Towards A Novel Environment for Simulation of Quantum Computing

In this paper, we analyze existing quantum computer simulation techniques and their realizations to minimize the impact of the exponential complexity of simulated quantum computations. As a result of this investigation, we propose a quantum computer simulator with an integrated development environment – QuIDE – supporting the development of algorithms for future quantum computers. The simulator simplifies building and testing quantum circuits and understanding quantum algorithms in an efficient way. The development environment provides flexibility of source code edition and ease of the graphical building of circuit diagrams. We also describe and analyze the complexity of algorithms used for simulation as well as present performance results of the simulator as well as results of its deployment during university classes

Simulating open quantum systems: from many-body interactions to stabilizer pumping

In a recent experiment, Barreiro et al. demonstrated the fundamental building blocks of an open-system quantum simulator with trapped ions [Nature 470, 486 (2011)]. Using up to five ions, single- and multi-qubit entangling gate operations were combined with optical pumping in stroboscopic sequences. This enabled the implementation of both coherent many-body dynamics as well as dissipative processes by controlling the coupling of the system to an artificial, suitably tailored environment. This engineering was illustrated by the dissipative preparation of entangled two- and four-qubit states, the simulation of coherent four-body spin interactions and the quantum non-demolition measurement of a multi-qubit stabilizer operator. In the present paper, we present the theoretical framework of this gate-based ("digital") simulation approach for open-system dynamics with trapped ions. In addition, we discuss how within this simulation approach minimal instances of spin models of interest in the context of topological quantum computing and condensed matter physics can be realized in state-of-the-art linear ion-trap quantum computing architectures. We outline concrete simulation schemes for Kitaev's toric code Hamiltonian and a recently suggested color code model. The presented simulation protocols can be adapted to scalable and two-dimensional ion-trap architectures, which are currently under development.Comment: 27 pages, 9 figures, submitted to NJP Focus on Topological Quantum Computatio