Quantum Control Protocols Research Articles

Unitarity, feedback, interactions—dynamics emergent from repeated measurements

Motivated by the recent efforts to describe the gravitational interaction as a classical channel arising from continuous quantum measurements, we study what types of dynamics can emerge from a collisional model of repeated interactions between a system and a set of ancillae. We show that contingent on the model parameters the resulting dynamics ranges from exact unitarity to arbitrarily fast decoherence (quantum Zeno effect). For a series of measurements the effective dynamics includes feedback-control, which for a composite system yields effective interactions between the subsystems. We quantify the amount of decoherence accompanying such induced interactions, generalizing the lower bound found for the gravitational example. However, by allowing multipartite measurements, we show that interactions can be induced with arbitrarily low decoherence. These results have implications for gravity-inspired decoherence models. Moreover, we show how the framework can include terms beyond the usual second-order approxiation, which can spark new quantum control or simulation protocols. Finally, within our simple approach we re-derive the quantum filtering equations for the different regimes of effective dynamics, which can facilitate new connections between different formulations of open systems.

Control of Spin Defects in Wide-Bandgap Semiconductors for Quantum Technologies

Deep-level defects are usually considered undesirable in semiconductors as they typically interfere with the performance of present-day electronic and optoelectronic devices. However, the electronic spin states of certain atomic-scale defects have recently been shown to be promising quantum bits for quantum information processing as well as exquisite nanoscale sensors due to their local environmental sensitivity. In this review, we will discuss recent advances in quantum control protocols of several of these spin defects, the negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV $^{-}$ ) center in diamond and a variety of forms of the neutral divacancy $({\text{VV}}^{0})$ complex in silicon carbide (SiC). These defects exhibit a spin-triplet ground state that can be controlled through a variety of techniques, several of which allow for room temperature operation. Microwave control has enabled sophisticated decoupling schemes to extend coherence times as well as nanoscale sensing of temperature along with magnetic and electric fields. On the other hand, photonic control of these spin states has provided initial steps toward integration into quantum networks, including entanglement, quantum state teleportation, and all-optical control. Electrical and mechanical control also suggest pathways to develop quantum transducers and quantum hybrid systems. The versatility of the control mechanisms demonstrated should facilitate the development of quantum technologies based on these spin defects.

Dynamics of a two-level system under strong driving: Quantum-gate optimization based on Floquet theory

We consider the dynamics of a two-level system (qubit) driven by strong and short resonant pulses in the framework of Floquet theory. First we derive analytical expressions for the quasienergies and Floquet states of the driven system. If the pulse amplitude varies very slowly, the system adiabatically follows the instantaneous Floquet states, which acquire dynamical phases that depend on the evolution of the quasienergies over time. The difference between the phases acquired by the two Floquet states corresponds to a qubit state rotation, generalizing the notion of Rabi oscillations to the case of large driving amplitudes. If the pulse amplitude changes very fast, the evolution is non-adiabatic, with transitions taking place between the Floquet states. We quantify and analyze the nonadiabatic transitions during the pulse by employing adiabatic perturbation theory and exact numerical simulations. We find that, for certain combinations of pulse rise and fall times and maximum driving amplitude, a destructive interference effect leads to a remarkably strong suppression of transitions between the Floquet states. This effect provides the basis of a quantum control protocol, which we name Floquet Interference Efficient Suppression of Transitions in the Adiabatic basis (FIESTA), that can be used to design ultra-fast high-fidelity single-qubit quantum gates.

Qubit Noise Spectroscopy for Non-Gaussian Dephasing Environments.

We introduce open-loop quantum control protocols for characterizing the spectral properties of non-Gaussian noise, applicable to both classical and quantum dephasing environments. By engineering a multidimensional frequency comb via repetition of suitably designed pulse sequences, the desired high-order spectra may be related to observable properties of the qubit probe. We prove that access to a high time resolution is key to achieving spectral reconstruction over an extended bandwidth, overcoming the limitations of existing schemes. Non-Gaussian spectroscopy is demonstrated for a classical noise model describing quadratic dephasing at an optimal point, as well as a quantum spin-boson model out of equilibrium. In both cases, we obtain spectral reconstructions that accurately predict the qubit dynamics in the non-Gaussian regime.

General tracking control of arbitrary N-level quantum systems using piecewise time-independent potentials

Here we propose a tracking quantum control protocol for arbitrary N-level systems. The goal is to make the expected value of an observable $${\mathcal O}$$O to follow a predetermined trajectory S(t). For so, we drive the quantum state $$|\varPsi (t) \rangle $$|?(t)? evolution through an external potential V which depends on $$M_V$$MV tunable parameters (e.g., the amplitude and phase (thus $$M_V = 2$$MV=2) of a laser field in the dipolar condition). At instants $$t_n$$tn, these parameters can be rapidly switched to specific values and then kept constant during time intervals $$\Delta t$$Δt. The method determines which sets of parameters values can result in $$\langle \varPsi (t) | {\mathcal O} |\varPsi (t) \rangle = S(t)$$??(t)|O|?(t)?=S(t). It is numerically robust (no intrinsic divergences) and relatively fast since we need to solve only nonlinear algebraic (instead of a system of coupled nonlinear differential) equations to obtain the parameters at the successive $$\Delta t$$Δt's. For a given S(t), the required minimum $$M_V = M_{\min }$$MV=Mmin `degrees of freedom' of V attaining the control is a good figure of merit of the problem difficulty. For instance, the control cannot be unconditionally realizable if $$M_{\min } > 2$$Mmin>2 and V is due to a laser field (the usual context in real applications). As it is discussed and exemplified, in these cases a possible procedure is to relax the control in certain problematic (but short) time intervals. Finally, when existing the approach can systematically access distinct possible solutions, thereby allowing a relatively simple way to search for the best implementation conditions. Illustrations for 3-, 4-, and 5-level systems and some comparisons with calculations in the literature are presented.

Universal control of an oscillator with dispersive coupling to a qubit

We investigate quantum control of an oscillator mode off-resonantly coupled to an ancillary qubit. In the strong dispersive regime, we may drive the qubit conditioned on number states of the oscillator, which together with displacement operations can achieve universal control of the oscillator. Based on our proof of universal control, we provide explicit constructions for arbitrary state preparation and arbitrary unitary operation of the oscillator. Moreover, we present an efficient procedure to prepare the number state $\left|n\right\rangle$ using only $O\left(\sqrt{n}\right)$ operations. We also compare our scheme with known quantum control protocols for coupled qubit-oscillator systems. This universal control scheme of the oscillator can readily be implemented using superconducting circuits.

Ignorance is bliss: general and robust cancellation of decoherence via no-knowledge quantum feedback.

A "no-knowledge" measurement of an open quantum system yields no information about any system observable; it only returns noise input from the environment. Surprisingly, performing such a no-knowledge measurement can be advantageous. We prove that a system undergoing no-knowledge monitoring has reversible noise, which can be canceled by directly feeding back the measurement signal. We show how no-knowledge feedback control can be used to cancel decoherence in an arbitrary quantum system coupled to a Markovian reservoir that is being monitored. Since no-knowledge feedback does not depend on the system state or Hamiltonian, such decoherence cancellation is guaranteed to be general and robust, and can operate in conjunction with any other quantum control protocol. As an application, we show that no-knowledge feedback could be used to improve the performance of dissipative quantum computers subjected to local loss.

Experimental bath engineering for quantitative studies of quantum control

We develop and demonstrate a technique to engineer universal unitary baths in quantum systems. Using the correspondence between unitary decoherence due to ambient environmental noise and errors in a control system for quantum bits, we show how a wide variety of relevant classical error models may be realized through In-Phase/Quadrature modulation on a vector signal generator producing a resonant carrier signal. We demonstrate our approach through high-bandwidth modulation of the 12.6 GHz carrier appropriate for trapped $^{171}$Yb$^{+}$ ions. Experiments demonstrate the reduction of coherent lifetime in the system in the presence of an engineered bath, with the observed $T_{2}$ scaling as predicted by a quantitative model described herein. These techniques form the basis of a toolkit for quantitative tests of quantum control protocols, helping experimentalists characterize the performance of their quantum coherent systems.

Single-atom quantum control of macroscopic mechanical oscillators

We investigate a hybrid electro-mechanical system consisting of a pair of charged macroscopic mechanical oscillators coupled to a small ensemble of Rydberg atoms. The resonant dipole-dipole coupling between an internal atomic Rydberg transition and the mechanics allows cooling to its motional ground state with a single atom despite the considerable mass imbalance between the two subsystems. We show that the rich electronic spectrum of Rydberg atoms, combined with their high degree of optical control, paves the way towards implementing various quantum-control protocol for the mechanical oscillators.

Implementación numérica de algoritmos de control cuántico basados en etapas de prendido y apagado para un qubit

Se analiza la estabilidad de algoritmos específicos de control cuántico a través de la si­mulación. Se estudian sistemas cuánticos de dos niveles manipulados por campos reso­nantes externos. Nos enfocamos en aquellos protocolos que requieren secuencias grandes de pulsos externos. Se prueba que estas técnicas son susceptibles de errores de acarreo. Inspirados por la metodología de tratamiento de señales, se consideran efectos de ruidos en implementaciones prácticas de algoritmos cuánticos para un qubit. Los resultados en­contrados están en concordancia con datos experimentales reportados.

Arbitrary quantum control of qubits in the presence of universal noise

We address the problem of deriving analytic expressions for calculating universal decoherence-induced errors in qubits undergoing arbitrary, unitary, time-dependent quantum control protocols. We show that the fidelity of a control operation may be expressed in terms of experimentally relevant spectral characteristics of the noise and of the control, over all Cartesian directions. We formulate control matrices in the time domain to capture the effects of piecewise-constant control, and convert them to generalized Fourier-domain filter functions. These generalized filter functions may be derived for complex temporally modulated control protocols, accounting for susceptibility to rotations of the qubit state vector in three dimensions. Taken together, we show that this framework provides a computationally efficient means to calculate the effects of universal noise on arbitrary quantum control protocols, producing results comparable with those obtained via time-consuming simulations of Bloch vector evolution. As a concrete example, we apply our method to treating the problem of dynamical decoupling incorporating realistic control pulses of arbitrary duration or form, including the replacement of simple π-pulses with complex dynamically corrected gates.

Optimality of qubit purification protocols in the presence of imperfections

Quantum control is an essential tool for the operation of quantum technologies such as quantum computers, simulators, and sensors. Although there are sophisticated theoretical tools for developing quantum control protocols, formulating optimal protocols while incorporating experimental conditions remains a challenge. In this paper, motivated by recent advances in realization of real-time feedback control in circuit quantum electrodynamics systems, we study the effect of experimental imperfections on the optimality of qubit purification protocols. Specifically, we find that the optimal control solutions in the presence of detector inefficiency and non-negligible decoherence can be significantly different from the known solutions to idealized dynamical models. In addition, we present a simplified form of the verification theorem to examine the global optimality of a control protocol.

Optimized pulses for the control of uncertain qubits

Constructing high-fidelity control fields that are robust to control, system, and/or surrounding environment uncertainties is a crucial objective for quantum information processing. Using the two-state Landau-Zener model for illustrative simulations of a controlled qubit, we generate optimal controls for \pi/2- and \pi-pulses, and investigate their inherent robustness to uncertainty in the magnitude of the drift Hamiltonian. Next, we construct a quantum-control protocol to improve system-drift robustness by combining environment-decoupling pulse criteria and optimal control theory for unitary operations. By perturbatively expanding the unitary time-evolution operator for an open quantum system, previous analysis of environment-decoupling control pulses has calculated explicit control-field criteria to suppress environment-induced errors up to (but not including) third order from \pi/2- and \pi-pulses. We systematically integrate this criteria with optimal control theory, incorporating an estimate of the uncertain parameter, to produce improvements in gate fidelity and robustness, demonstrated via a numerical example based on double quantum dot qubits. For the qubit model used in this work, post facto analysis of the resulting controls suggests that realistic control-field fluctuations and noise may contribute just as significantly to gate errors as system and environment fluctuations.

Through the quantum chicane

In quantum control there is an inherent tension between high fidelity requirements and the need for speed to avoid decoherence. A direct comparison of quantum control protocols at these two extremes indicates where the sweet spot may lie.

Control-free control: Manipulating a quantum system using only a limited set of measurements

We present and discuss different protocols for preparing an arbitrary quantum state of a qubit using only a restricted set of measurements, with no unitary operations at all. We show that an arbitrary state can indeed be prepared, provided that the available measurements satisfy certain requirements. Our results shed light on the role that measurement-induced back-action plays in quantum feedback control and the extent to which this back-action can be exploited in quantum-control protocols.

THE TRAPPED-ION QUBIT: COHERENT CONTROL IN INFINITE-DIMENSIONAL QUANTUM SYSTEMS

Theories of quantum control have, until recently, made the assumption that the Hilbert space of a quantum system can be truncated to finite dimensions. Such truncations, which can be achieved for most quantum systems via bandwidth restrictions, have enabled the development of a rich variety of quantum control and optimal control schemes. Recent studies in quantum information processing have addressed the control of infinite-dimensional quantum systems such as the quantum states of a trapped-ion. Controllability in an infinite-dimensional quantum system is hard to prove with conventional methods, and infinite-dimensional systems provide unique challenges in designing control fields. In this paper, we will discuss the control of a popular system for quantum computing the trapped-ion qubit. This system, modeled by a spin-half particle coupled to a quantized harmonic oscillator, is an example for a surprisingly rich variety of control problems. We will show how this infinite-dimensional quantum system can be examined via the lens of the Finite Controllability Theorem, two-color STIRAP, the generalized Heisenberg system, etc. These results are important from the viewpoint of developing more efficient quantum control protocols, particularly in quantum computing systems. This work shows how one can expand the scope of quantum control research to beyond that of finite-dimensional quantum systems.