Joost Slingerland
Anyons and Topological Quantum Computation in Spinful Bose Einstein Condensates
Topologically fault tolerant quantum computation is being actively pursued with many experiments and devices based on hybrid semiconductor/superconductor based condensed matter systems. This talk pursues an alternative approach which depends on the physics of Bose-Einstein condensates of atoms with nonzero spin. These condensates allow for a large variety of topologically distinct vortex excitations, which, in planar condensates, behave as non-Abelian anyons. The vortices can be created and moved at will using optical tweezers and could be used at minimum to simulate small topological quantum computers. This talk is based on joint work with Thomas Mawson, Timothy Petersen and Tapio Simula, see arXiv:1805.10009.