Computational perspective on recent advances in quantum electronics: from electron quantum optics to nanoelectronic devices and systems

Abstract

Quantum electronics has significantly evolved over the last decades. Where initially the clear focus was on light-matter interactions, nowadays approaches based on the electron's wave nature have solidified themselves as additional focus areas. This development is largely driven by continuous advances in electron quantum optics, electron based quantum information processing, electronic materials, and nanoelectronic devices and systems. The pace of research in all of these areas is astonishing and is accompanied by substantial theoretical and experimental advancements. What is particularly exciting is the fact that the computational methods, together with broadly available large-scale computing resources, have matured to such a degree so as to be essential enabling technologies themselves. These methods allow to predict, analyze, and design not only individual physical processes but also entire devices and systems, which would otherwise be very challenging or sometimes even out of reach with conventional experimental capabilities. This review is thus a testament to the increasingly towering importance of computational methods for advancing the expanding field of quantum electronics. To that end, computational aspects of a representative selection of recent research in quantum electronics are highlighted where a major focus is on the electron's wave nature. By categorizing the research into concrete technological applications, researchers and engineers will be able to use this review as a source for inspiration regarding problem-specific computational methods.

Design, Transport/Molecular Scale Electronics, Electric Properties, and a Conventional Quantum Study of a New Potential Molecular Switch for Nanoelectronic Devices

“…Quantum mechanics allows for the study of the electronic− vibrational properties of a nanoelectronic system at the atomicmolecular scale. 7,8 These properties (transport-electronic and vibrational properties) are considered important components in understanding the characteristics of molecular components of the field effect. 9,10 We cite here some of the field-effect molecular components and switches of specific interest.…”

Efficient Floating-point Division Quantum Circuit using Newton-Raphson Division

“…The ability of quantum computing to solve many problems that traditional computing devices cannot handle is demonstrated by Shor's algorithm [1]. Quantum circuits have numerous applications in quantum signal processing [2,3,4] quantum optics [5,6,7], and quantum thermodynamics [8,9]. Quantum circuits are reversible by virtue of their equal number of inputs and outputs.…”

Gate-controlled electron quantum interference logic

“…By treating electrons as waves, electron quantum optics provides the basis for conducting quantum optics-like investigations in a fermionic picture. [1][2][3] Compared to quantum optics, solid-state electron approaches have the advantage in terms of size, scalability, and the ability of the charge degree of freedom to be easily measurable, with the drawback of a much shorter coherence time. Key enabling technologies are: electron sources (e.g., tunable quantum dot designs in Si 4 and MoS 2 5 and two-electron sources 6 ), coherent circuits, 7 and electron detection.…”

“…The potential energy distribution V = −qϕ (ϕ being the electric potential and q the electron charge, so that a negative or positive gate bias represents a repulsive barrier or an attractive well for the electrons, respectively) together with the physical characteristics of the injected electrons, determine the electron evolution in the 2D waveguide. Stochastic evolution simulations (see recent monographs 29,30 and reviews 3,31 )are used for various gate configurations to calculate the electron and current densities and the total current levels in the output channels.…”

“…Regarding the theoretical framework for the simulation backend (for a recent review of computational methods for quantum electron transport and structure simulations see ref. 3 ): the quantum mechanics of the Schrödinger equation is reformulated by the Wigner (or the equivalent density matrix) formalism in phase space. The latter involves quantum statistics and introduces a function which is the quantum counterpart of the Boltzmann distribution function.…”