Pulses to steer the time evolution of quantum systems can be designed with optimal control theory. In most cases it is the coherent processes that can be controlled and one optimizes the time evolution towards a target unitary process, sometimes also
in the presence of non-controllable incoherent processes. Here we show how to extend the GRAPE algorithm in the case where the incoherent processes are controllable and the target time evolution is a non-unitary quantum channel. We perform a gradient search on a fidelity measure based on Choi matrices. We illustrate our algorithm by optimizing a phase qubit measurement pulse. We show how this technique can lead to large measurement contrast close to 99%. We also show, within the validity of our model, that this algorithm can produce short 1.4 ns pulses with 98.2% contrast.
The MuCap experiment at the Paul Scherrer Institute performed a high-precision measurement of the rate of the basic electroweak process of nuclear muon capture by the proton, $mu^- + p rightarrow n + u_mu$. The experimental approach was based on the
use of a time projection chamber (TPC) that operated in pure hydrogen gas at a pressure of 10 bar and functioned as an active muon stopping target. The TPC detected the tracks of individual muon arrivals in three dimensions, while the trajectories of outgoing decay (Michel) electrons were measured by two surrounding wire chambers and a plastic scintillation hodoscope. The muon and electron detectors together enabled a precise measurement of the $mu p$ atoms lifetime, from which the nuclear muon capture rate was deduced. The TPC was also used to monitor the purity of the hydrogen gas by detecting the nuclear recoils that follow muon capture by elemental impurities. This paper describes the TPC design and performance in detail.
Optimal quantum control theory carries a huge promise for quantum technology. Its experimental application, however, is often hindered by imprecise knowledge of the its input variables, the quantum systems parameters. We show how to overcome this by
Adaptive Hybrid Optimal Control (Ad-HOC). This protocol combines open- and closed-loop optimal by first performing a gradient search towards a near-optimal control pulse and then an experimental fidelity measure with a gradient-free method. For typical settings in solid-state quantum information processing, Ad-Hoc enhances gate fidelities by an order of magnitude hence making optimal control theory applicable and useful.
Superconducting qubits are a promising candidate for building a quantum computer. A continued challenge for fast yet accurate gates to minimize the effects of decoherence. Here we apply numerical methods to design fast entangling gates, specifically
the controlled Z, in an architecture where two qubits are coupled via a resonator. We find that the gates can be sped up by a factor of two and reach any target fidelity. We also discuss how systematic errors arising from experimental conditions affect the pulses and how to remedy them, providing a strategy for the experimental implementation of our results. We discuss the shape of the pulses, their spectrum and symmetry.
Recent experimental work on superconducting transmon qubits in 3D cavities show that their coherence times are increased by an order of magnitude compared to their 2D cavity counterparts. However to take advantage of these coherence times while scali
ng up the number of qubits it is advantageous to address individual qubits which are all coupled to the same 3D cavity fields. The challenge in controlling this system comes from spectral crowding, where leakage transition of qubits are close to computational transitions in other. Here it is shown that fast pulses are possible which address single qubits using two quadrature control of the pulse envelope while the DRAG method alone only gives marginal improvements over the conventional Gaussian pulse shape. On the other hand, a first order result using the Magnus expansion gives a fast analytical pulse shape which gives a high fidelity gate for a specific gate time, up to a phase factor on the second qubit. Further numerical analysis corroborates these results and yields to even faster gates, showing that leakage state anharmonicity does not provide a fundamental quantum speed limit.
