Quantum Computation with Molecular Nanomagnets: Achievements, Challenges, and New Trends

Molecular nanomagnets exhibit quanto-mechanical properties that can be nicely tailored at synthetic level: superposition and entanglement of quantum states can be created with molecular spins whose manipulation can be done in a timescale shorter than their decoherence time, if the molecular environment is controlled in a proper way. The challenge of quantum computation is to exploit the similarities between the coherent manipulation of molecular spins and algorithms used to process data and solve problems. In this chapter we shall firstly introduce basic concepts, stressing analogies between the physics and the chemistry of molecular nanomagnets and the science of computing. Then we shall review main achievements obtained in the first decade of this field and present challenges for the next future. In particular we shall focus on two emerging topics: quantum simulators and hybrid systems made by resonant cavities and molecular nanomagnets.