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Experimental realization of long-distance entanglement between spins in antiferromagnetic quantum spin chains

Nature Physics volume 11, pages 255–260 (2015)Cite this article

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Abstract

Entanglement is a concept that has defied common sense since the discovery of quantum mechanics. Two particles are said to be entangled when the quantum state of each particle cannot be described independently, no matter how far apart in space and time the two particles are. We demonstrate experimentally that unpaired spins separated by several hundred ångström entangle through a collection of spin singlets made up of antiferromagnetic spin-1/2 chains in a bulk material. Low-temperature magnetization and specific heat studies as a function of magnetic field reveal the occurrence of very dilute spin dimers and at least two quantum phase transitions related to the breaking of excited local triplets. The mechanism at the origin of the unpaired spins inside the quantum chains is the inter-modulation potential between two sublattices, and may be replicated using well-designed synthetic multilayers.

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Figure 1: Sketch of a quantum communication channel and properties of spins entangled through antiferromagnetic interactions.
Figure 2: Detailed description of the structure and magnetic properties of the chain subsystem.
Figure 3: Magnetization data at low temperature and under magnetic fields.
Figure 4: Low-temperature specific heat experiments at different applied magnetic fields.
Figure 5: Quantum correlations.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the support of the European Community Research Infrastructures under the FP7 Capacities Specific Program, MICROKELVIN project number 228464.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Université Grenoble Alpes, Institut Néel, F-38042 Grenoble, France

    S. Sahling, G. Remenyi, C. Paulsen, P. Monceau & J. E. Lorenzo

  2. CNRS, Institut Néel, F-38042 Grenoble, France

    S. Sahling, G. Remenyi, C. Paulsen, P. Monceau & J. E. Lorenzo

  3. TU Dresden, Institut für Festkörperphysik, D-01062, Germany

    S. Sahling

  4. SPSMS, UMR-E 9001, CEA-INAC/UJF-Grenoble 1, IMAPEC, F-38054 Grenoble, France

    V. Saligrama & C. Marin

  5. Synthèse, Propriétés et Modélisation des Matériaux (SP2M), UMR 8182, Université Paris-Sud, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France

    A. Revcolevschi

  6. SPSMS-MDN, UMR-E 9001, CEA/UJF-Grenoble 1, INAC, F-38054 Grenoble, France

    L. P. Regnault & S. Raymond

Authors
  1. S. Sahling
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Contributions

The idea was born out of discussion between J.E.L. and S.S. Samples came from V.S., C.M. and A.R. The magnetization experiment was carried out by C.P., the specific heat experiment was carried out by G.R. and S.S. and the inelastic-neutron-scattering experiment was carried out on the three-axis spectrometer IN12 at ILL, Grenoble, by J.E.L., L.P.R. and S.R. The data were analysed by S.S. and J.E.L. Finally J.E.L. wrote the manuscript with input from all the authors.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to S. Sahling or J. E. Lorenzo.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Sahling, S., Remenyi, G., Paulsen, C. et al. Experimental realization of long-distance entanglement between spins in antiferromagnetic quantum spin chains. Nature Phys 11, 255–260 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3186

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