Universal quantum control of two-electron spin quantum bits using dynamic nuclear polarization

One fundamental requirement for quantum computation is to perform universal manipulations of quantum bits at rates much faster than the qubit's rate of decoherence. Recently, fast gate operations have been demonstrated in logical spin qubits composed of two electron spins where the rapid exchange of the two electrons permits electrically controllable rotations around one axis of the qubit. However, universal control of the qubit requires arbitrary rotations around at least two axes. Here we show that by subjecting each electron spin to a magnetic field of different magnitude we achieve full quantum control of the two-electron logical spin qubit with nanosecond operation times. Using a single device, a magnetic field gradient of several hundred milliTesla is generated and sustained using dynamic nuclear polarization of the underlying Ga and As nuclei. Universal control of the two-electron qubit is then demonstrated using quantum state tomography. The presented technique provides the basis for single and potentially multiple qubit operations with gate times that approach the threshold required for quantum error correction.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures. Supplementary Material included as ancillary fil

Large tunable valley splitting in edge-free graphene quantum dots on boron nitride

Coherent manipulation of binary degrees of freedom is at the heart of modern quantum technologies. Graphene offers two binary degrees: the electron spin and the valley. Efficient spin control has been demonstrated in many solid state systems, while exploitation of the valley has only recently been started, yet without control on the single electron level. Here, we show that van-der Waals stacking of graphene onto hexagonal boron nitride offers a natural platform for valley control. We use a graphene quantum dot induced by the tip of a scanning tunneling microscope and demonstrate valley splitting that is tunable from -5 to +10 meV (including valley inversion) by sub-10-nm displacements of the quantum dot position. This boosts the range of controlled valley splitting by about one order of magnitude. The tunable inversion of spin and valley states should enable coherent superposition of these degrees of freedom as a first step towards graphene-based qubits

Spin-orbit qubit in a semiconductor nanowire

Motion of electrons can influence their spins through a fundamental effect called spin-orbit interaction. This interaction provides a way to electrically control spins and as such lies at the foundation of spintronics. Even at the level of single electrons, spin-orbit interaction has proven promising for coherent spin rotations. Here we report a spin-orbit quantum bit implemented in an InAs nanowire, where spin-orbit interaction is so strong that spin and motion can no longer be separated. In this regime we realize fast qubit rotations and universal single qubit control using only electric fields. We enhance coherence by dynamically decoupling the qubit from the environment. Our qubits are individually addressable: they are hosted in single-electron quantum dots, each of which has a different Land\'e g-factor. The demonstration of a nanowire qubit opens ways to harness the advantages of nanowires for use in quantum computing. Nanowires can serve as one-dimensional templates for scalable qubit registers. Unique to nanowires is the possibility to easily vary the material even during wire growth. Such flexibility can be used to design wires with suppressed decoherence and push semiconductor qubit fidelities towards error-correction levels. Furthermore, electrical dots can be integrated with optical dots in p-n junction nanowires. The coherence times achieved here are sufficient for the conversion of an electronic qubit into a photon, the flying qubit, for long-distance quantum communication

Proinsulin Atypical Maturation and Disposal Induces Extensive Defects in Mouse Ins2+/Akita β-Cells

Because of its low relative folding rate and plentiful manufacture in β-cells, proinsulin maintains a homeostatic balance of natively and plentiful non-natively folded states (i.e., proinsulin homeostasis, PIHO) through the integration of maturation and disposal processes. PIHO is susceptible to genetic and environmental influences, and its disorder has been critically linked to defects in β-cells in diabetes. To explore this hypothesis, we performed polymerase chain reaction (PCR), metabolic-labeling, immunoblotting, and histological studies to clarify what defects result from primary disorder of PIHO in model Ins2+/Akita β-cells. We used T antigen-transformed Ins2+/Akita and control Ins2+/+ β-cells established from Akita and wild-type littermate mice. In Ins2+/Akita β-cells, we found no apparent defect at the transcriptional and translational levels to contribute to reduced cellular content of insulin and its precursor and secreted insulin. Glucose response remained normal in proinsulin biosynthesis but was impaired for insulin secretion. The size and number of mature insulin granules were reduced, but the size/number of endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi, mitochondrion, and lysosome organelles and vacuoles were expanded/increased. Moreover, cell death increased, and severe oxidative stress, which manifested as increased reactive oxygen species, thioredoxin-interacting protein, and protein tyrosine nitration, occurred in Ins2+/Akita β-cells and/or islets. These data show the first clear evidence that primary PIHO imbalance induces severe oxidative stress and impairs glucose-stimulated insulin release and β-cell survival as well as producing other toxic consequences. The defects disclosed/clarified in model Ins2+/Akita β-cells further support a role of the genetic and stress-susceptible PIHO disorder in β-cell failure and diabetes

Genome-Wide Interaction-Based Association Analysis Identified Multiple New Susceptibility Loci for Common Diseases

Genome-wide interaction-based association (GWIBA) analysis has the potential to identify novel susceptibility loci. These interaction effects could be missed with the prevailing approaches in genome-wide association studies (GWAS). However, no convincing loci have been discovered exclusively from GWIBA methods, and the intensive computation involved is a major barrier for application. Here, we developed a fast, multi-thread/parallel program named “pair-wise interaction-based association mapping” (PIAM) for exhaustive two-locus searches. With this program, we performed a complete GWIBA analysis on seven diseases with stringent control for false positives, and we validated the results for three of these diseases. We identified one pair-wise interaction between a previously identified locus, C1orf106, and one new locus, TEC, that was specific for Crohn's disease, with a Bonferroni corrected P<0.05 (P = 0.039). This interaction was replicated with a pair of proxy linked loci (P = 0.013) on an independent dataset. Five other interactions had corrected P<0.5. We identified the allelic effect of a locus close to SLC7A13 for coronary artery disease. This was replicated with a linked locus on an independent dataset (P = 1.09×10−7). Through a local validation analysis that evaluated association signals, rather than locus-based associations, we found that several other regions showed association/interaction signals with nominal P<0.05. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that the GWIBA approach was successful for identifying novel loci, and the results provide new insights into the genetic architecture of common diseases. In addition, our PIAM program was capable of handling very large GWAS datasets that are likely to be produced in the future

Microbiological epidemiology of preservation fluids in transplanted kidney: a nationwide retrospective observational study

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