Shiyu Zhou: Probing Z2 quantum spin liquid using quantum simulators

Quantum spin liquids (QSLs) have gathered significant attention due to their unique properties that cannot be characterized by traditional Landau theory and spontaneous symmetry breaking. Their ground states lack magnetic ordering, but instead display topological order. However, they have not been unambiguously observed in the natural materials, and an active search of QSLs in the labs is still ongoing. We propose to simulate Z2 QSLs using programmable quantum devices. In this talk, I will start with a brief introduction to quantum computing and quantum spin liquids before I show how to use D-Wave devices to obtain Z2 QSL states in its classical limit with only local two-body interactions. Then, I will show how to probe the fractional statistics of quasiparticles in Z2 QSL interferometrically using quantum simulators. Observing the fractional statistics serves as a clear indication of realizing QSLs. Finally, I will discuss its possible implementation in the digital quantum devices.