Quantum information processing in self-assembled crystals of cold polar molecules

Abstract: We discuss the implementation of quantum gate operations in a self-assembled dipolar crystal of polar molecules. Here qubits are encoded in long-lived spin states of the molecular ground state and stabilized against collisions by repulsive dipole-dipole interactions. To overcome the single site addressability problem in this high density crystalline phase, we describe a new approach for implementing controlled single and two-qubit operations based on resonantly enhanced spin-spin interactions mediated by a localized phonon mode. This local mode is created at a specified lattice position with the help of an additional marker molecule such that individual qubits can be manipulated by using otherwise global static and microwave fields only. We present a general strategy for generating state and time dependent dipole moments to implement a universal set of gate operations for molecular qubits and we analyze the resulting gate fidelities under realistic conditions. Our analysis demonstrates the experimental feasibility of this approach for scalable quantum computing or digital quantum simulation schemes with polar molecules.