Local Qubits Research Articles

Adiabatic transport of qubits around a black hole

We consider localized qubits evolving around a black hole following a quantum adiabatic dynamics. We develop a geometric structure (based on fibre bundles) permitting to describe the quantum states of a qubit and the spacetime geometry in a single framework. The quantum decoherence induced by the black hole on the qubit is analysed in this framework (the role of the dynamical and geometric phases in this decoherence is treated), especially for the quantum teleportation protocol when one qubit falls to the event horizon. A simple formula to compute the fidelity of the teleportation is derived. The case of a Schwarzschild black hole is analysed.

Electrically tunable quantum interfaces between photons and spin qubits in carbon nanotube quantum dots

We present a new scheme for quantum interfaces (QIs) to accomplish the interconversion of photonic qubits and spin qubits based on optomechanical resonators and the spin–orbit-induced interactions in suspended carbon nanotube quantum dots (CNTQDs). This interface implements quantum spin transducers and further enables electrical manipulation of local electron spin qubits, which lays the foundation for all-electrical control of state transfer protocols between two distant quantum nodes in a quantum network. We numerically evaluate the state transfer processes and proceed to estimate the effect of each coupling strength on the operation fidelities. The simulation suggests that high operation fidelities are obtainable under realistic experimental conditions.

Steady-state entanglement between distant quantum dots in photonic crystal dimers

We show that two spatially separated semiconductor quantum dots under resonant and continuous-wave excitation can be strongly entangled in the steady-state, thanks to their radiative coupling by mutual interaction through the normal modes of a photonic crystal dimer. We employ a quantum master equation formalism to quantify the steady-state entanglement by calculating the system {\it negativity}. Calculations are specified to consider realistic semiconductor nanostructure parameters for the photonic crystal dimer-quantum dots coupled system, determined by a guided mode expansion solution of Maxwell equations. Negativity values of the order of 0.1 ($20\%$ of the maximum value) are shown for interdot distances that are larger than the resonant wavelength of the system. It is shown that the amount of entanglement is almost independent of the interdot distance, as long as the normal mode splitting of the photonic dimer is larger than their linewidths, which becomes the only requirement to achieve a local and individual qubit addressing. Considering inhomogeneously broadened quantum dots, we find that the steady-state entanglement is preserved as long as the detuning between the two quantum dot resonances is small when compared to their decay rates. The steady-state entanglement is shown to be robust against the effects of pure dephasing of the quantum dot transitions. We finally study the entanglement dynamics for a configuration in which one of the two quantum dots is initially excited and find that the transient negativity can be enhanced by more than a factor of two with respect to the steady-state value. These results are promising for practical applications of entangled states at short time scales.

Getting through to a qubit by magnetic solitons

We propose a method for acting on the spin state of a spin- localized particle, or qubit, by means of a magnetic signal effectively generated by the nearby transit of a magnetic soliton, there conveyed through a transmission line. We first introduce the specific magnetic soliton of which we will make use, and briefly review the properties that make it apt to represent a signal. We then show that a Heisenberg spin chain can serve as transmission line, and propose a method for injecting a soliton into the chain by acting just on one of its ends. We finally demonstrate that the resulting magnetic pulse can indeed cause, just passing by the spin- localized particle embodying the qubit, a permanent change in its spin state, thus realizing the possibility of getting through to a single, localized qubit, and manipulating its state. A thorough analysis of how the overall dynamical system operates depending on the setting of its parameters demonstrates that fine tuning is not necessary as there exists an extended region in the parameters space that corresponds to effective functioning. Moreover, we show that possible noise on the transmission line does not invalidate the scheme.

The Bravyi–Kitaev transformation: Properties and applications

Quantum chemistry is an important area of application for quantum computation. In particular, quantum algorithms applied to the electronic structure problem promise exact, efficient methods for determination of the electronic energy of atoms and molecules. The Bravyi–Kitaev transformation is a method of mapping the occupation state of a fermionic system onto qubits. This transformation maps the Hamiltonian of n interacting fermions to an ‐local Hamiltonian of n qubits. This is an improvement in locality over the Jordan–Wigner transformation, which results in an O(n)‐local qubit Hamiltonian. We present the Bravyi–Kitaev transformation in detail, introducing the sets of qubits which must be acted on to change occupancy and parity of states in the occupation number basis. We give recursive definitions of these sets and of the transformation and inverse transformation matrices, which relate the occupation number basis and the Bravyi–Kitaev basis. We then compare the use of the Jordan–Wigner and Bravyi–Kitaev Hamiltonians for the quantum simulation of methane using the STO‐6G basis. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Implementing a strand of a scalable fault-tolerant quantum computing fabric.

With favourable error thresholds and requiring only nearest-neighbour interactions on a lattice, the surface code is an error-correcting code that has garnered considerable attention. At the heart of this code is the ability to perform a low-weight parity measurement of local code qubits. Here we demonstrate high-fidelity parity detection of two code qubits via measurement of a third syndrome qubit. With high-fidelity gates, we generate entanglement distributed across three superconducting qubits in a lattice where each code qubit is coupled to two bus resonators. Via high-fidelity measurement of the syndrome qubit, we deterministically entangle the code qubits in either an even or odd parity Bell state, conditioned on the syndrome qubit state. Finally, to fully characterize this parity readout, we develop a measurement tomography protocol. The lattice presented naturally extends to larger networks of qubits, outlining a path towards fault-tolerant quantum computing.

Quantifying the effects of local many-qubit errors and nonlocal two-qubit errors on the surface code

Topological quantum error correction codes are known to be able to tolerate arbitrary local errors given sufficient qubits. This includes correlated errors involving many local qubits. In this work, we quantify this level of tolerance, numerically studying the effects of many-qubit errors on the performance of the surface code. We find that if increasingly large-area errors are at least moderately exponentially suppressed, arbitrarily reliable quantum computation can still be achieved with practical overhead. We furthermore quantify the effect of nonlocal two-qubit correlated errors, which would be expected in arrays of qubits coupled by a polynomially decaying interaction, and when using many-qubit coupling devices. We surprisingly find that the surface code is very robust to this class of errors, despite a provable lack of a threshold error rate when such errors are present.

Universality of computation in real quantum theory

Recently de la Torre et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett., 109 (2012) 090403) reconstructed Quantum Theory from its local structure on the basis of local discriminability and the existence of a one-parameter group of bipartite transformations containing an entangling gate. This result relies on universality of any entangling gate for quantum computation. Here we prove universality of C-NOT with local gates for Real Quantum Theory (RQT), showing that the universality requirement would not be sufficient for the result, whereas local discriminability and the local qubit structure play a crucial role. For reversible computation, generally an extra rebit is needed for RQT. As a by-product we also provide a short proof of universality of C-NOT for CQT.

A controlled-NOT gate in a chain of qubits embedded in a spin field-effect transistor and its process tomography

We have investigated the realizability of the controlled-NOT (CNOT) gate and characterized the gate operation by quantum process tomography for a chain of qubits, realized by electrons confined in self-assembled quantum dots embedded in the spin field-effect transistor. We have shown that the CNOT gate operation and its process tomography are performable by using the spin exchange interaction and several local qubit rotations within the coherence time of qubits. Moreover it is shown that when the fluctuation of operation time and the imperfection of polarization of channel electrons are considered as sources of decay of fidelity, the process fidelity of CNOT decreases at most 5% by the fluctuation of the operation time and its values of 0.49 and 0.72 are obtained for polarizations of the channel spin 0.6 and 0.8, respectively.

Optically controlled phase gate and teleportation of a controlled-not gate for spin qubits in a quantum-dot–microcavity coupled system

Using linear optical manipulation, single photons, entangled photon pairs, photon measurement, and classical communication, we propose a scheme for a two-spin-qubit phase gate and the teleportation of a controlled-not gate between two electron spins from acting on local qubits to acting on remote qubits using quantum dots in optical microcavities. The scheme is based on spin selective photon reflection from the cavity and is achieved in a deterministic way by the sequential detection of photons and the single-qubit rotations of a single electron spin in a self-assembled GaAs-InAs quantum dot. The feasibility of the scheme is assessed showing that high average fidelities of the gates are achievable in the weak-coupling regime when the side leakage and cavity loss are low. The scheme opens promising possibilities for long-distance quantum communication, distributed quantum computation, and construction of remote quantum-information-processing networks.

Relationship among locally maximally entangleable states,Wstates, and hypergraph states under local unitary transformations

Kruszynska and Kraus [Phys. Rev. A 79, 052304 (2009)] have recently introduced the so-called locally maximally entanglable (LME) states of n qubits which can be maximally entangled to local auxiliary qubits using controlled operations. We characterize the local entanglability of hypergraph states and W states using an approach in [Phys. Rev. A 79, 052304 (2009)]. We show that (i) all hypergraph states are LME; (ii) hypergraph states and LME states are not equivalent under local unitaries; (iii) a W state of n qubits is not LME; and (iv) no hypergraph state of n qubits can be converted into to the W state under local unitary transformations. Moreover, we also present an approach for encoding weighted hypergraphs into LME states.

Observation of Entanglement between Itinerant Microwave Photons and a Superconducting Qubit

A localized qubit entangled with a propagating quantum field is well suited to study nonlocal aspects of quantum mechanics and may also provide a channel to communicate between spatially separated nodes in a quantum network. Here, we report the on-demand generation and characterization of Bell-type entangled states between a superconducting qubit and propagating microwave fields composed of zero-, one-, and two-photon Fock states. Using low noise linear amplification and efficient data acquisition we extract all relevant correlations between the qubit and the photon states and demonstrate entanglement with high fidelity.

H1 photonic crystal cavities for hybrid quantum information protocols

Hybrid quantum information protocols are based on local qubits, such as trapped atoms, NV centers, and quantum dots, coupled to photons. The coupling is achieved through optical cavities. Here we demonstrate far-field optimized H1 photonic crystal membrane cavities combined with an additional back reflection mirror below the membrane that meet the optical requirements for implementing hybrid quantum information protocols. Using numerical optimization we find that 80% of the light can be radiated within an objective numerical aperture of 0.8, and the coupling to a single-mode fiber can be as high as 92%. We experimentally prove the unique external mode matching properties by resonant reflection spectroscopy with a cavity mode visibility above 50%.

Qubit relaxation from evanescent-wave Johnson noise

In many quantum computer architectures, the qubits are in close proximity to metallic device elements. Metals have a high density of photon modes, and the fields spill out of the bulk metal because of the evanescent-wave component. Thus thermal and quantum electromagnetic Johnson-type noise from metallic device elements can decohere nearby qubits. In this Rapid Communication we use quantum electrodynamics to compute the strength of this evanescent-wave Johnson noise as a function of distance $z$ from a metallic half space. Previous treatments have shown unphysical divergences at $z=0$. We remedy this by using a proper nonlocal dielectric function. Decoherence rates of local qubits are proportional to the magnitude of electric or magnetic correlation functions evaluated at the qubit position. We present formulas for the decoherence rates. These formulas serve as an important constraint on future device architectures. Comparison with single-electron spin relaxation measurements shows that evanescent-wave Johnson noise may constitute the dominant relaxation mechanism in experiments performed at low magnetic field.

Optimal entanglement manipulation via coherent-state transmission

We derive an optimal bound for arbitrary entanglement manipulation based on the transmission of a pulse in coherent states over a lossy channel followed by local operations and unlimited classical communication (LOCC). This stands on a theorem to reduce LOCC via a local unital qubit channel to local filtering. We also present an optimal protocol based on beam splitters and a quantum nondemolition (QND) measurement on photons. Even if we replace the QND measurement with photon detectors, the protocol outperforms known entanglement generation schemes.

Robustness of tripartite entanglement transfer from bosonic modes to localized qubits

We address entanglement transfer from a three-mode bosonic system to a tripartite systems of spatially separated flying or fixed qubits through the interaction with their local environments. We focus on the robustness of entanglement transfer against several effects, including off-resonant interactions for both qubit-local environment and local environment-bosonic mode subsystems, and also exploring the effect of changing the coupling constants, with the possibility to have different values for each qubit-local environment interaction. For the entangled bosonic modes we consider both Gaussian states and qubit-like states, comparing three different Generalized Schmidt Decompositions forms widely used in the literature and analyzing how the deviation from qubit-like approximation influences entanglement transfer. Finally, we investigate the multimode coupling between bosonic modes and each local environment showing a comparison between various qubit-like initial states and discussing how to improve the efficiency of entanglement transfer.

Local two-qubit entanglement-annihilating channels

We address the problem of the robustness of entanglement of bipartite systems (qubits) interacting with dynamically independent environments. In particular, we focus on characterization of so-called local entanglement-annihilating two-qubit channels, which set the maximum permissible noise level allowing to perform entanglement-enabled experiments. The differences, but also subtle relations between entanglement-breaking and local entanglement-annihilating channels are emphasized. A detailed characterization of latter ones is provided for a variety of channels including depolarizing, unital, (generalized) amplitude-damping, and extremal channels. We consider also the convexity structure of local entanglement-annihilating qubit channels and introduce a concept of entanglement-annihilation duality.

Localized qubits in curved spacetimes

We provide a systematic and self-contained exposition of the subject of localized qubits in curved spacetimes. This research was motivated by a simple experimental question: if we move a spatially localized qubit, initially in a state |ψ1〉, along some spacetime path Γ from a spacetime point x1 to another point x2, what will the final quantum state |ψ2〉 be at point x2? This paper addresses this question for two physical realizations of the qubit: spin of a massive fermion and polarization of a photon. Our starting point is the Dirac and Maxwell equations that describe respectively the one-particle states of localized massive fermions and photons. In the WKB limit we show how one can isolate a two-dimensional quantum state which evolves unitarily along Γ. The quantum states for these two realizations are represented by a left-handed 2-spinor in the case of massive fermions and a four-component complex polarization vector in the case of photons. In addition we show how to obtain from this WKB approach a fully general relativistic description of gravitationally induced phases. We use this formalism to describe the gravitational shift in the Colella–Overhauser–Werner 1975 experiment. In the non-relativistic weak field limit our result reduces to the standard formula in the original paper. We provide a concrete physical model for a Stern–Gerlach measurement of spin and obtain a unique spin operator which can be determined given the orientation and velocity of the Stern–Gerlach device and velocity of the massive fermion. Finally, we consider multipartite states and generalize the formalism to incorporate basic elements from quantum information theory such as quantum entanglement, quantum teleportation, and identical particles. The resulting formalism provides a basis for exploring precision quantum measurements of the gravitational field using techniques from quantum information theory.

Detecting the quantum discord of an unknown state by a single observable

We propose a single observable to witness the nonzero quantum discord of an unknown quantum state provided that we have four copies of the state. The expectation value of this observable provides a necessary and sufficient condition for the nonzero quantum discord in $2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}N$ systems and a necessary condition in higher finite-dimensional bipartite systems. Furthermore, a nontrivial lower bound of the quantum discord can be obtained from this expectation value. The proposed observable can be experimentally measured in exactly the same way as the entanglement witness. Moreover, a quantum circuit is designed to determine the expectation value of our observable with four simultaneous local qubit measurements.

Global asymmetry of many-qubit correlations: A lattice-gauge-theory approach

We introduce a novel bridge between the familiar gauge field theory approaches used in many areas of modern physics such as quantum field theory and the SLOCC protocols familiar in quantum information. Although the mathematical methods are the same the meaning of the gauge group will be different. The measure we introduce, `twist', is constructed as a Wilson loop from a correlation induced holonomy. The measure can be understood as the global asymmetry of the bipartite correlations in a loop of three or more qubits; if the holonomy is trivial (the identity matrix), the bipartite correlations can be globally untwisted using general local qubit operations, the gauge group of our theory, which turns out to be the group of Lorentz transformations familiar from special relativity. If it is not possible to globally untwist the bipartite correlations in a state globally using local operations, the twistedness is given by a non-trivial element of the Lorentz group, the correlation induced holonomy. We provide several analytical examples of twisted and untwisted states for three qubits, the most elementary non-trivial loop one can imagine.