Topological qubit fusion

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9713199-B2
Application number	US-201313957268-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 1, 2013
Priority date	Feb 5, 2013
Publication date	Jul 18, 2017
Grant date	Jul 18, 2017

Abstract

A fusion outcome quasiparticle may be trapped in a potential well of a topological segment. The fusion outcome quasiparticle may be the product of fusion of a first quasiparticle and a second quasiparticle, where the first and the second quasiparticles are localized at ends of a topological segment. The potential well having the fusion outcome quasiparticle trapped therein and a third quasiparticle may be moved relative to each other such that the potential well and the third quasiparticle are brought toward each other. The quasiparticles may be Majorana modes of a nanowire.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of providing a topological quantum computing operation, comprising:
providing a first quasiparticle and a second quasiparticle respectively localized at first and second ends of a first topological wire segment defined by a first chemical potential;
providing a third quasiparticle and a fourth quasiparticle respectively localized at first and second ends of a second topological wire segment defined by a second chemical potential;
forming a potential well at a nontopological phase wire segment that extends between the first topological wire segment and the second topological wire segment; and
fusing in the potential well the second and third quasiparticles together in a manner that traps a fusion outcome quasiparticle resulting from the fusion of the second and third quasiparticles in the potential well.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein prior to fusing, the method further comprising:
turning the nontopological phase wire segment into a topological phase wire segment such that at least one of the second quasiparticle and the third quasiparticle moves toward the other.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein turning the nontopological phase regions into topological phase regions and forming the potential well therein comprises adjusting a number of gates to drive phase changes in a nanowire that comprises the first and second topological wire segments and the nontopological phase wire segment.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: measuring the fusion outcome quasiparticle.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
bringing the potential well having the fusion outcome quasiparticle trapped therein and the first end of the first topological wire segment toward each other.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein bringing the potential well having the fusion outcome quasiparticle trapped therein and the first end of the first topological wire segment toward each other further comprises at least one of: (a) driving the potential well having the fusion outcome quasiparticle trapped therein toward the first end of the first topological wire segment; and (b) driving the first end of the first topological wire segment toward the potential well having the fusion outcome quasiparticle trapped therein.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the fusion outcome quasiparticle is a first fusion outcome quasiparticle, the method further comprising:
fusing the first quasiparticle and the first fusion outcome quasiparticle together to yield a second fusion outcome quasiparticle.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein an initial first qubit comprises at least the first and second quasiparticles, and an initial second qubit comprises the third and fourth quasiparticles and at least a fifth quasiparticle, the method further comprising: forming a third qubit with at least the second fusion outcome quasiparticle and the fifth quasiparticle.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first topological wire segment is a Majorana wire.

10. A quantum computing device, comprising:
a nanowire configurable to have a first topological segment and a second topological segment and a nontopological segment, each topological segment having first and second ends and having a respective quasiparticle localized thereat, the nontopological segment extending between the first ends of the first and second topological segments; and
an array of gates configured to selectively induce changes of phase, from topological to nontopological and vice-versa, in the nanowire and configured to induce a potential well in the nanowire at the nontopological segment that traps a fusion outcome quasiparticle therein, the fusion outcome quasiparticle being the product of fusion of quasiparticles localized at the first ends of the first and the second topological segments, wherein gates of the array of gates are selectable so as to turn the nontopological phase wire segment into a topological phase wire segment such that at least one of the second quasiparticle and the third quasiparticle moves toward the other.

11. The quantum computing device of claim 10 , wherein the nanowire comprises a Majorana wire.

12. The quantum computing device of claim 10 , wherein the array of gates is further configured to cause relative motion of the potential well such that the potential well and the second end of the first topological segment are brought towards each other.

13. The quantum computing device of claim 10 , further comprising:
a measurement device for measuring the fusion outcome quasiparticle.

Assignees

• Microsoft Corp
• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Freedman Michael H
• Wang Zhenghan
• Lutchyn Roman M
• Nayak Chetan
• Bonderson Parsa

Classifications

• B82Y10/00 Primary

  Nanotechnology for information processing, storage or transmission, e.g. quantum computing or single electron logic · CPC title

• G06N99/002

  Physics · mapped topic

• H04W99/00 Primary

  Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass · CPC title

• G06N10/40

  Physical realisations or architectures of quantum processors or components for manipulating qubits, e.g. qubit coupling or qubit control · CPC title

• G06N10/20 Primary

  Models of quantum computing, e.g. quantum circuits or universal quantum computers · CPC title