Abstract: We describe a scalable experimental protocol for estimating the average error of individual quantum computational gates. This protocol consists of interleaving random Clifford gates between the gate of interest and provides an estimate as well as theoretical bounds for the average error of the gate under test, so long as the average noise variation over all Clifford gates is small. This technique takes into account both state preparation and measurement errors and is scalable in the number of qubits. We apply this protocol to a superconducting qubit system and find a bounded average error of 0.003 [0,0.016] for the single-qubit gates ${X}_{\ensuremath{\pi}/2}$ and ${Y}_{\ensuremath{\pi}/2}$. These bounded values provide better estimates of the average error than those extracted via quantum process tomography.

Abstract: A very exciting prospect in coordination chemistry is to manipulate spins within magnetic complexes for the realization of quantum logic operations. An introduction to the requirements for a paramagnetic molecule to act as a 2-qubit quantum gate is provided in this tutorial review. We propose synthetic methods aimed at accessing such type of functional molecules, based on ligand design and inorganic synthesis. Two strategies are presented: (i) the first consists in targeting molecules containing a pair of well-defined and weakly coupled paramagnetic metal aggregates, each acting as a carrier of one potential qubit, (ii) the second is the design of dinuclear complexes of anisotropic metal ions, exhibiting dissimilar environments and feeble magnetic coupling. The first systems obtained from this synthetic program are presented here and their properties are discussed.

Abstract: Protecting the dynamics of coupled quantum systems from decoherence by the environment is a key challenge for solid-state quantum information processing. An idle quantum bit (qubit) can be efficiently insulated from the outside world by dynamical decoupling, as has recently been demonstrated for individual solid-state qubits. However, protecting qubit coherence during a multi-qubit gate is a non-trivial problem: in general, the decoupling disrupts the interqubit dynamics and hence conflicts with gate operation. This problem is particularly salient for hybrid systems, in which different types of qubit evolve and decohere at very different rates. Here we present the integration of dynamical decoupling into quantum gates for a standard hybrid system, the electron-nuclear spin register. Our design harnesses the internal resonance in the coupled-spin system to resolve the conflict between gate operation and decoupling. We experimentally demonstrate these gates using a two-qubit register in diamond operating at room temperature. Quantum tomography reveals that the qubits involved in the gate operation are protected as accurately as idle qubits. We also perform Grover's quantum search algorithm, and achieve fidelities of more than 90% even though the algorithm run-time exceeds the electron spin dephasing time by two orders of magnitude. Our results directly allow decoherence-protected interface gates between different types of solid-state qubit. Ultimately, quantum gates with integrated decoupling may reach the accuracy threshold for fault-tolerant quantum information processing with solid-state devices.

Abstract: We use quantum process tomography to characterize a full universal set of all-microwave gates on two superconducting single-frequency single-junction transmon qubits. All extracted gate fidelities, including those for Clifford group generators, single-qubit $\ensuremath{\pi}/4$ and $\ensuremath{\pi}/8$ rotations, and a two-qubit controlled-not, exceed $95%$ ($98%$), without (with) subtracting state preparation and measurement errors. Furthermore, we introduce a process map representation in the Pauli basis which is visually efficient and informative. This high-fidelity gate set serves as a critical building block towards scalable architectures of superconducting qubits for error correction schemes and pushes up on the known limits of quantum gate characterization.

Abstract: Quantum computation that combines the coherence stabilization virtues of decoherence-free subspaces and the fault tolerance of geometric holonomic control is of great practical importance Some schemes of adiabatic holonomic quantum computation in decoherence-free subspaces have been proposed in the past few years However, nonadiabatic holonomic quantum computation in decoherence-free subspaces, which avoids a long run-time requirement but with all the robust advantages, remains an open problem Here, we demonstrate how to realize nonadiabatic holonomic quantum computation in decoherence-free subspaces By using only three neighboring physical qubits undergoing collective dephasing to encode one logical qubit, we realize a universal set of quantum gates

Abstract: We present a method to implement ultrafast two-qubit gates valid for the ultrastrong coupling and deep strong coupling regimes of light-matter interaction, considering state-of-the-art circuit quantum electrodynamics technology. Our proposal includes a suitable qubit architecture and is based on a four-step sequential displacement of the intracavity field, operating at a time proportional to the inverse of the resonator frequency. Through ab initio calculations, we show that these quantum gates can be performed at subnanosecond time scales while keeping a fidelity above 99%.

Abstract: Hypercontractive inequalities have become important tools in theoretical computer science and have recently found applications in quantum computation. In this note we discuss how hypercontractive inequalities, in various settings, can be used to obtain (fairly) concise proofs of several results in quantum information theory: a recent lower bound of Lancien and Winter on the bias achievable by local measurements which are 4-designs; spectral concentration bounds for k-local Hamiltonians; and a recent result of Pellegrino and Seoane-Sepulveda giving general lower bounds on the classical bias obtainable in multiplayer XOR games.

Abstract: In order to achieve reliable quantum-information processing results, we need to protect quantum gates along with the qubits from decoherence. Here we demonstrate experimentally on a nitrogen-vacancy system that by using a continuous-wave dynamical decoupling method, we might not only prolong the coherence time by about 20 times but also protect the quantum gates for the duration of the controlling time. This protocol shares the merits of retaining the superiority of prolonging the coherence time and at the same time easily combining with quantum logic tasks. This method can be useful in tasks where the duration of quantum controlling exceeds far beyond the dephasing time.

Abstract: We present a detailed error analysis of a Rydberg blockade mediated controlled-not quantum gate between two neutral atoms as demonstrated recently in Isenhower et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 010503 (2010)] and Zhang et al. [Phys. Rev. A 82, 030306 (2010)]. Numerical solutions of a master equation for the gate dynamics, including all known sources of technical error, are shown to be in good agreement with experiments. The primary sources of gate error are identified and suggestions given for future improvements. We also present numerical simulations of quantum process tomography to find the intrinsic fidelity, neglecting technical errors, of a Rydberg blockade controlled phase gate. The gate fidelity is characterized using trace overlap and trace distance measures. We show that the trace distance is linearly sensitive to errors arising from the finite Rydberg blockade shift and introduce a modified pulse sequence which corrects the linear errors. Our analysis shows that the intrinsic gate error extracted from simulated quantum process tomography can be under 0.002 for specific states of ${}^{87}$Rb or Cs atoms. The relation between the process fidelity and the gate error probability used in calculations of fault tolerance thresholds is discussed.

Abstract: We report on the experimental investigation of an individual pseudomolecule using trapped ions with adjustable magnetically induced $J$-type coupling between spin states. Resonances of individual spins are well separated and are addressed with high fidelity. Quantum gates are carried out using microwave radiation in the presence of thermal excitation of the pseudomolecule's vibrations. Demonstrating controlled-NOT gates between non-nearest neighbors serves as a proof-of-principle of a quantum bus employing a spin chain. Combining advantageous features of nuclear magnetic resonance experiments and trapped ions, respectively, opens up a new avenue toward scalable quantum information processing.

Abstract: We study the implementation of one-, two- and three-qubit quantum gates for interacting qubits using optimal control. Markovian and non-Markovian environments are compared and efficient optimization algorithms utilizing analytic gradient expressions and quasi-Newton updates are given for both cases. The performance of the algorithms is analysed for a large set of problems in terms of the fidelities attained and the observed convergence behaviour. New notions of success rate and success speed are introduced and density plots are utilized to study the effects of key parameters, such as gate operation times, and random variables such as the initial fields required to start the iterative algorithm. Core characteristics of the optimal fields are analysed statistically. Substantial differences between Markovian and non-Markovian environments in terms of the possibilities for control and the control mechanisms are uncovered. In the non-Markovian case, gate fidelities improve substantially when the details of the system bath coupling are taken into account, although imperfections such as field leakage can be a significant problem. In the Markovian case, computation time is saved if the fields are pre-optimized neglecting the environment, while including the latter generally does not significantly improve gate fidelities.

Abstract: When visualized as an operation on the Bloch sphere, the qubit $\ensuremath{\pi}/8$ gate corresponds to 1/8 of a complete rotation about the vertical axis. This simple gate often plays an important role in quantum information theory, typically in situations for which Pauli and Clifford gates are insufficient. Most notably, if it supplements the set of Clifford gates, then universal quantum computation can be achieved. The $\ensuremath{\pi}/8$ gate is the simplest example of an operation from the third level of the Clifford hierarchy (i.e., it maps Pauli operations to Clifford operations under conjugation). Here we derive explicit expressions for all qudit ($d$-level, where $d$ is prime) versions of this gate and analyze the resulting group structure that is generated by these diagonal gates. This group structure differs depending on whether the dimensionality of the qudit is two, three, or greater than three. We then discuss the geometrical relationship of these gates (and associated states) with respect to Clifford gates and stabilizer states. We present evidence that these gates are maximally robust to depolarizing and phase-damping noise, in complete analogy with the qubit case. Motivated by this and other similarities, we conjecture that these gates could be useful for the task of qudit magic-state distillation and, by extension, fault-tolerant quantum computing. Very recently, independent work by Campbell et al. confirmed the correctness of this intuition, and we build upon their work to characterize noise regimes for which noisy implementations of these gates can (or provably cannot) supplement Clifford gates to enable universal quantum computation.

Abstract: We use analytical and numerical calculations to obtain speed limits for various unitary quantum operations in multiqubit systems under typical experimental conditions. The operations that we consider include single-, two-, and three-qubit gates, as well as quantum-state transfer in a chain of qubits. We find in particular that simple methods for implementing two-qubit gates generally provide the fastest possible implementations of these gates. We also find that the three-qubit Toffoli gate time varies greatly depending on the type of interactions and the system’s geometry, taking only slightly longer than a two-qubit controlled-NOT (CNOT) gate for a triangle geometry. The speed limit for quantum-state transfer across a qubit chain is set by the maximum spin-wave speed in the chain.

Abstract: Generating a unitary transformation in the shortest possible time is of practical importance to quantum information processing because it helps to reduce decoherence effects and improve robustness to additive control field noise. Many analytical and numerical studies have identified the minimum time necessary to implement a variety of quantum gates on coupled-spin qubit systems. This work focuses on exploring the Pareto front that quantifies the trade-off between the competitive objectives of maximizing the gate fidelity $\mathcal{F}$ and minimizing the control time $T$. In order to identify the critical time $T^{\ast}$, below which the target transformation is not reachable, as well as to determine the associated Pareto front, we introduce a numerical method of Pareto front tracking (PFT). We consider closed two- and multi-qubit systems with constant inter-qubit coupling strengths and each individual qubit controlled by a separate time-dependent external field. Our analysis demonstrates that unit fidelity (to a desired numerical accuracy) can be achieved at any $T \geq T^{\ast}$ in most cases. However, the optimization search effort rises superexponentially as $T$ decreases and approaches $T^{\ast}$. Furthermore, a small decrease in control time incurs a significant penalty in fidelity for $T < T^{\ast}$, indicating that it is generally undesirable to operate below the critical time. We investigate the dependence of the critical time $T^{\ast}$ on the coupling strength between qubits and the target gate transformation. Practical consequences of these findings for laboratory implementation of quantum gates are discussed.

Abstract: Determining the optimal implementation of a quantum gate is critical for designing a quantum computer. We consider the crucial task of efficiently decomposing a general single-qubit quantum gate into a sequence of fault-tolerant quantum operations. For a given single-qubit circuit, we construct an optimal gate sequence consisting of fault-tolerant Hadamard ($H$) and $\ensuremath{\pi}/8$ rotations ($T$). Our scheme is based on a novel canonical form for single-qubit quantum circuits and the corresponding rules for exactly reducing a general single-qubit circuit to our canonical form. The result is optimal in the number of $T$ gates. We demonstrate that a precomputed epsilon net of canonical circuits in combination with our scheme lowers the depth of approximation circuits by up to 3 orders of magnitude compared to previously reported results.

Abstract: By employing extended general Toffoli gates with multiple targets,a constructive method of classical quantum information comparator was presented.Further its correctness was proved theoretically.Based on which an application of quantum comparator working in the quantum search algorithm was given.Compared with the other like quantum comparators,our comparator uses less ancilla qubits so that the required related quantum resources can be saved.By setting the control conditions of the extended general Toffoli gates with multiple targets,the subsequent gates can not work any longer after obtaining the comparison result in our comparator.Thus the efficiency is improved,and the error rate is reduced and the robustness of comparator is enhanced.

Abstract: Two primary challenges stand in the way of practical large-scale quantum computation, namely achieving sufficiently low error rate quantum gates and implementing interesting quantum algorithms with a physically reasonable number of qubits. In this work we address the second challenge, presenting a new technique, bridge compression, which enables remarkably low volume structures to be found that implement complex computations in the surface code. The surface code has a number of highly desirable properties, including the ability to achieve arbitrarily reliable computation given sufficient qubits and quantum gate error rates below approximately 1%, and the use of only a 2-D array of qubits with nearest neighbor interactions. As such, our compression technique is of great practical relevance.

Abstract: Determining the equivalence of reversible circuits designed to meet a common specification is considered. The circuits' primary inputs and outputs must be in pure logic states but the circuits may include elementary quantum gates in addition to reversible logic gates. The specification can include don't-cares arising from constant inputs, garbage outputs, and total or partial don't-cares in the underlying target function. The paper explores well-known techniques from irreversible equivalence checking and how they can be applied in the domain of reversible circuits. Two approaches are considered. The first employs decision diagram techniques and the second uses Boolean satisfiability. Experimental results show that for both methods, circuits with up to 27,000 gates, as well as adders with more than 100 inputs and outputs, are handled in under three minutes with reasonable memory requirements.

Abstract: Large-scale universal quantum computing requires the implementation of quantum error correction (QEC). While the implementation of QEC has already been demonstrated for quantum memories, reliable quantum computing requires also the application of nontrivial logical gate operations to the encoded qubits. Here, we present examples of such operations by implementing, in addition to the identity operation, the NOT and the Hadamard gate to a logical qubit encoded in a five qubit system that allows correction of arbitrary single-qubit errors. We perform quantum process tomography of the encoded gate operations, demonstrate the successful correction of all possible single-qubit errors, and measure the fidelity of the encoded logical gate operations.

Abstract: We propose a scheme for implementing quantum gates for two atoms trapped in distant cavities connected by an optical fiber. The effective long-distance coupling between the two distributed qubits is achieved without excitation and transportation of photons through the optical fiber. Since the cavity modes and fiber mode are never populated and the atoms undergo no transitions, the gate operation is insensitive to the decoherence effect when the thermal photons in the environment are negligible. The scheme opens promising perspectives for networking quantum information processors and implementing distributed and scalable quantum computation.

Abstract: Dynamically corrected gates are extended to non-Markovian open quantum systems where limitations on the available controls and/or the presence of control noise make existing analytical approaches unfeasible. A computational framework for the synthesis of dynamically corrected gates is formalized that allows sensitivity against non-Markovian decoherence and control errors to be perturbatively minimized via numerical search, resulting in robust gate implementations. Explicit sequences for achieving universal high-fidelity control in a singlet-triplet spin qubit subject to realistic system and control constraint are provided, which simultaneously cancel to the leading order the dephasing due to non-Markovian nuclear-bath dynamics and voltage noise affecting the control fields. Substantially improved gate fidelities are predicted for current laboratory devices.

Abstract: Quantum computing offers a promising alternative to conventional computation due to the theoretical capacity to solve many important problems with exponentially less complexity. Since every quantum operation is inherently reversible, the desired function is often realized in reversible logic and then mapped to quantum gates. We consider the realization of reversible circuits using a new class of quantum gates. Our method uses a mapping that grows at a very low linear rate with respect to the number of controls. Results show that, particularly for medium to large circuits, our method yields substantially smaller quantum gate counts than do prior approaches.

Abstract: Trapped ions are considered one of the best candidates to perform quantum information processing. By interacting them with laser beams they are, somehow, easy to manipulate, which makes them an excellent choice for the production of nonclassical states of their vibrational motion, the reconstruction of quasiprobability distribution functions, the production of quantum gates, etc. However, most of these effects have been produced in the so-called low intensity regime, this is, when the Rabi frequency is much smaller than the trap frequency. Because of the possibility to produce faster quantum gates in other regimes it is of importance to study this system in a more complete manner, which is the motivation for this contribution. We start by studying the way ions are trapped in Paul traps in and review the basic mechanisms of trapping. Then we show how the problem may be completely solved for trapping states; i.e., we find eigenstates of the full Hamiltonian. We show how in the low intensity regime Jaynes-Cummings and anti-Jaynes-Cummings interactions may be obtained, without using the rotating wave approximation and analyze the medium and high intensity regimes were dispersive Hamiltonians are produced. The traditional approach is also studied and used for the generation of non-classical states of the vibrational of the vibrational wavefunction. In particular, we show how to add and subtract vibrational quanta to an initial state, how to produce specific superpositions of number states and how to generate NOON states for the two-dimensional vibration of the ion. It is also shown how squeezing may be measured. The time dependent problem is studied by using Lewis-Ermakov methods, we give a solution to the problem when the time dependence of the trap is considered and also analyze an specific time dependence that produces squeezing of the initial vibrational wave function.

Abstract: This paper presents a sampled-data approach for the robust control of a single qubit (quantum bit). The required robustness is defined using a sliding mode domain and the control law is designed offline and then utilized online with a single qubit having bounded uncertainties. Two classes of uncertainties are considered involving the system Hamiltonian and the coupling strength of the system-environment interaction. Four cases are analyzed in detail including without decoherence, with amplitude damping decoherence, phase damping decoherence and depolarizing decoherence. Sampling periods are specifically designed for these cases to guarantee the required robustness. Two sufficient conditions are presented for guiding the design of unitary control for the cases without decoherence and with amplitude damping decoherence. The proposed approach has potential applications in quantum error-correction and in constructing robust quantum gates.

Abstract: We investigate how the inclusion of quantum confinement in double-gate tunneling field-effect transistors (DG-TFETs) modifies the conventional behavior of electrical parameters of utmost importance in these devices, such as subthreshold swings (point and average) and the gate threshold voltage. We make use of a simple approach that allows us to incorporate a quantum-mechanical description in which the discreteness of subband energy levels causes a significant reduction in the band-to-band tunneling probabilities. The inclusion of quantum confinement along with a nonlocal band-to-band model for tunneling is shown to greatly affect the aforementioned parameters as key issues for the characterization of these novel devices.

Abstract: One of the biggest challenges for implementing quantum devices is the requirement to perform accurate quantum gates. The destructive effects of interactions with the environment present some of the most difficult obstacles that must be overcome for precise quantum control. In this work we implement a proof of principle experiment of quantum gates protected against a fluctuating environment and control pulse errors using dynamical decoupling techniques. We show that decoherence can be reduced during the application of quantum gates. High-fidelity quantum gates can be achieved even if the gate time exceeds the free evolution decoherence time by one order of magnitude and for protected operations consisting of up to 330 individual control pulses.

Abstract: Pulse-shaping protocols are developed for a controlled-rotation gate in an InAs quantum dot with electronic structure calculated using k · p theory. The shaped pulses show a dramatic improvement in fidelity over transform-limited pulses.

Abstract: In NMR experiments and quantum computation, many pulse (quantum gate) sequences called the composite pulses, were developed to suppress one of two dominant errors; a pulse length error and an off-resonance error. We describe, in this paper, a general prescription to design a single-qubit concatenated composite pulse (CCCP) that is robust against two types of errors simultaneously. To this end, we introduce a new property, which is satisfied by some composite pulses and is sufficient to obtain a CCCP. Then we introduce a general method to design CCCPs with shorter execution time and less number of pulses.