The accurate implementation of quantum gates is essential for the realisation of quantum algorithms and digital quantum simulations. This accuracy may be increased on noisy hardware through the variational optimisation of gates, however the experimental realisation of such a protocol is impeded by the large effort required to estimate the fidelity of an implemented gate. With a hierarchy of approximations we find a faithful approximation to the quantum process fidelity that can be estimated experimentally with reduced effort. Its practical use is demonstrated with the optimisation of a three-qubit quantum gate on a commercially available quantum processor.
As a wide variety of quantum computing platforms become available, methods for assessing and comparing the performance of these devices are of increasing interest and importance. Inspired by the success of single-qubit error rate computations for tracking the progress of gate-based quantum computers, this work proposes a Quantum Annealing Single-qubit Assessment (QASA) protocol for quantifying the performance of individual qubits in quantum annealing computers. The proposed protocol scales to large quantum annealers with thousands of qubits and provides unique insights into the distribution of qubit properties within a particular hardware device. The efficacy of the QASA protocol is demonstrated by analyzing the properties of a D-Wave 2000Q system, revealing unanticipated correlations in the qubit performance of that device. A study repeating the QASA protocol at different annealing times highlights how the method can be utilized to understand the impact of annealing parameters on qubit performance. Overall, the proposed QASA protocol provides a useful tool for assessing the performance of current and emerging quantum annealing devices.
We investigate the problem of bounding the quantum process fidelity given bounds on the fidelities between target states and the action of a process on a set of pure input states. We formulate the problem as a semidefinite program and prove convexity of the minimum process fidelity as a function of the errors on the output states. We characterize the conditions required to uniquely determine a process in the case of no errors, and derive a lower bound on its fidelity in the limit of small errors for any set of input states satisfying these conditions. We then consider sets of input states whose one-dimensional projectors form a symmetric positive operator-valued measure (POVM). We prove that for such sets the minimum fidelity is bounded by a linear function of the average output state error. The minimal non-orthogonal symmetric POVM contains $d+1$ states, where $d$ is the Hilbert space dimension. Our bounds applied to these states provide an efficient method for estimating the process fidelity without the use of full process tomography.
Boson-Sampling holds the potential to experimentally falsify the Extended Church Turing thesis. The computational hardness of Boson-Sampling, however, complicates the certification that an experimental device yields correct results in the regime in which it outmatches classical computers. To certify a boson-sampler, one needs to verify quantum predictions and rule out models that yield these predictions without true many-boson interference. We show that a semiclassical model for many-boson propagation reproduces coarse-grained observables that were proposed as witnesses of Boson-Sampling. A test based on Fourier matrices is demonstrated to falsify physically plausible alternatives to coherent many-boson propagation.
We present a systematic comparison of different methods of fidelity estimation of a linear optical quantum controlled-Z gate implemented by two-photon interference on a partially polarizing beam splitter. We have utilized a linear fidelity estimator based on the Monte Carlo sampling technique as well as a non-linear estimator based on maximum likelihood reconstruction of a full quantum process matrix. In addition, we have also evaluated lower bound on quantum gate fidelity determined by average quantum state fidelities for two mutually unbiased bases. In order to probe various regimes of operation of the gate we have introduced a tunable delay line between the two photons. This allowed us to move from high-fidelity operation to a regime where the photons become distinguishable and the success probability of the scheme significantly depends on input state. We discuss in detail possible systematic effects that could influence the gate fidelity estimation.
We present a detailed error analysis of a Rydberg blockade mediated controlled-NOT quantum gate between two neutral atoms as demonstrated recently in Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 010503 (2010) and Phys. Rev. A 82, 030306 (2010). Numerical solutions of a master equation for the gate dynamics, including all known sources of technical error, are shown to be in good agreement with experiments. The primary sources of gate error are identified and suggestions given for future improvements. We also present numerical simulations of quantum process tomography to find the intrinsic fidelity, neglecting technical errors, of a Rydberg blockade controlled phase gate. The gate fidelity is characterized using trace overlap and trace distance measures. We show that the trace distance is linearly sensitive to errors arising from the finite Rydberg blockade shift and introduce a modified pulse sequence which corrects the linear errors. Our analysis shows that the intrinsic gate error extracted from simulated quantum process tomography can be under 0.002 for specific states of $^{87}$Rb or Cs atoms. The relation between the process fidelity and the gate error probability used in calculations of fault tolerance thresholds is discussed.