Simulating spin chains using a superconducting circuit: gauge invariance, superadiabatic transport, and broken time-reversal symmetry

Simulation of materials by using quantum processors is envisioned to be a major direction of development in quantum information science. Here we exploit the mathematical analogies between a triangular spin lattice with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya coupling on one edge and a three-level system driven by three fields in a loop configuation to emulate spin-transport effects. We show that the spin transport efficiency, seen in the three-level system as population transfer, is enhanced when the conditions for superadiabaticity are satisfied. We demonstrate experimentally that phenomena characteristic to spin lattices due to gauge invariance, non-reciprocity, and broken time-reversal symmetry can be reproduced in the three-level system.