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US-20260127477-A1 - Multi-Port Quantum Information Engine

US20260127477A1US 20260127477 A1US20260127477 A1US 20260127477A1US-20260127477-A1

Abstract

A system comprising a quantum information engine (QIE). The QIE includes a topological surface state three-dimensional topological insulator (TSS-3DTI) to flow, in a first flow direction from an input side to an output side, electrons having a first spin-momentum. The TSS-3DTI includes a first surface. The first surface has first spin-momentum locked charge carriers and a plurality of first magnetic impurities having a second average nuclear spin polarization. The TSS-3DTI stores information in the first surface at the points of interaction that occur between the plurality of first magnetic impurities interacting with the flowing electrons to exchange, at each point of interaction, a nuclear spin of a respective first magnetic impurity with an electron spin of a respective flowing electron. The system can include at least one surface. The system can harvest energy from other integrated circuits. A method of storing quantum energy is also provided.

Inventors

  • Danielle Marie Couger
  • Rodolfo Salas
  • Inanc Adagideli
  • Alexander BRINKMAN
  • Sofie KÖLLING
  • Ahmet Mert BOZKURT

Assignees

  • LOCKHEED MARTIN CORPORATION
  • UNIVERSITY OF TWENTE
  • SABANCI UNIVERSITY

Dates

Publication Date
20260507
Application Date
20251229

Claims (20)

  1. 1 . A system comprising: a quantum information engine (QIE) including a topological surface state three-dimensional topological insulator (TSS-3DTI) to flow, in a flow direction from an input side to an output side, electrons having a first spin-momentum, the TSS-3DTI includes: a first surface having first spin-momentum locked charge carriers and a plurality of first magnetic impurities having a second average nuclear spin polarization, the first surface stores information at points of interaction that occur between the plurality of first magnetic impurities interacting with the flowing electrons to exchange, at each point of interaction, a nuclear spin of a respective first magnetic impurity with an electron spin of a respective flowing electron.
  2. 2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein: the TSS-3DTI further includes a second surface different from the first surface; the TSS-3DTI is configured to flow, in the flow direction, second electrons having a second spin-momentum; the second surface includes second spin-momentum locked charge carriers and a plurality of second magnetic impurities with a first average nuclear spin polarization; and the second surface stores information at second points of interaction that occur between the plurality of second magnetic impurities interacting with the flowing second electrons to exchange, at each second point of interaction, a nuclear spin of a respective second magnetic impurity with an electron spin of a respective flowing second electron.
  3. 3 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the TSS-3DTI comprises a plurality of surfaces and the second surface is parallel to the first surface.
  4. 4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the TSS-3DTI further includes a first side with one or more contacts and a second side coupled to one or more contacts.
  5. 5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the TSS-3DTI is configured to be an inductive energy storage device due to coupling between the electron spin of the respective flowing electron in a topological surface state and the nuclear spin of the respective first magnetic impurity.
  6. 6 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising: a plurality of first contacts coupled to a first side of the TSS-3DTI, each first contact coupled to a respect energy source of a plurality of first energy sources; and a plurality of second contacts coupled to a second side of the TSS-3DTI, each second contact coupled to a respect energy source of a plurality of second energy sources.
  7. 7 . The system of claim 6 , further comprising: the plurality of first energy sources; the plurality of second energy sources; a plurality of first tunable loads or sources that have a first voltage potential range; and a second plurality of tunable loads or sources that have a second voltage potential range, wherein the first voltage potential range is tuned to be one of higher and lower than the second voltage potential range to control the flow of the electrons to a respective contact of the plurality of first contacts.
  8. 8 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein: the quantum information engine is a nonvolatile memory.
  9. 9 . An electronic device comprising: at least one electrical circuit; and a system with a quantum information engine (QIE) of claim 1 , coupled to the at least one electrical circuit, the QIE includes a topological surface state three-dimensional topological insulator (TSS-3DTI).
  10. 10 . The device of claim 9 , wherein: the TSS-3DTI of the QIE includes a second surface; the TSS-3DTI is configured to flow, in the flow direction from the input side to the output side, second electrons having a second spin-momentum; the second surface includes second spin-momentum locked charge carriers and a plurality of second magnetic impurities with a first average nuclear spin polarization; and the second surface stores information at second points of interaction that occur between the plurality of second magnetic impurities interacting with the flowing second electrons to exchange, at each second points of interaction, a nuclear spin of a respective second magnetic impurity with an electron spin of a respective flowing second electron.
  11. 11 . The device of claim 10 , wherein the TSS-3DTI further includes a plurality of surfaces and the second surface is parallel to a first surface.
  12. 12 . The device of claim 9 , wherein the TSS-3DTI further includes a first side with one or more contacts and a second side coupled to one or more contacts.
  13. 13 . The device of claim 9 , wherein the TSS-3DTI is configured to be an inductive energy storage device.
  14. 14 . The device of claim 9 , further comprising: a controller coupled to the system, wherein: the at least one electrical circuit comprises a plurality of electrical circuits; the system is a nonvolatile memory with multiport contacts coupled to the plurality of electrical circuits; and the controller to control information storage supplied via the nonvolatile memory for any one of a selected electrical circuit of the plurality of electrical circuits.
  15. 15 . The device of claim 9 , wherein: the at least one electrical circuit comprises is integrated on an integrated circuit (IC) chip; the TSS-3DTI is integrated on the IC chip; the at least one electrical circuit includes integrated circuit elements that are integrated on the chip; and the system harvests heat from the integrated circuit elements.
  16. 16 . A method for quantum energy storage in a system of claim 1 , comprising: flowing electrons in a flow direction along a first surface of a quantum information engine (QIE) of the system, the QIE includes a topological surface state three-dimensional topological insulator (TSS-3DTI); and storing information in the first surface at points of interaction that occur between a plurality of first magnetic impurities interacting with the flowing electrons to exchange, at each point of interaction, a nuclear spin of a respective first magnetic impurity with an electron spin of a respective flowing electron.
  17. 17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein: the TSS-3DTI is configured to flow, in the flow direction, second electrons having a second spin-momentum; the TSS-3DTI includes a second surface that includes second spin-momentum locked charge carriers and a plurality of second magnetic impurities with a first average nuclear spin polarization; and the method further comprising: storing information in the second surface at second points of interaction that occur between the plurality of second magnetic impurities interacting with the flowing second electrons to exchange, at each second point of interaction, a nuclear spin of a respective second magnetic impurity with an electron spin of a respective flowing second electron.
  18. 18 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising harvesting energy by the TSS-3DTI from the flowing electrons.
  19. 19 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the QIE is a nonvolatile memory.
  20. 20 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising: providing the flowing electrons from integrated circuit elements on at least one integrated circuit (IC) chip, wherein the TSS-3DTI is integrated on the IC chip.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 19/113,407 filed on Mar. 19, 2025 which is a U.S. National Stage Filing under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Patent Application Serial No. PCT/US2023/017865 filed Apr. 7, 2023 and entitled “Multi-Port Coherence Element for Quantum Information Device” which claims priority benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/328,657, entitled “Multi-Port Coherence Element for Quantum Information Device,” filed Apr. 7, 2022, each of which is incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. BACKGROUND Embodiments generally relate to quantum energy storage, for example, a quantum information engine for storing energy in nuclear quantum spins. Current technologies for highly portable power systems can store energy in the form of unreacted electrochemical components with potentials of a few electron volts per reaction. This limits the specific energy of such systems to a few megajoules per kilogram. Nuclear battery concepts can achieve a specific energy increase over electrochemical concepts, but at the cost of ionizing radiation dangers, poor specific power by comparison to electrochemical solutions, and posing proliferation risks. Techniques to store entropy rather than energy and to use entropy to improve energy harvesting from low quality sources have been proposed. For example, U.S. Publication No. 2011/0252798, which is incorporated by reference in its entirety herein, describes systems and methods that use stored entropy to harvest energy using a “quantum heat engine” (QHE). As other examples, U.S. Pat. Nos. 10,529,906 and 10,886,453, which are both also incorporated by reference in their entirety herein, describe other systems and methods for storing and using quantum energy. Quantum heat engines produce work using quantum matter as their working substance. A variety of theoretical QHEs have been proposed, such as those described in Scully et al., “Using Quantum Erasure to Exorcize Maxwell's Demon: I. Concepts and Context,” Physica E 29 (2005) 29-39; Rostovtsev et al., “Using Quantum Erasure to Exorcise Maxwell's Demon: II. Analysis,” Physica E 29 (2005) 40-46; Ramandeep S. Johal, “Quantum Heat Engines and Nonequilibrium Temperature,” Quant. Ph., 4394v1, September 2009; and Yeo et al., “Quantum Heat Engines and Information,” Quant. Ph., 2480v1, August 2007, each of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. These theoretical quantum heat engines, however, can be impractical or impossible to reduce to practice and can be limited to use with either interacting or non-interacting working fluids and can be limited to use with either classical thermal reservoirs or quantum reservoirs. Accordingly, there is a continued desire for improved quantum information engines. SUMMARY Embodiments generally relate to quantum energy storage, for example, a quantum information engine for storing energy in nuclear quantum spins. An aspect of the embodiments includes a system comprising a quantum information engine (QIE). The QIE includes a topological surface state three-dimensional topological insulator (TSS-3DTI) to flow, in a first flow direction from an input side to an output side, electrons having a first spin-momentum. The TSS-3DTI includes a first surface. The first surface has first spin-momentum locked charge carriers and a plurality of first magnetic impurities having a second average nuclear spin polarization. The TSS-3DTI stores information in the first surface at the points of interaction that occur between the plurality of first magnetic impurities interacting with the flowing electrons to exchange, at each point of interaction, a nuclear spin of a respective first magnetic impurity with an electron spin of a respective flowing electron. Another aspect of the embodiments includes an electronic device that includes at least one electrical circuit. The electronic device includes a system with a quantum information engine that is coupled to the at least one electrical circuit. The quantum information engine includes a topological surface state three-dimensional topological insulator. An aspect of the embodiments includes a method for quantum energy storage. The method includes flowing electrons in a flow direction along a first surface of a quantum information engine (QIE) of the system. The QIE includes a topological surface state three-dimensional topological insulator (TSS-3DTI). The method includes storing information in the first surface at points of interaction that occur between a plurality of first magnetic impurities interacting with the flowing electrons to exchange, at each point of interaction, a nuclear spin of a respective first magnetic impurity with an electron spin of a respective flowing electron. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS A more particular description briefly stated above will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof that are illustrated i