Optimal control of two qubits via a single cavity drive in circuit quantum electrodynamics

Optimization of the fidelity of control operations is of critical importance in the pursuit of fault-tolerant quantum computation. We apply optimal control techniques to demonstrate that a single drive via the cavity in circuit quantum electrodynamics can implement a high-fidelity two-qubit all-microwave gate that directly entangles the qubits via the mutual qubit-cavity couplings. This is performed by driving at one of the qubits' frequencies which generates a conditional two-qubit gate, but will also generate other spurious interactions. These optimal control techniques are used to find pulse shapes that can perform this two-qubit gate with high fidelity, robust against errors in the system parameters. The simulations were all performed using experimentally relevant parameters and constraints.Comment: Final published versio

Efficient Hamiltonian programming in qubit arrays with nearest-neighbour couplings

We consider the problem of selectively controlling couplings in a practical quantum processor with always-on interactions that are diagonal in the computational basis, using sequences of local NOT gates. This methodology is well-known in NMR implementations, but previous approaches do not scale efficiently for the general fully-connected Hamiltonian, where the complexity of finding time-optimal solutions makes them only practical up to a few tens of qubits. Given the rapid growth in the number of qubits in cutting-edge quantum processors, it is of interest to investigate the applicability of this control scheme to much larger scale systems with realistic restrictions on connectivity. Here we present an efficient scheme to find near time-optimal solutions that can be applied to engineered qubit arrays with local connectivity for any number of qubits, indicating the potential for practical quantum computing in such systems.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures. Shortened and clarified from previous versio

Rescaling interactions for quantum control

A powerful control method in experimental quantum computing is the use of spin echoes, employed to select a desired term in the system's internal Hamiltonian, while refocusing others. Here we address a more general problem, describing a method to not only turn on and off particular interactions but also to rescale their strengths so that we can generate any desired effective internal Hamiltonian. We propose an algorithm based on linear programming for achieving time-optimal rescaling solutions in fully coupled systems of tens of qubits, which can be modified to obtain near time-optimal solutions for rescaling systems with hundreds of qubits.Comment: Minor corrections and clarification

Improving dispersive readout of a superconducting qubit by machine learning on path signature

One major challenge that arises from quantum computing is to implement fast, high-accuracy quantum state readout. For superconducting circuits, this problem reduces to a time series classification problem on readout signals. We propose that using path signature methods to extract features can enhance existing techniques for quantum state discrimination. We demonstrate the superior performance of our proposed approach over conventional methods in distinguishing three different quantum states on real experimental data from a superconducting transmon qubit

Surface acoustic wave devices on bulk ZnO at low temperature

Surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices based on thin films of ZnO are a well established technology. However, SAW devices on bulk ZnO crystals are not practical at room temperature due to the significant damping caused by finite electrical conductivity of the crystal. Here, by operating at low temperatures, we demonstrate effective SAW devices on the (0001) surface of bulk ZnO crystals, including a delay line operating at SAW wavelengths of {\lambda} = 4 and 6 {\mu}m and a one-port resonator at a wavelength of {\lambda} = 1.6 {\mu}m. We find that the SAW velocity is temperature dependent, reaching $v \simeq 2.68$ km/s at 10mK. Our resonator reaches a maximum quality factor of $Q_i \simeq 1.5\times 10^5$, demonstrating that bulk ZnO is highly viable for low temperature SAW applications. The performance of the devices is strongly correlated with the bulk conductivity, which quenches SAW transmission above about 200 K.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Emulating two qubits with a four-level transmon qudit for variational quantum algorithms

Using quantum systems with more than two levels, or qudits, can scale the computation space of quantum processors more efficiently than using qubits, which may offer an easier physical implementation for larger Hilbert spaces. However, individual qudits may exhibit larger noise, and algorithms designed for qubits require to be recompiled to qudit algorithms for execution. In this work, we implemented a two-qubit emulator using a 4-level superconducting transmon qudit for variational quantum algorithm applications and analyzed its noise model. The major source of error for the variational algorithm was readout misclassification error and amplitude damping. To improve the accuracy of the results, we applied error-mitigation techniques to reduce the effects of the misclassification and qudit decay event. The final predicted energy value is within the range of chemical accuracy. Our work demonstrates that qudits are a practical alternative to qubits for variational algorithms