberger−Horne−Zeilinger states in a superconducting circuit

Topological pumping of edge states in the finite lattice with nontrivial topological phases provides a powerful means for robust excitation transfer, requiring extremely slow evolution to follow an adiabatic transfer. Here, we propose fast topological pumping via edge channels to generate large-scale Greenberger−Horne−Zeilinger (GHZ) states in a topological superconducting circuit with a sped-up evolution process. The scheme indicates a conceptual way of designing fast topological pumping related to the instantaneous energy spectrum characteristics rather than relying on the shortcuts to adiabaticity. Based on fast topological pumping, large-scale GHZ states show greater robustness against on-site potential defects, the fluctuation of couplings and losses of the system in comparison with the conventional adiabatic topological pumping. With experimentally feasible qutrit-resonator coupling strengths and moderate decay rates of qutrits and resonators, fast topological pumping drastically improves the scalability of GHZ states with a high fidelity. Our work opens up prospects for the realization of large-scale GHZ states based on fast topological pumping in the superconducting quantum circuit system, which provides potential applications of topological matters in quantum information processing.     

High winding number of topological phase in non-unitary periodic quantum walk

Topological phases and their associated multiple edge states are studied by constructing a one-dimensional non-unitary multi-period quantum walk with parity-time symmetry. It is shown that large topological numbers can be obtained when choosing an appropriate time frame. The maximum value of the winding number can reach the number of periods in the one-step evolution operator. The validity of the bulk–edge correspondence is confirmed, while for an odd-period quantum walk and an even-period quantum walk, they have different configurations of the 0-energy edge state and π-energy edge state. On the boundary, two kinds of edge states always coexist in equal amount for the odd-period quantum walk, however three cases including equal amount, unequal amount or even only one type may occur for the even-period quantum walk.     

Topological phases and type-II edge state in two-leg-coupled Su-Schrieffer-Heeger chains

Topological quantum states have attracted great attention both theoretically and experimentally.Here,we show that the momentum-space lattice allows us to couple two Su-Schrieffer-Heeger(SSH)chains with opposite dimerizations and staggered interleg hoppings.The coupled SSH chain is a four-band model which has sublattice symmetry similar to the SSH4.Interestingly,the topological edge states occupy two sublattices at the same time,which can be regarded as a one-dimension analogue of the type-II corner state.The analytical expressions of the edge states are also obtained by solving the eigenequations.Finally,we provide a possible experimental scheme to detect the topological winding number and corresponding edge states.     

Simulation and detection of the topological properties of a modulated Rice-Mele model in a one-dimensional circuit-QED lattice

Here, we propose a simple scheme to realize a one-dimensional (1D) modulated Rice-Mele model (RMM) and investigate its topological properties with a 1D circuit quantum electrodynamics (QED) lattice. The system can be mapped into a Chern insulator model by introducing a period parameter. Interestingly and surprisingly, we found that the circuit-QED lattice system always exhibits topologically nontrivial phases if both the nearest-neighbor hopping strength between two resonators and the qubit-assisted on-site potentials are alternately changed in the direction of the lattice. The numerical results show that the topological phases can be obtained by introducing an additional modulation parameter and both the edge state and topological invariant can be unambiguously seen with the existence of decay and disorders, even with few resonators in the lattice.     

三聚化非厄密晶格中具有趋肤效应的拓扑边缘态

近年来,探索新的拓扑量子结构、深入分析各种多聚化拓扑晶格中的新奇物理性质已经成为热点.并且,多聚化拓扑模型在量子光学等领域的研究也愈发深入,拥有广阔的发展前景.本文聚焦于研究三聚化非厄密晶格中的新奇拓扑特性.首先,若晶胞内最近邻正反向耦合不相等,三聚化模型中的体态和边缘态出现趋肤效应.其中,随着最近邻耦合正反系数差的增大,拓扑保护的边缘态的宽度和简并度均可被调制,边缘态数量也会减少.其次,当在考虑次近邻耦合的影响时,随着次近邻耦合系数在适当范围内变化,系统本征能谱的上下能隙及其中具有趋肤效应的边缘态也会发生不对称的变化.此外,当适当改变两种耦合系数,三聚化非厄密模型的体态和边缘态的局域程度也会随之发生变化.     

Transferring entangled states of photonic cat-state qubits in circuit QED

We propose a method for transferring quantum entangled states of two photonic cat-state qubits(cqubits)from two microwave cavities to the other two microwave cavities.This proposal is realized by using four microwave cavities coupled to a superconducting flux qutrit.Because of using four cavities with different frequencies,the inter-cavity crosstalk is significantly reduced.Since only one coupler qutrit is used,the circuit resource is minimized.The entanglement transfer is completed with a singlestep operation only,thus this proposal is quite simple.The third energy level of the coupler qutrit is not populated during the state transfer,therefore decoherence from the higher energy level is greatly suppressed.Our numerical simulations show that high-fidelity transfer of two-cqubit entangled states from two transmission line resonators to the other two transmission line resonators is feasible with current circuit QED technology.This proposal is universal and can be applied to accomplish the same task in a wide range of physical systems,such as four microwave or optical cavities,which are coupled to a natural or artificial three-level atom.     

Preparation of edge states by shaking boundaries

Preparing topological states of quantum matter, such as edge states, is one of the most important directions in condensed matter physics. In this work, we present a proposal to prepare edge states in Aubry–André–Harper (AAH) model with open boundaries, which takes advantage of Lyapunov control to design operations. We show that edge states can be obtained with almost arbitrary initial states. A numerical optimalization for the control is performed and the dependence of control process on the system size is discussed. The merit of this proposal is that the shaking exerts only on the boundaries of the model. As a by-product, a topological entangled state is achieved by elaborately designing the shaking scheme.     

磁场中的拓扑绝缘体边缘态性质

用数值方法研究了拓扑绝缘体薄膜体系在外加垂直磁场 作用下其边缘态的性质. 磁场的加入通过耦合k+eA, 即Peierls势替换关系和 该作用导致的Zeeman交换场体现在哈密顿量中. 考虑窄条圆环状结构的二维InAs/GaSb/AlSb薄膜量子阱材料, 当其处于拓扑非平庸状态, 即量子自旋霍尔态时, 会出现受时间反演对称性保护的两支简并边缘态, 而在垂直磁场的作用下, 时间反演对称性被破坏, 这时能带将形成一条条的朗道能级, 原来简并的两支边缘态也会分开到朗道能级谱线的两侧, 从电子态密度的空间分布情况则可以看到边缘态分别局域在材料的两个边界. 随着磁场的增大, 位于同一边界上的不同 自旋极化的边缘态将出现分离: 一支仍然局域在边缘, 另一支则随外加磁场的增加而有逐渐演化到材料内部的趋势. 文中还计算了同一边界上的两支边缘态之间的散射, 结果表明由于两个边缘态在空间发生分离, 相互之间的散射被很大的压制, 得到了其散射随磁场增加没有明显变化的结论, 所以磁场并不会增强散射过程, 也没有破坏体拓扑材料的性质, 说明了量子自旋霍尔态在没有时间反演对称的情况下也可以有较强的稳定性.     

Partially entangled states bridge in quantum teleportation

The traditional method for information transfer in a quantum communication system using partially entangled state resource is quantum distillation or direct teleportation. In order to reduce the waiting time cost in hop-by-hop transmission and execute independently in each node, we propose a quantum bridging method with partially entangled states to teleport quantum states from source node to destination node. We also prove that the designed specific quantum bridging circuit is feasible for partially entangled states teleportation across multiple intermediate nodes. Compared to two traditional ways, our partially entanglement quantum bridging method uses simpler logic gates, has better security, and can be used in less quantum resource situation.     

声子晶体中的多重拓扑相

研究了圆环型波导依照蜂窝结构排列的声子晶体系统中的拓扑相变.利用晶格结构的点群对称性实现赝自旋,并在圆环中引入旋转气流来打破时间反演对称性.通过紧束缚近似模型计算的解析结果表明,没有引入气流时,调节几何参数,系统存在普通绝缘体和量子自旋霍尔效应绝缘体两个相;引入气流后,可以实现新的时间反演对称性破缺的量子自旋霍尔效应相,而增大气流强度,则可以实现量子反常霍尔效应相.这三个拓扑相可以通过自旋陈数来分类.通过有限元软件模拟了多个系统中边界态的传播,发现不同于量子自旋霍尔效应相,量子反常霍尔相系统的表面只支持一种自旋的边界态,并且它无需时间反演对称性保护.     

Rashba自旋轨道耦合下square-octagon晶格的拓扑相变

本文研究了各向同性square-octagon晶格在内禀自旋轨道耦合、Rashba自旋轨道耦合和交换场作用下的拓扑相变,同时引入陈数和自旋陈数对系统进行拓扑分类.系统在自旋轨道耦合和交换场的影响下会出现许多拓扑非平庸态,包括时间反演对称破缺的量子自旋霍尔态和量子反常霍尔态.特别的是,在时间反演对称破缺的量子自旋霍尔效应中,无能隙螺旋边缘态依然能够完好存在.调节交换场或者填充因子的大小会导致系统发生从时间反演对称破缺的量子自旋霍尔态到自旋过滤的量子反常霍尔态的拓扑相变.边缘态能谱和自旋谱的性质与陈数和自旋陈数的拓扑刻画完全一致.这些研究成果为自旋量子操控提供了一个有趣的途径.     

Evolution of individual quantum Hall edge states in the presence of disorder

By using the Bloch eigenmode matching approach, we numerically study the evolution of individual quantum Hall edge states with respect to disorder. As demonstrated by the two-parameter renormalization group flow of the Hall and Thouless conductances, quantum Hall edge states with high Chern number n are completely different from that of the n = 1 case. Two categories of individual edge modes are evaluated in a quantum Hall system with high Chern number. Edge states from the lowest Landau level have similar eigenfunctions that are well localized at the system edge and independent of the Fermi energy. On the other hand, at fixed Fermi energy, the edge state from higher Landau levels exhibit larger expansion, which results in less stable quantum Hall states at high Fermi energies. By presenting the local current density distribution, the effect of disorder on eigenmode-resolved edge states is distinctly demonstrated.     

Topological hierarchy matters — topological matters with superlattices of defects

Topological insulators/superconductors are new states of quantum matter with metallic edge/surface states.In this paper,we review the defects effect in these topological states and study new types of topological matters — topological hierarchy matters.We find that both topological defects(quantized vortices) and non topological defects(vacancies) can induce topological mid-gap states in the topological hierarchy matters after considering the superlattice of defects.These topological mid-gap states have nontrivial topological properties,including the nonzero Chern number and the gapless edge states.Effective tight-binding models are obtained to describe the topological mid-gap states in the topological hierarchy matters.     

Shannon Entropy and Diffusion Coefficient in Parity-Time Symmetric Quantum Walks

Non-Hermitian topological edge states have many intriguing properties, however, to date, they have mainly been discussed in terms of bulk–boundary correspondence. Here, we propose using a bulk property of diffusion coefficients for probing the topological states and exploring their dynamics. The diffusion coefficient was found to show unique features with the topological phase transitions driven by parity–time (PT)-symmetric non-Hermitian discrete-time quantum walks as well as by Hermitian ones, despite the fact that artificial boundaries are not constructed by an inhomogeneous quantum walk. For a Hermitian system, a turning point and abrupt change appears in the diffusion coefficient when the system is approaching the topological phase transition, while it remains stable in the trivial topological state. For a non-Hermitian system, except for the feature associated with the topological transition, the diffusion coefficient in the PT-symmetric-broken phase demonstrates an abrupt change with a peak structure. In addition, the Shannon entropy of the quantum walk is found to exhibit a direct correlation with the diffusion coefficient. The numerical results presented herein may open up a new avenue for studying the topological state in non-Hermitian quantum walk systems.     

Classification of Topological Insulators with Time-Reversal and Inversion Symmetry

In this paper, we find that topological insulators with time-reversal symmetryand inversion symmetry featuring two-dimensional quantum spin Hall (QSH) state can be divided into 16 classes, which are characterized by four Z₂topological variables ζ_k=0,1 at four points with high symmetry in the Brillouin zone. We obtain the corresponding edge states for each one of these sixteen classes of QSHs. In addition, it is predicted that massless fermionic excitations appear at the quantum phase transition between different QSH states. In the end, we also briefly discuss the three-dimensional case.     

Entanglement spectrum of non-Abelian anyons

Non-Abelian anyons can emerge as fractionalized excitations in two-dimensional systems with topological order. One important example is the Moore—Read fractional quantum Hall state. Its quasihole states are zero-energy eigenstates of a parent Hamiltonian, but its quasiparticle states are not. Both of them can be modeled on an equal footing using the bipartite composite fermion method. We study the entanglement spectrum of the cases with two or four non-Abelian anyons. The counting of levels in the entanglement spectrum can be understood using the edge theory of the Moore—Read state, which reflects the topological order of the system. It is shown that the fusion results of two non-Abelian anyons is determined by their distributions in the bipartite construction.     

Magnetic quantum ring in two-dimensional topological insulators

The quantum properties of topological insulator magnetic quantum rings formed by inhomogeneous magnetic fields are investigated using a series expansion method for the modified Dirac equation. Cycloid-like and snake-like magnetic edge states are respectively found in the bulk gap for the normal and inverted magnetic field profiles. The energy spectra, current densities and classical trajectories of the magnetic edge states are discussed in detail. The bulk band inversion is found to manifest itself through the angular momentum transition in the ground state for the cycloid-like states and the resonance tunneling effect for the snake-like states.     

Robust beam splitter with fast quantum state transfer through a topological interface

The Su−Schrieffer−Heeger (SSH) model, commonly used for robust state transfers through topologically protected edge pumping, has been generalized and exploited to engineer diverse functional quantum devices. Here, we propose to realize a fast topological beam splitter based on a generalized SSH model by accelerating the quantum state transfer (QST) process essentially limited by adiabatic requirements. The scheme involves delicate orchestration of the instantaneous energy spectrum through exponential modulation of nearest neighbor coupling strengths and onsite energies, yielding a significantly accelerated beam splitting process. Due to properties of topological pumping and accelerated QST, the beam splitter exhibits strong robustness against parameter disorders and losses of system. In addition, the model demonstrates good scalability and can be extended to two-dimensional crossed-chain structures to realize a topological router with variable numbers of output ports. Our work provides practical prospects for fast and robust topological QST in feasible quantum devices in large-scale quantum information processing.     

Quantum information transfer between topological and spin qubit systems

We propose a method to coherently transfer quantum information, and to create entanglement, between topological qubits and conventional spin qubits. Our suggestion uses gated control to transfer an electron (spin qubit) between a quantum dot and edge Majorana modes in adjacent topological superconductors. Because of the spin polarization of the Majorana modes, the electron transfer translates spin superposition states into superposition states of the Majorana system, and vice versa. Furthermore, we show how a topological superconductor can be used to facilitate long-distance quantum information transfer and entanglement between spatially separated spin qubits.     

An Alternative Scheme for Transferring Quantum States and Preparing a Quantum Network in Cavity QED

An alternative scheme is proposed to transfer quantum states and prepare a quantum network in cavity QED. It is based on the interaction of a two-mode cavity field with a three-level V-type atom. In the scheme, the atom-cavity field interaction is resonant, thus the time required to complete the quantum state transfer process is greatly shortened, which is very important in view of decoherence. Moreover, the present scheme does not require one mode of the cavities to be initially prepared in one-photon state, thus it is more experimentally feasible than the previous ones.