arXiv:1807.09228 [quant-ph]AbstractReferencesReviewsResources
Analog quantum chemistry simulation
J. Argüello-Luengo, A. González-Tudela, T. Shi, P. Zoller, J. I. Cirac
Published 2018-07-24Version 1
Quantum computers hold the promise to provide outstanding computational speed ups in chemical problems, like the determination of the electronic ground state energy of molecules. Here, we demonstrate that the same goal can be achieved with an analog quantum simulator which combines two well-established technologies, namely, ultra-cold atoms in optical lattices and cavity QED. In the proposed simulator, fermionic atoms hopping in an optical potential play the role of electrons, additional optical potentials provide the nuclear attraction, while a single spin excitation over a Mott insulator mediates the electronic Coulomb repulsion. We analyze the impact of discretization and finite size effects of the lattice, and provide the working conditions required for the precise determination of the electronic energy of simple molecules.