Enhanced quantum resilience through twists

Quantum technology will revolutionize information transmission, processing, and sensing with unprecedented potential for science, economy, and the society as a whole. Yet, the strong sensitivity of quantum systems to unavoidable environmental noise impedes quantum technological breakthroughs. Here, we propose to twist coupled elemental quantum systems such that they form a global, robust quantum state that is resilient against environmental perturbations. For instance, in magnetic spin chains, fixing the magnetization at one end while rotating the magnetization at the other end can result in stable quantum helices. Such quantum twists cannot easily be unwound: They exhibit topological protection. We want to explore the full potential of this concept and extend it to higher-dimensional twists including vortices and skyrmions, see Fig. (1). The main objectives of this project are to (1) theoretically describe quantum twists in chains and arrays of atoms; (2) identify concrete realizations in cold atoms and solid state systems; (3) supply a general theory for quantum twists and connect it to topological models in high-energy physics; (4) designing and implementing an on-top error-reduction scheme for quantum information processing. The presented approach is unrelated to known quantum-mechanical topological approaches in electronic and magnetic systems that rely on momentum space, adiabatic manipulations, or globally indistinguishable quantum states. Quantum twists can serve as a topological source of entanglement, quantum energy storage, and establish an independent and versatile noise-protection mechanism for future quantum devices.