Quantum spin transistors in superconducting circuits

Abstract: Transistors play a vital role in classical computers, and their quantum mechanical counterparts could potentially be as important in quantum computers. Where a classical transistor is operated as a switch that either blocks or allows an electric current, the quantum transistor should operate on quantum information. In terms of a spin model the in-going quantum information is an arbitrary qubit state (spin-1/2 state). In this paper, we derive a model of four qubits with Heisenberg interactions that works as a quantum spin transistor, i.e. a system with perfect state transfer or perfect blockade depending on the state of two gate qubits. When the system is initialized the dynamics complete the gate operation, hence our protocol requires minimal external control. We propose a concrete implementation of the model using state-of-the-art superconducting circuits. Finally, we demonstrate that our proposal operates with high-fidelity under realistic decoherence.