Helical multiferroics for electric field controlled quantum information processing

Abstract

Magnetoelectric coupling in helical multiferroics allows us to steer spin order with electric fields. Here we show theoretically that in a helical multiferroic chain quantum information processing as well as quantum phases are highly sensitive to electric (E) field. Applying E field, the quantum state transfer fidelity can be increased and made directionally dependent. We also show that E field transforms the spin-density-wave/nematic or multipolar phases of a frustrated ferromagnetic spin-12 chain in chiral phase with a strong magnetoelectric coupling. We find sharp reorganization of the entanglement spectrum as well as a large enhancement of fidelity susceptibility at Ising quantum phase transition from nematic to chiral states driven by electric field. These findings point to a tool for quantum information with low power consumption. © 2014 American Physical Society.