The determination of the state fidelity and the detection of entanglement are fundamental problems in quantum information experiments. We investigate how these goals can be achieved with a minimal effort. We show that the fidelity of GHZ and W states can be determined with an effort increasing only linearly with the number of qubits. We also present simple and robust methods for other states, such as cluster states and states in decoherence-free subspaces.
We study the fidelity and the entanglement entropy for the ground states of quantum systems that have infinite-order quantum phase transitions. In particular, we consider the quantum O(2) model with a spin-$S$ truncation, where there is an infinite-order Gaussian (IOG) transition for $S = 1$ and there are Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transitions for $S ge 2$. We show that the height of the peak in the fidelity susceptibility ($chi_F$) converges to a finite thermodynamic value as a power law of $1/L$ for the IOG transition and as $1/ln(L)$ for BKT transitions. The peak position of $chi_F$ resides inside the gapped phase for both the IOG transition and BKT transitions. On the other hand, the derivative of the block entanglement entropy with respect to the coupling constant ($S^{prime}_{vN}$) has a peak height that diverges as $ln^{2}(L)$ [$ln^{3}(L)$] for $S = 1$ ($S ge 2$) and can be used to locate both kinds of transitions accurately. We include higher-order corrections for finite-size scalings and crosscheck the results with the value of the central charge $c = 1$. The crossing point of $chi_F$ between different system sizes is at the IOG point for $S = 1$ but is inside the gapped phase for $S ge 2$, while those of $S^{prime}_{vN}$ are at the phase-transition points for all $S$ truncations. Our work elaborates how to use the finite-size scaling of $chi_F$ or $S^{prime}_{vN}$ to detect infinite-order quantum phase transitions and discusses the efficiency and accuracy of the two methods.
For two unknown quantum states $rho$ and $sigma$ in an $N$-dimensional Hilbert space, computing their fidelity $F(rho,sigma)$ is a basic problem with many important applications in quantum computing and quantum information, for example verification and characterization of the outputs of a quantum computer, and design and analysis of quantum algorithms. In this Letter, we propose a quantum algorithm that solves this problem in $text{poly}(log (N), r)$ time, where $r$ is the lower rank of $rho$ and $sigma$. This algorithm exhibits an exponential improvement over the best-known algorithm (based on quantum state tomography) in $text{poly}(N, r)$ time.
With an ever-expanding ecosystem of noisy and intermediate-scale quantum devices, exploring their possible applications is a rapidly growing field of quantum information science. In this work, we demonstrate that variational quantum algorithms feasible on such devices address a challenge central to the field of quantum metrology: The identification of near-optimal probes and measurement operators for noisy multi-parameter estimation problems. We first introduce a general framework which allows for sequential updates of variational parameters to improve probe states and measurements and is widely applicable to both discrete and continuous-variable settings. We then demonstrate the practical functioning of the approach through numerical simulations, showcasing how tailored probes and measurements improve over standard methods in the noisy regime. Along the way, we prove the validity of a general parameter-shift rule for noisy evolutions, expected to be of general interest in variational quantum algorithms. In our approach, we advocate the mindset of quantum-aided design, exploiting quantum technology to learn close to optimal, experimentally feasible quantum metrology protocols.
Trapped neutral atoms have become a prominent platform for quantum science, where entanglement fidelity records have been set using highly-excited Rydberg states. However, controlled two-qubit entanglement generation has so far been limited to alkali species, leaving the exploitation of more complex electronic structures as an open frontier that could lead to improved fidelities and fundamentally different applications such as quantum-enhanced optical clocks. Here we demonstrate a novel approach utilizing the two-valence electron structure of individual alkaline-earth Rydberg atoms. We find fidelities for Rydberg state detection, single-atom Rabi operations, and two-atom entanglement surpassing previously published values. Our results pave the way for novel applications, including programmable quantum metrology and hybrid atom-ion systems, and set the stage for alkaline-earth based quantum computing architectures.
We introduce a figure of merit for a quantum memory which measures the preservation of entanglement between a qubit stored in and retrieved from the memory and an auxiliary qubit. We consider a general quantum memory system consisting of a medium of two level absorbers, with the qubit to be stored encoded in a single photon. We derive an analytic expression for our figure of merit taking into account Gaussian fluctuations in the Hamiltonian parameters, which for example model inhomogeneous broadening and storage time dephasing. Finally we specialize to the case of an atomic quantum memory where fluctuations arise predominantly from Doppler broadening and motional dephasing.