Optimal state transfer and entanglement generation in power-law interacting systems

We present an optimal protocol for encoding an unknown qubit state into a multiqubit Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger-like state and, consequently, transferring quantum information in large systems exhibiting power-law (1/rα) interactions. For all power-law exponents α between d and 2d+1, where d is the dimension of the system, the protocol yields a polynomial speedup for α>2d and a superpolynomial speedup for α≤2d, compared to the state of the art. For all α>d, the protocol saturates the Lieb-Robinson bounds (up to subpolynomial corrections), thereby establishing the optimality of the protocol and the tightness of the bounds in this regime. The protocol has a wide range of applications, including in quantum sensing, quantum computing, and preparation of topologically ordered states.