Quantum protocols for few-qubit devices

Quantum computers promise to dramatically speed up certain algorithms, but remain challenging to build in practice. This thesis focuses on near-term experiments, which feature a small number (say, 10-200) of qubits that lose the stored information after a short amount of time. We propose various theoretical protocols that can get the best out of such highly limited computers. For example, we construct logical operations, the building blocks of algorithms, by exploiting the native physical behavior of the machine. Moreover, we describe how quantum information can be sent between qubits that are only indirectly connected

Efficient forward propagation of time-sequences in convolutional neural networks using Deep Shifting

When a Convolutional Neural Network is used for on-the-fly evaluation of continuously updating time-sequences, many redundant convolution operations are performed. We propose the method of Deep Shifting, which remembers previously calculated results of convolution operations in order to minimize the number of calculations. The reduction in complexity is at least a constant and in the best case quadratic. We demonstrate that this method does indeed save significant computation time in a practical implementation, especially when the networks receives a large number of time-frames

Signal processing techniques for efficient compilation of controlled rotations in trapped ions

Quantum logic gates with many control qubits are essential in many quantum algorithms, but remain challenging to perform in current experiments. Trapped ion quantum computers natively feature the M\xc3\xb8lmer-S\xc3\xb8rensen (MS) entangling operation, which effectively applies an Ising interaction to all pairs of qubits at the same time. We consider a sequence of equal all-to-all MS operations, interleaved with single-qubit gates that act only on one special qubit. Using a connection with quantum signal processing techniques, we find that it is possible to perform an arbitray SU(2) rotation on the special qubit if and only if all other qubits are in the state \xe2\x89\xa4. Such controlled rotation gates with N - 1 control qubits require 2N applications of the MS gate, and can be mapped to a conventional Toffoli gate by demoting a single qubit to ancilla

High-fidelity method for a single-step N-bit Toffoli gate in trapped ions

Conditional multiqubit gates are a key component for elaborate quantum algorithms. In a recent work, Rasmussen et al. [Phys. Rev. A 101, 022308 (2020)] proposed an efficient single-step method for a prototypical multiqubit gate, a Toffoli gate, based on a combination of Ising interactions between control qubits and an appropriate driving field on a target qubit. Trapped ions are a natural platform to implement this method, since Ising interactions mediated by phonons have been demonstrated in increasingly large ion crystals. However, the simultaneous application of these interactions and the driving field required for the gate results in undesired entanglem

Kent Hoopingarner, Junior Bounous, unidentified man

Photo shows Snowbird employees Kent Hoopingarner (left), Junior Bounous (center), with an unidentified man (possibly a construction worker