Scalable quantum resources with short-range interacting spin-1/2 chains
Phys. Rev. A 113, 062220 – Published 23 June, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/r91j-lfdc
Abstract
The dynamical generation of quantum resources, such as many-body entanglement, Bell correlations, or spin squeezing, can be achieved via one-axis twisting (OAT) dynamics, which require all-to-all couplings. However, current digital and analog quantum simulation platforms natively provide short-range or power-law couplings that decay too quickly for this purpose. We demonstrate that two spin-1/2 chain models—a staggered nearest-neighbor XXX chain and a long-range XXZ chain—develop an effective OAT nonlinearity when projected onto the symmetric sector. We show that these dynamics generate metrologically useful spin-squeezed states and Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger coherences that ensure violation of many-body Bell inequalities. We confirm the accuracy of this mapping by comparing it to the exact dynamics and demonstrate that the generated correlations can be read out using a single probe qubit. The resulting dynamics can be simulated with analog and digital quantum simulators.
