Quantum Chip Research Articles

Efficient Measure for the Expressivity of Variational Quantum Algorithms.

The superiority of variational quantum algorithms (VQAs) such as quantum neural networks (QNNs) and variational quantum eigensolvers (VQEs) heavily depends on the expressivity of the employed Ansätze. Namely, a simple Ansatz is insufficient to capture the optimal solution, while an intricate Ansatz leads to the hardness of trainability. Despite its fundamental importance, an effective strategy of measuring the expressivity of VQAs remains largely unknown. Here, we exploit an advanced tool in statistical learning theory, i.e., covering number, to study the expressivity of VQAs. Particularly, we first exhibit how the expressivity of VQAs with an arbitrary Ansätze is upper bounded by the number of quantum gates and the measurement observable. We next explore the expressivity of VQAs on near-term quantum chips, where the system noise is considered. We observe an exponential decay of the expressivity with increasing circuit depth. We also utilize the achieved expressivity to analyze the generalization of QNNs and the accuracy of VQE. We numerically verify our theory employing VQAs with different levels of expressivity. Our Letter opens the avenue for quantitative understanding of the expressivity of VQAs.

Engineering the microwave to infrared noise photon flux for superconducting quantum systems

Electromagnetic filtering is essential for the coherent control, operation and readout of superconducting quantum circuits at milliKelvin temperatures. The suppression of spurious modes around transition frequencies of a few GHz is well understood and mainly achieved by on-chip and package considerations. Noise photons of higher frequencies – beyond the pair-breaking energies – cause decoherence and require spectral engineering before reaching the packaged quantum chip. The external wires that pass into the refrigerator and go down to the quantum circuit provide a direct path for these photons. This article contains quantitative analysis and experimental data for the noise photon flux through coaxial, filtered wiring. The attenuation of the coaxial cable at room temperature and the noise photon flux estimates for typical wiring configurations are provided. Compact cryogenic microwave low-pass filters with CR-110 and Esorb-230 absorptive dielectric fillings are presented along with experimental data at room and cryogenic temperatures up to 70 GHz. Filter cut-off frequencies between 1 to 10 GHz are set by the filter length, and the roll-off is material dependent. The relative dielectric permittivity and magnetic permeability for the Esorb-230 material in the pair-breaking frequency range of 75 to 110 GHz are measured, and the filter properties in this frequency range are calculated. The estimated dramatic suppression of the noise photon flux due to the filter proves its usefulness for experiments with superconducting quantum systems.

Quantum Hybrid Plasmonic Nanocircuits for Versatile Polarized Photon Generation

AbstractHybrid plasmonic nanocircuits developed insofar enable efficient coupling and routing of single photons generated by embedded quantum emitters (QEs), providing at the same time little or no control over the polarization of out‐coupled single photons. Here, with numerical simulations a QE‐driven hybrid plasmonic nanocircuit for versatile polarized photon generation by using ultracompact polarization out‐couplers in multi‐branched dielectric‐loaded plasmonic waveguides is proposed and demonstrated. Upon excitation of a QE, which is embedded at the center of a star‐shaped six‐branched hybrid plasmonic waveguide and characterized with a normal to the surface radiative transition dipole, plasmonic waveguide modes are efficiently (≈85%) excited and routed by the six‐branched waveguide toward propitiously designed out‐couplers. By exploiting two types of subwavelength polarization out‐couplers producing linearly and circularly polarized free‐space radiation, spatially separated single‐photon generation channels characterized by four different linear and two circular polarizations are created. The demonstrated hybrid plasmonic nanocircuit addresses specifically the scenario where different quantum chips communicate via polarization‐compatible channels, thereby opening new design possibilities for energy‐efficient and ultracompact quantum photonic nanocircuits in nanophotonic quantum technologies.

Effects of Dynamical Decoupling and Pulse-Level Optimizations on IBM Quantum Computers

Currently available quantum computers are prone to errors. Circuit optimization and error mitigation methods are needed to design quantum circuits to achieve better fidelity when executed on NISQ hardware. Dynamical decoupling (DD) is generally used to suppress the decoherence error and different DD strategies have been proposed. Moreover, the circuit fidelity can be improved by pulse-level optimization, such as creating hardware-native pulse-efficient gates. This paper implements all the popular DD sequences and evaluates their performances on IBM quantum chips with different characteristics for various well-known quantum applications. Also, we investigate combining DD with pulse-level optimization method and apply them to QAOA to solve Max-Cut problem. Based on the experimental results, we found that DD can be a benefit for only certain types of quantum algorithms, while the combination of DD and pulse-level optimization methods always has a positive impact. Finally, we provide several guidelines for users to learn how to use these noise mitigation methods to build circuits for quantum applications with high fidelity on IBM quantum computers.

Development Strategy of Quantum-Based Deep Geophysical Exploration Technology and Equipment

Quantum-based sensing and measurement technology is a disruptive technology that can realize fine detection of the gravity and magnetic fields in deep Earth, and it has become a key development direction for geophysical exploration equipment worldwide. This study focuses on the frontier technologies for the quantum-based high-precision measurement of Earth’s gravity and magnetic fields, summarizes the development status of quantum-based geophysical exploration equipment, and analyzes demand for the superconducting quantum-based electromagnetic detection system, magnetic vector gradient detection system, superconducting gravity detection system, and cold-atom absolute-gravity exploration system during deep resource exploration. Moreover, the international trend of quantum-based high-precision measurement technology as well as the development opportunities and challenges in this field are analyzed. To improve the core technology research, complete localization, and exploration application of quantum-based geophysical exploration equipment in China, we propose the development goals, technical system, key tasks, and strategic planning for a new generation of quantum-based high-precision deep geophysical exploration equipment. This aims to achieve breakthroughs in superconducting quantum chips and high-sensitivity sensors, establish a collaboration model for the independent development of China’s quantum-based geophysical exploration equipment, promote the high-quality development of deep exploration equipment, and provide strategic support for solving major problems associated with deep mineral resource exploration and revealing of Earth’s deep structure.

First quantum computer to pack 100 qubits enters crowded race

But IBM’s latest quantum chip and its competitors face a long path towards making the machines useful. But IBM’s latest quantum chip and its competitors face a long path towards making the machines useful.

Resetting directional couplers for high-fidelity quantum photonic integrated chips.

In this Letter, we propose a fabrication technique based on femtosecond laser secondary direct writing (FsLSDW) that allows us to statically reset the beam-splitting ratio of directional couplers. By modifying the interaction region with a second inscription, the coupling coefficient of the reconstructed devices can be indeed changed continuously within the range of 0.49-2.1 rad/mm, thus enabling a complete tunability of the reconstructed splitting ratio from zero to full power transfer between the waveguides. This powerful reconstruction capability facilitates the arbitrary reset of an imperfect device, from any initial splitting ratio to the correct one. In the future, such static control method could potentially solve the fabrication error problem in the manufacturing of high-fidelity large-scale integrated photonic quantum chips.

Characterization and Modeling of Native MOSFETs Down to 4.2 K

The extremely low threshold voltage (Vth) of native MOSFETs (Vth~0V@300K) is conducive to the design of cryogenic circuits. Previous research on cryogenic MOSFETs mainly focused on the standard threshold voltage (SVT) and low threshold voltage (LVT) MOSFETs. In this paper, we characterize native MOSFETs within the temperature range from 300K to 4.2K. The cryogenic Vth increases up to ~0.25V (W/L=10um/10um) and the improved subthreshold swing (SS)~14.30mV/dec@4.2K. The off-state current (Ioff) and the gate-induced drain leakage (GIDL) effect are ameliorated greatly. The step-up effect caused by the substrate charge and the transconductance peak effect caused by the energy quantization in different sub-bands are also discussed. Based on the EKV model, we modified the mobility calculation equations and proposed a compact model of large size native MOSFETs suitable for the range of 300K to 4.2K. The mobility-related parameters are extracted via a machine learning approach and the temperature dependences of the scattering mechanisms are analyzed. This work is beneficial to both the research on cryogenic MOSFETs modeling and the design of cryogenic CMOS circuits for quantum chips.

Mitigating Crosstalk-Induced Qubit Readout Error with Shallow-Neural-Network Discrimination

Measurement for qubits plays a key role in quantum computation. Current methods for classifying states of single qubit in a superconducting multi-qubit system produce fidelities lower than expected due to the existence of crosstalk, especially in case of frequency crowding. Here, We make the digital signal processing (DSP) system used in measurement into a shallow neural network and train it to be an optimal classifier to reduce the impact of crosstalk. The experiment result shows the crosstalk-induced readout error deceased by 100% after a 3-second optimization applied on the 6-qubit superconducting quantum chip.

Materials in superconducting quantum circuits

Superconducting quantum circuits (SQCs), composed of superconducting capacitors, inductances, Josephson junctions, and transmission lines, exhibit macroscopic quantum effects at ultra-low temperatures. Due to the extremely low dissipation of superconductors, an important application of SQCs is superconducting qubits with long coherence time. Quantum computing based on superconducting qubits is a leading physical realization method of quantum computing, which is theoretically capable of accelerating many computational problems including quantum simulation, database searching, and optimization. In the long run, to use the power of quantum computing to its full extent, universal quantum computers should be constructed with quantum error correction. In the short term, one of the most pressing targets of the superconducting quantum computing community is to demonstrate quantum advantage using noisy intermediate-scale quantum chips. Both goals rely on the increasing of the number of coupled qubits in a quantum circuit and the quality of these qubits, which dictate the breadth and the depth of a problem it can solve, respectively. The fabrication of SQCs has adopted a few manufacturing processes from conventional integrated circuits. Quantum chips containing multiple superconducting qubits can be made and packaged on a large scale. “Quantum supremacy” has been demonstrated on a quantum chip with fifty-three qubits fabricated using the flip-chip bonding technology. However, to demonstrate quantum advantage, the quality and quantity of qubits need to increase simultaneously. Dissipative channels emerge in circuit design, material preparation, chip fabrication, and working environment, limiting the lifetime of superconducting qubits. For quantum chips with tens to hundreds of qubits, the integration will also introduce extra processing steps which may degrade the qubits, and unwanted coupling to loss channels. Most of these channels are microscopically related to materials constructing the quantum chips, chip surfaces, and material interfaces. Thus, it is important to investigate the material growth and device fabrication of SQCs, and to understand the material related loss mechanisms. This review paper investigates the material related topics in superconducting quantum circuits pertinent to the quantum computing application from a comprehensive perspective. The history of SQCs is briefly mentioned, followed by the peculiar characteristics as an engineerable quantum system, and a roadmap to quantum advantage and universal quantum computing in the next a few years. Technically, the superconducting quantum computer is compared to a Schrodinger’s cat, and can be boiled down into three parts, i.e., quantum chips, the environment, and the operating system, corresponding to the cat, the box, and the observer, respectively. The material related decoherence channels of the SQCs can be sorted into four categories; each will be discussed in details. To fabricate SQCs with minimal loss, the processing technologies are elaborated, including qubit design, material selection, surface treatments, film growth, and Josephson junction, etc. Though there are general guidelines that amorphous materials should be avoided and processing induced damage should be minimized, more is to be investigated due to the emerging of new materials and new fabrication methods. The last part presents the potential application of the superconducting quantum computer and its current state of play. SQC for quantum computing is a multi-discipline research topic, demanding joint efforts from different scientific and technical areas. Materials science and device processing will play important roles along the way to quantum practicality.

Correlation-Informed Permutation of Qubits for Reducing Ansatz Depth in the Variational Quantum Eigensolver

The Variational Quantum Eigensolver (VQE) is a method of choice to solve the electronic structure problem for molecules on near-term gate-based quantum computers. However, the circuit depth is expected to grow significantly with problem size. Increased depth can both degrade the accuracy of the results and reduce trainability. In this work, we propose a novel approach to reduce ansatz circuit depth. Our approach, called PermVQE, adds an additional optimization loop to VQE that permutes qubits in order to solve for the qubit Hamiltonian that minimizes long-range correlations in the ground state. The choice of permutations is based on mutual information, which is a measure of interaction between electrons in spin-orbitals. Encoding strongly interacting spin-orbitals into proximal qubits on a quantum chip naturally reduces the circuit depth needed to prepare the ground state. For representative molecular systems, LiH, H$_2$, (H$_2$)$_2$, H$_4$, and H$_3^+$, we demonstrate for linear qubit connectivity that placing entangled qubits in close proximity leads to shallower depth circuits required to reach a given eigenvalue-eigenvector accuracy. This approach can be extended to any qubit connectivity and can significantly reduce the depth required to reach a desired accuracy in VQE. Moreover, our approach can be applied to other variational quantum algorithms beyond VQE.

Universal quantum control based on parametric modulation in superconducting circuits* *Project supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2016YFA0301802), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11474152, 12074179, and 61521001), and the Young Fund of Jiangsu Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. BK20180750).

As superconducting quantum circuits are scaling up rapidly towards the noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) era, the demand for electronic control equipment has increased significantly. To fully control a quantum chip of N qubits, the common method based on up-conversion technology costs at least 2 × N digital-to-analog converters (DACs) and N IQ mixers. The expenses and complicate mixer calibration have become a hinderance for intermediate-scale quantum control. Here we propose a universal control scheme for superconducting circuits, fully based on parametric modulation. To control N qubits on a chip, our scheme only requires N DACs and no IQ mixer, which significantly reduces the expenses. One key idea in the control scheme is to introduce a global pump signal for single-qubit gates. We theoretically explain how the universal gates are constructed using parametric modulation. The fidelity analysis shows that parametric single-qubit (two-qubit) gates in the proposed scheme can achieve low error rates of 10−4, with a gate time of about 60 ns (100 ns).

CMOS-based cryogenic control of silicon quantum circuits.

The most promising quantum algorithms require quantum processors that host millions of quantum bits when targeting practical applications1. A key challenge towards large-scale quantum computation is the interconnect complexity. In current solid-state qubit implementations, an important interconnect bottleneck appears between the quantum chip in a dilution refrigerator and the room-temperature electronics. Advanced lithography supports the fabrication of both control electronics and qubits in silicon using technology compatible with complementary metal oxide semiconductors (CMOS)2. When the electronics are designed to operate at cryogenic temperatures, they can ultimately be integrated with the qubits on the same die or package, overcoming the 'wiring bottleneck'3-6. Here we report a cryogenic CMOS control chip operating at 3 kelvin, which outputs tailored microwave bursts to drive silicon quantum bits cooled to 20 millikelvin. We first benchmark the control chip and find an electrical performance consistent with qubit operations of 99.99 per cent fidelity, assuming ideal qubits. Next, we use it to coherently control actual qubits encoded in the spin of single electrons confined in silicon quantum dots7-9 and find that the cryogenic control chip achieves the same fidelity as commercial instruments at room temperature. Furthermore, we demonstrate the capabilities of the control chip by programming a number of benchmarking protocols, as well as the Deutsch-Josza algorithm10, on a two-qubit quantum processor. These results open up the way towards a fully integrated, scalable silicon-based quantum computer.

Quantum versus classical generative modelling in finance

Finding a concrete use case for quantum computers in the near term is still an open question, with machine learning typically touted as one of the first fields which will be impacted by quantum technologies. In this work, we investigate and compare the capabilities of quantum versus classical models for the task of generative modelling in machine learning. We use a real world financial dataset consisting of correlated currency pairs and compare two models in their ability to learn the resulting distribution—a restricted Boltzmann machine, and a quantum circuit Born machine. We provide extensive numerical results indicating that the simulated Born machine always at least matches the performance of the Boltzmann machine in this task, and demonstrates superior performance as the model scales. We perform experiments on both simulated and physical quantum chips using the Rigetti QCSTM platform, and also are able to partially train the largest instance to date of a quantum circuit Born machine on quantum hardware. Finally, by studying the entanglement capacity of the training Born machines, we find that entanglement typically plays a role in the problem instances which demonstrate an advantage over the Boltzmann machine.

Highly efficient polarization-entangled photon-pair generation in lithium niobate waveguides based on bound states in continuum.

Integrated optics provides a platform for the experimental implementation of highly complex and compact circuits for practical applications as well as for advances in the fundamental science of quantum optics. The lithium niobate (LN) waveguide is an important candidate for the construction of integrated optical circuits. Based on the bound state in the continuum (BIC) in a LN waveguide, we propose an efficient way to produce polarization-entangled photon pairs. The implementation of this method is simple and does not require the polarization process needed for periodically poled LN. The generation rate of the entangled photon pairs increases linearly with the length of the waveguide. For visible light, the generation efficiency can be improved by more than five orders of magnitude with waveguides having the length of only a few millimeters, compared with the corresponding case without BICs. The phenomena can appear in a very wide spectrum range from the visible to THz regions. This study is of great significance for the development of active integrated quantum chips in various wavelength ranges.

RESEARCH OF DIGITAL QUBITES FOR HETEROGENEOUS DIGITAL QUANTUM COPROCESSORS

Recently, interest is growing towards real quantum computers, which are analog and probabilistic devices by nature. Theinterest is also growing to their digital version, both software and hardware. One approach to the construction of real quantum computers is to use quantum chips. The hardware implementation of digital quantum computers involves the use offield programmable gate arrays.A digital quantum coprocessor has already been createdwhich has over a thousand digital qubitsand can perform such complex algorithms as a quantum Fourier transformation. The created and working digital quantum coprocessorcan already be used to work out various quantum algorithms, algorithms for the interaction of a classic computer and its quantum coprocessor, as well as for research various options for building digital qubits.The purpose of this work is to study the effect of the accuracy of the presentation of the state of digital qubit on the probability of obtaining the correct results of the digitalquantum coprocessor.For the study, a heterogeneous digital quantum coprocessor with thirty two digital qubits is selected, which will perform the Fourier quantum transformation. The article describes the basics of building digital quantum coprocessors.Schemes that illustrate the interaction of a classic computer and a quantum coprocessor, the architecture of the coprocessor and the possible structures of its digital qubitsare given. Two variants of the coprocessor, homogeneous one with one pseudo-random codes generator and one comparator, and heterogeneous one, with a generator and a comparator in each digital quantum cell, from which digital qubits consist, are shown.Two options for comparators are also shown -with a direct functional converter and with reverse one.In this work, the influence of the length of the qubit state codes of heterogeneous digital quantum coprocessors on the probability of the correct results formation is investigated.It was shown that the probability of obtaining the correct results at the output of the digital heterogeneous coprocessor is sharply (up to fifty percent) improved with a decrease of the qubit state code length, that is, with a decrease in the coprocessor hardware cost.With a length of a code equal to twobits, the quality of the operation of the heterogeneous coprocessor becomes commensurate with the quality of the homogeneous one. The need for additional research in this direction, including with homogeneous coprocessors, is shown.

Hyper-optimized tensor network contraction

Tensor networks represent the state-of-the-art in computational methods across many disciplines, including the classical simulation of quantum many-body systems and quantum circuits. Several applications of current interest give rise to tensor networks with irregular geometries. Finding the best possible contraction path for such networks is a central problem, with an exponential effect on computation time and memory footprint. In this work, we implement new randomized protocols that find very high quality contraction paths for arbitrary and large tensor networks. We test our methods on a variety of benchmarks, including the random quantum circuit instances recently implemented on Google quantum chips. We find that the paths obtained can be very close to optimal, and often many orders or magnitude better than the most established approaches. As different underlying geometries suit different methods, we also introduce a hyper-optimization approach, where both the method applied and its algorithmic parameters are tuned during the path finding. The increase in quality of contraction schemes found has significant practical implications for the simulation of quantum many-body systems and particularly for the benchmarking of new quantum chips. Concretely, we estimate a speed-up of over 10,000×compared to the original expectation for the classical simulation of the Sycamore `supremacy' circuits.

Waveguide-coupled superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors based on femtosecond laser direct writing.

The implementation of quantum information technologies requires the development of integrated quantum chips. Femtosecond laser direct writing (FLDW) waveguides and superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) have been widely applied in integrated quantum photonic circuits. In this work, a novel FLDW waveguide-coupled SNSPD was designed and realized by integrating FLDW waveguides and conventional SNSPDs together. Through a COMSOL simulation, a waveguide end face-nanowire optical coupling structure was designed and verified. The simulation results showed that the FLDW waveguide-coupled SNSPD device, which had a target wavelength of 780 nm, can achieve 87% optical absorption. Then the preparation process of the FLDW waveguide-coupled SNSPD device was developed, and the fabricated device achieved a system detection efficiency of 1.7% at 10 Hz dark count rate. Overall, this method provides a feasible single-photon detector solution for future on-chip integrated quantum photonic experiments and applications.

Practical Quantum Computing

In the last few years, several quantum algorithms that try to address the problem of partial differential equation solving have been devised: on the one hand, “direct” quantum algorithms that aim at encoding the solution of the PDE by executing one large quantum circuit; on the other hand, variational algorithms that approximate the solution of the PDE by executing several small quantum circuits and making profit of classical optimisers. In this work, we propose an experimental study of the costs (in terms of gate number and execution time on a idealised hardware created from realistic gate data) associated with one of the “direct” quantum algorithm: the wave equation solver devised in [32]. We show that our implementation of the quantum wave equation solver agrees with the theoretical big-O complexity of the algorithm. We also explain in great detail the implementation steps and discuss some possibilities of improvements. Finally, our implementation proves experimentally that some PDE can be solved on a quantum computer, even if the direct quantum algorithm chosen will require error-corrected quantum chips, which are not believed to be available in the short-term.

Femtosecond Laser Direct Writing of Integrated Photonic Quantum Chips for Generating Path-Encoded Bell States.

Integrated photonic quantum chip provides a promising platform to perform quantum computation, quantum simulation, quantum metrology and quantum communication. Femtosecond laser direct writing (FLDW) is a potential technique to fabricate various integrated photonic quantum chips in glass. Several quantum logic gates fabricated by FLDW have been reported, such as polarization and path encoded quantum controlled-NOT (CNOT) gates. By combining several single qubit gates and two qubit gates, the quantum circuit can realize different functions, such as generating quantum entangled states and performing quantum computation algorithms. Here we demonstrate the FLDW of integrated photonic quantum chips composed of one Hadamard gate and one CNOT gate for generating all four path-encoded Bell states. The experimental results show that the average fidelity of the reconstructed truth table reaches as high as 98.8 0.3%. Our work is of great importance to be widely applied in many quantum circuits, therefore this technique would offer great potential to fabricate more complex circuits to realize more advanced functions.