Simulations of Information Transport in Spin Chains

TL;DR

This paper introduces a method to simulate and observe quantum information transport in spin chains using NMR by transforming the XY-Heisenberg Hamiltonian into a more experimentally accessible form.

Contribution

It presents a similarity transformation enabling the simulation of information transport in spin chains with NMR-compatible interactions.

Findings

Transformation between Hamiltonians demonstrated

Simulation of information transport achievable with NMR

Experimental signatures of transport can be observed

Abstract

Transport of quantum information in linear spin chains has been the subject of much theoretical work. Experimental studies by nuclear spin systems in solid-state by NMR (a natural implementation of such models) is complicated since the dipolar Hamiltonian is not solely comprised of nearest-neighbor XY-Heisenberg couplings. We present here a similarity transformation between the XY-Heisenberg Hamiltonian and the grade raising Hamiltonian, an interaction which is achievable with the collective control provided by radio-frequency pulses in NMR. Not only does this second Hamiltonian allows us to simulate the information transport in a spin chain, but it also provides a means to observe its signature experimentally.