Quantum computing of magnetic-skyrmion-like patterns in Heisenberg ferromagnets

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the use of a variational quantum eigensolver on a quantum computer simulator to study magnetic skyrmion-like structures in a quantum Heisenberg model, revealing potential applications in spintronics.

Contribution

It introduces a quantum computing approach to analyze magnetic skyrmion-like patterns in a Heisenberg ferromagnet, showing efficiency over classical methods for larger systems.

Findings

Discontinuous changes in energy, magnetization, and topological charge suggest skyrmion-like structures.

Quantum approach is more efficient than classical diagonalization for systems >17 sites.

Magnetization jumps indicate potential for stable information carriers.

Abstract

We diagonalize the quantum two-dimensional spin-1/2 Heisenberg model with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) by applying the variational quantum eigensolver, running on a quantum-computer simulator, which turns out to be a more efficient approach than a classical direct diagonalization for systems with more than 17 sites. The calculated external-magnetic-field dependence of the total energy, of the magnetization, as well as of the topological charge exhibits a distinctive discontinuity which hints for the existence of zero-temperature magnetic skyrmions-like structures at the quantum level, controlled by the combination of the exchange-coupling and the DMI parameters. The potentially measurable jump in the magnetization upon changing the field indicates the investigated objects as stable enough for eventual applications in spintronics or even as information carriers.