npj Quantum Information最新文献

Repeating a gate sequence multiple times amplifies systematic errors coherently, making it a useful tool for characterizing quantum gates. However, the precision of such an approach is limited by low-frequency noise, while its efficiency is hindered by time-consuming scans required to match up the phases of the off-diagonal matrix elements being amplified. Here, we overcome both challenges by interleaving the gate of interest with dynamical decoupling sequences in a protocol we call Matrix-Element Amplification using Dynamical Decoupling (MEADD). Using frequency-tunable superconducting qubits from a Google Sycamore quantum processor, we experimentally demonstrate that MEADD surpasses the accuracy and precision of existing characterization protocols for estimating systematic errors in single- and two-qubit gates. We use MEADD to estimate coherent parameters of CZ gates with 5 to 10 times the precision of existing methods and to characterize previously undetectable coherent crosstalk, reaching a precision below one milliradian.

A central building block of many quantum algorithms is the diagonalization of Pauli operators. Although it is always possible to construct a quantum circuit that simultaneously diagonalizes a given set of commuting Pauli operators, only resource-efficient circuits can be executed reliably on near-term quantum computers. Generic diagonalization circuits, in contrast, often lead to an unaffordable SWAP gate overhead on quantum devices with limited hardware connectivity. A common alternative is to exclude two-qubit gates altogether. However, this comes at the severe cost of restricting the class of diagonalizable sets of Pauli operators to tensor product bases (TPBs). In this article, we introduce a theoretical framework for constructing hardware-tailored (HT) diagonalization circuits. Our framework establishes a systematic and highly flexible procedure for tailoring diagonalization circuits with ultra-low gate counts. We highlight promising use cases of our framework and – as a proof-of-principle application – we devise an efficient algorithm for grouping the Pauli operators of a given Hamiltonian into jointly-HT-diagonalizable sets. For several classes of Hamiltonians, we observe that our approach requires fewer measurements than conventional TPB approaches. Finally, we experimentally demonstrate that HT circuits can improve the efficiency of estimating expectation values with cloud-based quantum computers.

In this paper, we prove a lower bound on the soundness of quantum locally testable codes under the distance balancing construction of Evra et al. Our technical contribution is that the soundness of the quantum code after this procedure is at least its soundness before the procedure divided by the length of the classical code used to perform distance balancing. This allows us to use any classical code when distance balancing, where previously only the repetition code had been considered for these codes. By using a good classical low-density parity check (LDPC) code, we are able to grow the dimension of the hypersphere product codes and the hemicubic codes while maintaining their distance and locality, but at the expense of soundness. From this, and also by distance balancing a chain complex of Cross et al., we obtain quantum locally testable codes of new parameters.

Robust spin-photon interfaces with optical transitions in the telecommunication band are essential for quantum networking technologies. Erbium (Er) ions are the ideal candidate with environmentally protected transitions in telecom-C band. Finding the right technologically compatible host material to enable long-lived spins remains a major hurdle. We introduce a new platform based on Er ions in cerium dioxide (CeO₂) as a nearly-zero nuclear spin environment (0.04%) epitaxially grown on silicon, offering silicon compatibility for opto-electrical devices. Our studies focus on Er³⁺ ions and show a narrow homogeneous linewidth of 440 kHz with an optical coherence time of 0.72 μs at 3.6 K. The reduced nuclear spin noise enables a slow spin-lattice relaxation with a spin relaxation time up to 2.5 ms and an electron spin coherence time of 0.66 μs (in the isolated ion limit) at 3.6 K. These findings highlight the potential of Er³⁺:CeO₂ platform for quantum networks applications.

Harnessing quantum correlations can enable sensing beyond classical precision limits, with the realization of such sensors poised for transformative impacts across science and engineering. Real devices, however, face the accumulated impacts of noise and architecture constraints, making the design and success of practical quantum sensors challenging. Numerical and theoretical frameworks to optimize and analyze sensing protocols in their entirety are thus crucial for translating quantum advantage into widespread practice. Here, we present an end-to-end variational framework for quantum sensing protocols, where parameterized quantum circuits and neural networks form trainable, adaptive models for quantum sensor dynamics and estimation, respectively. The framework is general and can be adapted towards arbitrary qubit architectures, as we demonstrate with experimentally-relevant ansätze for trapped-ion and photonic systems, and enables to directly quantify the impacts that noise and finite data sampling. End-to-end variational approaches can thus underpin powerful design and analysis tools for practical quantum sensing advantage.

Quantum networks connect and supply a large number of nodes with multi-party quantum resources for secure communication, networked quantum computing and distributed sensing. As these networks grow in size, certification tools will be required to answer questions regarding their properties. In this work we demonstrate a general method to guarantee that certain correlations cannot be generated in a given quantum network. We apply quantum inflation methods to data obtained in quantum group encryption experiments, guaranteeing the impossibility of producing the observed results in networks with fewer optical elements. Our results pave the way for scalable methods of obtaining device-independent guarantees on the network structure underlying multipartite quantum protocols.

Quantum generative models provide inherently efficient sampling strategies and thus show promise for achieving an advantage using quantum hardware. In this work, we investigate the barriers to the trainability of quantum generative models posed by barren plateaus and exponential loss concentration. We explore the interplay between explicit and implicit models and losses, and show that using quantum generative models with explicit losses such as the KL divergence leads to a new flavor of barren plateaus. In contrast, the implicit Maximum Mean Discrepancy loss can be viewed as the expectation value of an observable that is either low-bodied and provably trainable, or global and untrainable depending on the choice of kernel. In parallel, we find that solely low-bodied implicit losses cannot in general distinguish high-order correlations in the target data, while some quantum loss estimation strategies can. We validate our findings by comparing different loss functions for modeling data from High-Energy-Physics.

The Kirkwood-Dirac quasiprobability distribution, intimately connected with the quantum correlation function of two observables measured at distinct times, is becoming increasingly relevant for fundamental physics and quantum technologies. This quasiprobability distribution can take non-positive values, and its experimental reconstruction becomes challenging when expectation values of incompatible observables are involved. Here, we use an interferometric scheme aided by an auxiliary system to reconstruct the Kirkwood-Dirac quasiprobability distribution. We experimentally demonstrate this scheme in an electron-nuclear spin system associated with a nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond. By measuring the characteristic function, we reconstruct the quasiprobability distribution of work and analyze the behavior of its first and second moments. Our results clarify the physical meaning of the work quasiprobability distribution in the context of quantum thermodynamics. Finally, we study the uncertainty of measuring the Hamiltonian of the system at two times, via the Robertson-Schrödinger uncertainty relation, for different initial states.

Efficiently mapping quantum circuits onto hardware is integral for the quantum compilation process, wherein a circuit is modified in accordance with a quantum processor’s connectivity. Many techniques currently exist for solving this problem, wherein SWAP-gate overhead is usually prioritized as a cost metric. We reconstitute quantum circuit mapping using tools from quantum information theory, showing that a lower bound, which we dub the lightcone bound, emerges for a circuit executed on hardware. We also develop an initial placement algorithm based on graph similarity search, aiding us in optimally placing circuit qubits onto a device. 600 realistic benchmarks using the IBM Qiskit compiler and a brute-force method are then tested against the lightcone bound, with results unambiguously verifying the veracity of the bound, while permitting trustworthy estimations of minimal overhead in near-term realizations of quantum algorithms. This work constitutes the first use of quantum circuit uncomplexity to practically-relevant quantum computing.