Program

Spin Qubits in Semiconducting Nanostructures

Daniel Loss, (Department of Physics, Universität Basel, Basel, Switzerland)

This lecture will provide an introduction and overview of spin qubits in semiconducting nanostructures such as quantum dots and nanowires for electron and hole spins from a theorist’s point of view [1]. Despite enormous experimental effort in many labs worldwide over the last twenty years or so, progress has been slow due to many challenges posed by complex material issues and the related many-body physics limiting the coherence of spin qubits. Nevertheless, the field has evolved steadily, in theory and experiment, and there is a strong belief in the community that the ultimate goal of building a powerful quantum computer most likely will be reached with spin qubits in semiconductors since they have the advantage of being inherently small and fast: In principle, it is possible to fit a billion spin qubits on a square centimeter and have them function at a clock speed of GHz. In the second part of the lecture, I will then touch on some recent theoretical ideas on hybrid systems which aim at combining topological qubits, such as Majorana fermions and parafermions, with spin qubits.
[1] C. Kloeffel and D. Loss, Annu. Rev. Condens. Matter Phys. 4, 51 (2013).