Multi-qubit Gates Research Articles

Single shot i-Toffoli gate in dispersively coupled superconducting qubits

Quantum algorithms often benefit from the ability to execute multi-qubit (>2) gates. To date, such multi-qubit gates are typically decomposed into single- and two-qubit gates, particularly in superconducting qubit architectures. The ability to perform multi-qubit operations in a single step could vastly improve the fidelity and execution time of many algorithms. Here, we propose a single shot method for executing an i-Toffoli gate, a three-qubit gate with two control and one target qubit, using currently existing superconducting hardware. We show numerical evidence for a process fidelity over 99.5% and a gate time of 450 ns for superconducting qubits interacting via tunable couplers. Our method can straight forwardly be extended to implement gates with more than two control qubits at similar fidelities.

Systematic-Error-Tolerant Multiqubit Holonomic Entangling Gates

Quantum holonomic gates hold built-in resilience to local noises and provide a promising approach for implementing fault-tolerant quantum computation. We propose to realize high-fidelity holonomic $(N+1)$-qubit controlled gates using Rydberg atoms confined in optical arrays or superconducting circuits. We identify the scheme, deduce the effective multibody Hamiltonian, and determine the working condition of the multiqubit gate. Uniquely, the multiqubit gate is immune to systematic errors, i.e., laser parameter fluctuations and motional dephasing, as the $N$ control atoms largely remain in the very stable qubit space during the operation. We show that ${C}_{N}$-not gates can reach the same level of fidelity at a given gate time for $N\ensuremath{\le}5$ under a suitable choice of parameters, and the gate tolerance against errors in systematic parameters can be further enhanced through optimal pulse engineering. In the case of Rydberg atoms, the proposed protocol is intrinsically different from typical schemes based on Rydberg blockade or antiblockade. Our study paves an alternative way to build robust multiqubit gates with Rydberg atoms trapped in optical arrays or with superconducting circuits. It contributes to current efforts to develop scalable quantum computation with trapped atoms and fabricable superconducting devices.

Fast Multiqubit Gates through Simultaneous Two-Qubit Gates

Near-term quantum computers are limited by the decoherence of qubits to only being able to run low-depth quantum circuits with acceptable fidelity. This severely restricts what quantum algorithms can be compiled and implemented on such devices. One way to overcome these limitations is to expand the available gate set from single- and two-qubit gates to multi-qubit gates, which entangle three or more qubits in a single step. Here, we show that such multi-qubit gates can be realized by the simultaneous application of multiple two-qubit gates to a group of qubits where at least one qubit is involved in two or more of the two-qubit gates. Multi-qubit gates implemented in this way are as fast as, or sometimes even faster than, the constituent two-qubit gates. Furthermore, these multi-qubit gates do not require any modification of the quantum processor, but are ready to be used in current quantum-computing platforms. We demonstrate this idea for two specific cases: simultaneous controlled-Z gates and simultaneous iSWAP gates. We show how the resulting multi-qubit gates relate to other well-known multi-qubit gates and demonstrate through numerical simulations that they would work well in available quantum hardware, reaching gate fidelities well above 99 %. We also present schemes for using these simultaneous two-qubit gates to swiftly create large entangled states like Dicke and Greenberg-Horne-Zeilinger states.

Suppressing Coherent Two-Qubit Errors via Dynamical Decoupling

Scalable quantum information processing requires the ability to tune multiqubit interactions. This makes the precise manipulation of quantum states particularly difficult for multiqubit interactions because tunability unavoidably introduces sensitivity to fluctuations in the tuning parameters, leading to erroneous multiqubit gate operations. The performance of quantum algorithms may be severely compromised by coherent multiqubit errors. It is therefore imperative to understand how these fluctuations affect multiqubit interactions and, more importantly, to mitigate their influence. In this study, we demonstrate how to implement dynamical-decoupling techniques to suppress the two-qubit analogue of the dephasing on a superconducting quantum device featuring a compact tunable coupler, a trending technology that enables the fast manipulation of qubit-qubit interactions. The pure-dephasing time shows up to an approximate 14 times enhancement on average when using robust sequences. The results are in good agreement with the noise generated from room-temperature circuits. Our study further reveals the decohering processes associated with tunable couplers and establishes a framework to develop gates and sequences robust against two-qubit errors.

Direct measurement of density-matrix elements using a phase-shifting technique

A direct measurement protocol allows reconstructing specific elements of the density matrix of a quantum state without using quantum state tomography. However, the direct measurement protocols to date are primarily based on weak or strong measurements with an ancillary pointer, which interacts with the investigated system to extract information about the specified elements. Here, we present a direct measurement scheme based on phase-shifting operations which do not need ancillary pointers. In this method, estimates of at most six expectation values of projective observables suffice to determine any specific element of an unknown quantum density matrix. A concrete quantum circuit to implement this direct measurement protocol for multiqubit states is provided, which is composed of just single-qubit gates and two multiqubit controlled-phase gates. This scheme is also extended for the direct measurement of the density matrix of continuous-variable quantum states. Our method can be used in quantum information applications where only partial information about the quantum state needs to be extracted, for example, problems such as entanglement witnessing, fidelity estimation of quantum systems, and quantum coherence estimation.

Asymmetric Blockade and Multiqubit Gates via Dipole-Dipole Interactions

Because of their strong and tunable interactions, Rydberg atoms can be used to realize fast two-qubit entangling gates. We propose a generalization of a generic two-qubit Rydberg-blockade gate to multiqubit Rydberg-blockade gates that involve both many control qubits and many target qubits simultaneously. This is achieved by using strong microwave fields to dress nearby Rydberg states, leading to asymmetric blockade in which control-target interactions are much stronger than control-control and target-target interactions. The implementation of these multiqubit gates can drastically simplify both quantum algorithms and state preparation. To illustrate this, we show that a 25-atom Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state can be created using only three gates with an error of 5.8%.

Perspective on exchange-coupled quantum-dot spin chains

Electron spins in semiconductor quantum dots are a promising platform for quantum-information processing applications because their quantum phase coherence can persist for extremely long times. Nearest-neighbor electron spins naturally interact with each other via Heisenberg exchange coupling. Heisenberg exchange coupling results from the interplay of the electrostatic confinement potential together with the Pauli exclusion principle, which requires that no two electrons can have the same quantum number. Exchange coupling enables a host of useful capabilities, including the generation of different types of qubits, multi-qubit gates, ways to increase connectivity in systems of quantum-dot spin qubits, and routes to explore intriguing many-body phenomena.

High-fidelity method for a single-step N -bit Toffoli gate in trapped ions

Conditional multiqubit gates are a key component for elaborate quantum algorithms. In a recent work, Rasmussen et al. [Phys. Rev. A 101, 022308 (2020)] proposed an efficient single-step method for a prototypical multiqubit gate, a Toffoli gate, based on a combination of Ising interactions between control qubits and an appropriate driving field on a target qubit. Trapped ions are a natural platform to implement this method, since Ising interactions mediated by phonons have been demonstrated in increasingly large ion crystals. However, the simultaneous application of these interactions and the driving field required for the gate results in undesired entanglement between the qubits and the motion of the ions, reducing the gate fidelity. In this work, we propose a solution based on adiabatic switching of these phonon-mediated Ising interactions. We study the effects of imperfect ground-state cooling and use spin-echo techniques to undo unwanted phase accumulation in the achievable fidelities. For gates coupling to all axial modes of a linear crystal, we calculate high-fidelity $(>99%)$ $N$-qubit rotations with $N=3--7$ ions cooled to their ground state of motion and a gate time below 1 ms. Finally, we study the effect of laser intensity fluctuations and find that the proposed gate requires intensity stabilization with subpercentage noise levels. The high fidelities obtained also for large crystals could make the gate competitive with gate-decomposed, multistep variants of the $N$-qubit Toffoli gate, at the expense of requiring ground-state cooling of the ion crystal.

Quantum simulation and computing with Rydberg-interacting qubits

Arrays of optically trapped atoms excited to Rydberg states have recently emerged as a competitive physical platform for quantum simulation and computing, where high-fidelity state preparation and readout, quantum logic gates, and controlled quantum dynamics of more than 100 qubits have all been demonstrated. These systems are now approaching the point where reliable quantum computations with hundreds of qubits and realistically thousands of multiqubit gates with low error rates should be within reach for the first time. In this article, the authors give an overview of the Rydberg quantum toolbox, emphasizing the high degree of flexibility for encoding qubits, performing quantum operations, and engineering quantum many-body Hamiltonians. The authors then review the state-of-the-art concerning high-fidelity quantum operations and logic gates as well as quantum simulations in many-body regimes. Finally, the authors discuss computing schemes that are particularly suited to the Rydberg platform and some of the remaining challenges on the road to general purpose quantum simulators and quantum computers.

One-step implementation of Rydberg-antiblockade SWAP and controlled-SWAP gates with modified robustness

The prevalent fashion of executing Rydberg-mediated two- and multi-qubit quantum gates in neutral atomic systems is to pump Rydberg excitations using multistep piecewise pulses in the Rydberg blockade regime. Here, we propose to synthesize a Λ -type Rydberg antiblockade (RAB) of two neutral atoms using periodic fields, which facilitates one-step implementations of SWAP and controlled-SWAP (CSWAP) gates with the same gate time. Besides, the RAB condition is modified so as to circumvent the sensitivity of RAB-based gates to infidelity factors, including atomic decay, motional dephasing, and interatomic distance deviation. Our work makes up the absence of one-step schemes of Rydberg-mediated SWAP and CSWAP gates and may pave a way to enhance the robustness of RAB-based gates.

NISQ circuit compilation is the travelling salesman problem on a torus

Noisy, intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) computers are expected to execute quantum circuits of up to a few hundred qubits. The circuits have to conform to NISQ architectural constraints regarding qubit allocation and the execution of multi-qubit gates. Quantum circuit compilation (QCC) takes a nonconforming circuit and outputs a compatible circuit. Can classical optimisation methods be used for QCC? Compilation is a known combinatorial problem shown to be solvable by two types of operations: (1) qubit allocation, and (2) gate scheduling. We show informally that the two operations form a discrete ring. The search landscape of QCC is a two dimensional discrete torus where vertices represent configurations of how circuit qubits are allocated to NISQ registers. Torus edges are weighted by the cost of scheduling circuit gates. The novelty of our approach uses the fact that a circuit’s gate list is circular: compilation can start from any gate as long as all the gates will be processed, and the compiled circuit has the correct gate order. Our work bridges a theoretical and practical gap between classical circuit design automation and the emerging field of quantum circuit optimisation.

One-step implementation of Toffoli gate for neutral atoms based on unconventional Rydberg pumping.

Compared with the idea of universal quantum computation, a direct synthesis of a multiqubit logic gate can greatly improve the efficiency of quantum information processing tasks. Here we propose an efficient scheme to implement a three-qubit controlled-not (Toffoli) gate of neutral atoms based on unconventional Rydberg pumping. By adjusting the strengths of Rabi frequencies of driving fields, the Toffoli gate can be achieved within one step, which is also insensitive to the fluctuation of the Rydberg-Rydberg interaction. Considering different atom alignments, we can obtain a high-fidelity Toffoli gate at the same operation time ∼7 μs. In addition, our scheme can be further extended to the four-qubit case without altering the operating time.

Fast Multiqubit Gates by Adiabatic Evolution in Interacting Excited-State Manifolds of Rydberg Atoms and Superconducting Circuits

Quantum computing and quantum simulation can be implemented by concatenation of one- and two-qubit gates and interactions. For most physical implementations, however, it may be advantageous to explore state components and interactions that depart from this universal paradigm and offer faster or more robust access to more advanced operations on the system. In this article, we show that adiabatic passage along the dark eigenstate of excitation exchange interactions can be used to implement fast multi-qubit Toffoli (C$_k$-NOT) and fan-out (C-NOT$^k$) gates. This mechanism can be realized by simultaneous excitation of atoms to Rydberg levels, featuring resonant exchange interaction. Our theoretical estimates and numerical simulations show that these multi-qubit Rydberg gates are possible with errors below 1% for up to 20 qubits. The excitation exchange mechanism is ubiquitous across experimental platforms and we show that similar multi-qubit gates can be implemented in superconducting circuits.

Quantum gate verification and its application in property testing

To guarantee the normal functioning of quantum devices in different scenarios, appropriate benchmarking tool kits are quite significant. Inspired by the recent progress on quantum state verification, here we establish a general framework of verifying a target unitary gate. In both the non-adversarial and adversarial scenarios, we provide efficient methods to evaluate the performance of verification strategies for any qudit unitary gate. Furthermore, we figure out the optimal strategy and its realization with local operations. Specifically, for the commonly-used quantum gates like single qubit and qudit gates, multi-qubit Clifford gates, and multi-qubit Controlled-Z(X) gates, we provide efficient verification protocols. Besides, we discuss the application of gate verification for the detection of entanglement-preserving property of quantum channels and further quantify the robustness measure of them. We believe that the gate verification is a promising way to benchmark a large-scale quantum circuit as well as to test its property.

Strong coupling of hybrid system between semiconductor quantum dots and superconducting resonator

<p indent=0mm>Quantum computing is a powerful way of improving computing efficiency. For some specific problems, quantum processor can exponentially reduce computation time compared to the classical computer. Cavity quantum electrodynamics, which studies the coherent interaction between photons in an optical cavity and atoms or other two-level systems, is of enormous significance to quantum computing and quantum information processing. The strong coupling regime where a cavity photon mode and an atom exchange a single quantum energy coherently has attracted extensive interest in varied experimental platforms and systems such as alkali atoms, Rydberg atoms, large spin ensembles, magnons, etc. The semiconductor gate-defined double quantum dot (DQD) system is one of the most promising platforms that possesses advantages of advanced micro-nano processing technology and outstanding scalability. Introducing the concept of cavity QED into superconducting circuits (circuit QED, cQED), provides an opportunity to study interaction between electrons confined in semiconductor DQD and photons trapped in a superconducting resonator. Reaching strong coupling regime in this hybrid system paves the way to large-scale network of quantum computing. Electrons confined in DQD have large electrical dipoles, thus are able to couple to photons with relatively large coupling rate. Whereas, due to the charge noise and other dissipation channels in the hybrid system, the decoherence rate of the system is larger than the coupling rate, leaving the strong coupling a great challenge. In recent years, different methods have been proposed to access the strong coupling regime. Taking advantage of a high-quality heterojunction structure, an overlapping gate architecture and a low-pass LC filter on the DC bias line, the decoherence of the charge qubit and microwave leakage of the resonator can be effectively suppressed. The coupling strength of the hybrid system can be improved utilizing a high impedance resonator which is comprised of high kinetic inductance materials. Spin, which does not interact directly with the electric field, is insensitive to charge noise and has much longer decoherence time than charge qubit. However, the weak interaction results in a small coupling rate between the spin and the photon. To solve this problem, the method of coherent hybridization between the spin and the charge state is proposed to improve the coupling strength. This hybridization can be achieved by applying a non-uniform magnetic field, utilizing spin-orbit interaction or spin exchange interaction. At present, both charge qubits and spin qubits have achieved strong coupling with the cavity and the coupling distance between long-range qubits is greatly expanded as long as millimeters. This review introduces basic ideas about cQED and fundamental elements in semiconductor cQED systems. Recent progress in strong coupling hybrid system and methods for improving coupling structures are discussed. In future research, more efforts will be devoted into long-range transfer of qubit states and photon-mediated two or multi-qubit gates.

Optimal clock speed of qubit gate operations on open quantum systems

Efficient implementation of quantum algorithms requires single- or multi-qubit gates with high fidelity. In this report, we report that the fidelity of single-qubit gate operations on open quantum systems has a maximum value corresponding to an optimum value of the drive-amplitude in the presence of drive-induced decoherence. To show this, we use a previously reported fluctuation-regulated quantum master equation [Phys. Rev. A 97, 063837 (2018)]. The fidelity is found to be a function of the drive-induced dissipative terms as well as the relaxation terms arising from the qubit-environment coupling; as a result, it behaves non-monotonically with the drive-amplitude. The existence of an optimum drive-amplitude implies that the single-qubit operations on open quantum systems would have an optimal clock speed.

Scalable multi-qubit quantum gates in quantum networks based on the microtoroidal-resonator-mediated nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond

In the paper, we present schemes for implementing multi-qubit quantum gates in quantum networks based on the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond. In our schemes, NV centers coupled to the whispering-gallery modes of microtoroidal resonators serve as quantum registers to store quantum information. By coding the qubits of NV centers into decoherence-free subspaces, quantum information encoded in logical qubits is protected from collective dephasing, and quantum controlled-NOT and Toffoli gates between logical qubits from the same or different quantum nodes can be implemented. Compared with the previous works, our schemes are simpler and reduce the consumption of resources. Furthermore, the modularized design of multi-qubit quantum gates can be extended to other quantum platforms, which may lead to more efficient construction of quantum networks for distributed quantum computation and quantum communication.

Engineering cross resonance interaction in multi-modal quantum circuits

The existing scalable superconducting quantum processors have only nearest-neighbor coupling. This leads to a reduced circuit depth, requiring a large series of gates to perform an arbitrary unitary operation in such systems. Recently, multi-modal devices have been demonstrated as a promising candidate for small quantum processor units. Always on longitudinal coupling in such circuits leads to implementation of native high fidelity multi-qubit gates. We propose an architecture using such devices as building blocks for a highly connected larger quantum circuit. To demonstrate a quantum operation between such blocks, a standard transmon is coupled to the multi-modal circuit using a 3D bus cavity giving rise to small exchange interaction between the transmon and one of the modes. We study the cross-resonance interaction in such systems and characterize the entangling operation and the unitary imperfections and crosstalk as a function of device parameters. Finally, we tune up the cross-resonance drive to implement multi-qubit gates in this architecture.

Implementing a multi-target-qubit controlled-not gate with logical qubits outside a decoherence-free subspace and its application in creating quantum entangled states

In general, implementing a multi-logical-qubit gate by manipulating quantum states in a decoherence-free subspace (DFS) becomes more complex and difficult when increasing the number of logical qubits. In this work, we propose an idea to realize quantum gates by manipulating quantum states outside their DFS but having the states of the logical qubits remain in their DFS before and after the gate operation. This proposal has the following features: (i) because the states are manipulated outside the DFS, the multiqubit gate implementation can be simplified when compared to realizing a multiqubit gate via manipulating quantum states within the DFS, which usually requires unitary operations over a large DFS, and (ii) because the states of the logical qubits return to the DFS after the gate operation, the errors caused by decoherence during the gate operation are not accumulated for a long-running calculation, and the states of the logical qubits are immune to decoherence when they are stored. Based on this proposal, we then present a way for realizing a multi-target-qubit controlled-not gate using logical qubits encoded in a decoherence-free subspace against collective dephasing. This gate is realized by employing qutrits (three-level quantum systems) placed in a cavity or coupled to a resonator. This proposal has the following advantages: (i) the states of the logical qubits return to their DFS after the gate operation; (ii) the gate can be implemented with only a few basic operations; (iii) the gate operation time is independent of the number of logical qubits; (iv) this gate can be deterministically implemented because no measurement is needed; (v) the intermediate higher-energy level for all qutrits is not occupied during the entire operation, thus decoherence from this level is greatly suppressed; (vi) this proposal is universal and can be applied to realize the proposed gate using natural atoms or artificial atoms (e.g., quantum dots, nitrogen-vacancy centers, and various superconducting qutrits, etc.) placed in a cavity or coupled to a resonator. As an application, we also show how to apply this gate to create a Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) entangled state of multiple logical qubits encoded in DFS, and further investigate the experimental feasibility for creating the GHZ state of three logical qubits in the DFS, by using six superconducting transmon qutrits coupled to a one-dimensional coplanar waveguide resonator.

Multi-qubit phase gate on multiple resonators mediated by a superconducting bus.

We propose a one-step scheme for implementing multi-qubit phase gates on microwave photons in multiple resonators mediated by a superconducting bus in circuit quantum electrodynamics (QED) system. In the scheme, multiple single-mode resonators carry quantum information with their vacuum and single-photon Fock states, and a multi-level artificial atom acts as a quantum bus which induces the indirect interaction among resonators. The method of pulse engineering is used to shape the coupling strength between resonators and the bus so as to improve the fidelity and robustness of the scheme. We also discuss the influence of finite coherence time for the bus and resonators on gate fidelity respectively. Finally, we consider the suppression of unwanted transitions and propose the method of optimized detuning compensation for offsetting unwanted transitions, showing the feasibility of the scheme within the current experiment technology.