No Arabic abstract
The development of a future, global quantum communication network (or quantum internet) will enable high rate private communication and entanglement distribution over very long distances. However, the large-scale performance of ground-based quantum networks (which employ photons as information carriers through optical-fibres) is fundamentally limited by the fibre quality and link length. While these fundamental limits are well established for arbitrary network architectures, the question of how to best design these global architectures remains open. In this work, we take a step forward in addressing this problem by modelling global quantum networks with weakly-regular architectures. Such networks are capable of idealising end-to-end performance whilst remaining sufficiently realistic. In this way, we may investigate the effectiveness of large-scale networks with consistent connective properties, and unveil the global conditions under which end-to-end rates remain analytically computable. Furthermore, by comparing the performance of ideal, ground-based quantum networks with satellite quantum communication protocols, we can establish conditions for which satellites can be used to outperform fibre-based quantum infrastructure.
Quantum thermodynamics has emerged as a separate sub-discipline, revising the concepts and laws of thermodynamics, at the quantum scale. In particular, there has been a disruptive shift in the way thermometry, and thermometers are perceived and designed. Currently, we face two major challenges in quantum thermometry. First, all of the existing optimally precise temperature probes are local, meaning their operation is optimal only for a narrow range of temperatures. Second, aforesaid optimal local probes mandate complex energy spectrum with immense degeneracy, rendering them impractical. Here, we address these challenges by formalizing the notion of global thermometry leading to the development of optimal temperature sensors over a wide range of temperatures. We observe the emergence of different phases for such optimal probes as the temperature interval is increased. In addition, we show how the best approximation of optimal global probes can be realized in spin chains, implementable in ion traps and quantum dots.
Successful implementation of a fault-tolerant quantum computation on a system of qubits places severe demands on the hardware used to control the many-qubit state. It is known that an accuracy threshold $P_{a}$ exists for any quantum gate that is to be used in such a computation. Specifically, the error probability $P_{e}$ for such a gate must fall below the accuracy threshold: $P_{e} < P_{a}$. Estimates of $P_{a}$ vary widely, though $P_{a}sim 10^{-4}$ has emerged as a challenging target for hardware designers. In this paper we present a theoretical framework based on neighboring optimal control that takes as input a good quantum gate and returns a new gate with better performance. We illustrate this approach by applying it to all gates in a universal set of quantum gates produced using non-adiabatic rapid passage that has appeared in the literature. Performance improvements are substantial, both for ideal and non-ideal controls. Under suitable conditions detailed below, all gate error probabilities fall well below the target threshold of $10^{-4}$.
Quantum memories with high efficiency and fidelity are essential for long-distance quantum communication and information processing. Techniques have been developed for quantum memories based on atomic ensembles. The atomic memories relying on the atom-light resonant interaction usually suffer from the limitations of narrow bandwidth. The far-off-resonant Raman process has been considered a potential candidate for use in atomic memories with large bandwidths and high speeds. However, to date, the low memory efficiency remains an unsolved bottleneck. Here, we demonstrate a high-performance atomic Raman memory in Rb87 vapour with the development of an optimal control technique. A memory efficiency of 82.6% for 10-ns optical pulses is achieved and is the highest realized to date in atomic Raman memories. In particular, an unconditional fidelity of up to 98.0%, significantly exceeding the no-cloning limit, is obtained with the tomography reconstruction for a single-photon level coherent input. Our work marks an important advance of atomic Raman memory towards practical applications in quantum information processing.
Active control of quantum systems enables diverse applications ranging from quantum computation to manipulation of molecular processes. Maximum speeds and related bounds have been identified from uncertainty principles and related inequalities, but such bounds utilize only coarse system information, and loosen significantly in the presence of constraints and complex interaction dynamics. We show that an integral-equation-based formulation of conservation laws in quantum dynamics leads to a systematic framework for identifying fundamental limits to any quantum control scenario. We demonstrate the utility of our bounds in three scenarios -- three-level driving, decoherence suppression, and maximum-fidelity gate implementations -- and show that in each case our bounds are tight or nearly so. Global bounds complement local-optimization-based designs, illuminating performance levels that may be possible as well as those that cannot be surpassed.
Our objective was to design a quantum repeater capable of achieving one million entangled pairs per second over a distance of 1000km. We failed, but not by much. In this letter we will describe the series of developments that permitted us to approach our goal. We will describe a mechanism that permits the creation of entanglement between two qubits, connected by fibre, with probability arbitrarily close to one and in constant time. This mechanism may be extended to ensure that the entanglement has high fidelity without compromising these properties. Finally, we describe how this may be used to construct a quantum repeater that is capable of creating a linear quantum network connecting two distant qubits with high fidelity. The creation rate is shown to be a function of the maximum distance between two adjacent quantum repeaters.