Optimal control theory is a versatile tool that presents a route to significantly improving figures of merit for quantum information tasks. We combine it here with the geometric theory for local equivalence classes of two-qubit operations to derive an optimization algorithm that determines the best entangling two-qubit gate for a given physical setting. We demonstrate the power of this approach for trapped polar molecules and neutral atoms.
The capacity of a quantum gate to produce entangled states on a bipartite system is quantified in terms of the entangling power. This quantity is defined as the average of the linear entropy of entanglement of the states produced after applying a qua
ntum gate over the whole set of separable states. Here we focus on symmetric two-qubit quantum gates, acting on the symmetric two-qubit space, and calculate the entangling power in terms of the appropriate local-invariant. A geometric description of the local equivalence classes of gates is given in terms of the $mathfrak{su}(3)$ Lie algebra root vectors. These vectors define a primitive cell with hexagonal symmetry on a plane, and through the Weyl group the minimum area on the plane containing the whole set of locally equivalent quantum gates is identified. We give conditions to determine when a given quantum gate produces maximally entangled states from separable ones (perfect entanglers). We found that these gates correspond to one fourth of the whole set of locally-distinct quantum gates. The theory developed here is applicable to three-level systems in general, where the non-locality of a quantum gate is related to its capacity to perform non-rigid transformations on the Majorana constellation of a state. The results are illustrated by an anisotropic Heisenberg model, the Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model, and two coupled quantized oscillators with cross-Kerr interaction.
We introduce the method of using an annealing genetic algorithm to the numerically complex problem of looking for quantum logic gates which simultaneously have highest fidelity and highest success probability. We first use the linear optical quantum
nonlinear sign (NS) gate as an example to illustrate the efficiency of this method. We show that by appropriately choosing the annealing parameters, we can reach the theoretical maximum success probability (1/4 for NS) for each attempt. We then examine the controlled-z (CZ) gate as the first new problem to be solved. We show results that agree with the highest known maximum success probability for a CZ gate (2/27) while maintaining a fidelity of 0.9997. Since the purpose of our algorithm is to optimize a unitary matrix for quantum transformations, it could easily be applied to other areas of interest such as quantum optics and quantum sensors.
We develop new protocols for high-fidelity single qubit gates that exploit and extend theoretical ideas for accelerated adiabatic evolution. Our protocols are compatible with qubit architectures with highly isolated logical states, where traditional
approaches are problematic; a prime example are superconducting fluxonium qubits. By using an accelerated adiabatic protocol we can enforce the desired adiabatic evolution while having gate times that are comparable to the inverse adiabatic energy gap (a scale that is ultimately set by the amount of power used in the control pulses). By modelling the effects of decoherence, we explore the tradeoff between speed and robustness that is inherent to shortcuts-to-adiabaticity approaches.
$ $In its usual form, Grovers quantum search algorithm uses $O(sqrt{N})$ queries and $O(sqrt{N} log N)$ other elementary gates to find a solution in an $N$-bit database. Grover in 2002 showed how to reduce the number of other gates to $O(sqrt{N}loglo
g N)$ for the special case where the database has a unique solution, without significantly increasing the number of queries. We show how to reduce this further to $O(sqrt{N}log^{(r)} N)$ gates for any constant $r$, and sufficiently large $N$. This means that, on average, the gates between two queries barely touch more than a constant number of the $log N$ qubits on which the algorithm acts. For a very large $N$ that is a power of 2, we can choose $r$ such that the algorithm uses essentially the minimal number $frac{pi}{4}sqrt{N}$ of queries, and only $O(sqrt{N}log(log^{star} N))$ other gates.
Quantum computers built with superconducting artificial atoms already stretch the limits of their classical counterparts. While the lowest energy states of these artificial atoms serve as the qubit basis, the higher levels are responsible for both a
host of attractive gate schemes as well as generating undesired interactions. In particular, when coupling these atoms to generate entanglement, the higher levels cause shifts in the computational levels that leads to unwanted $ZZ$ quantum crosstalk. Here, we present a novel technique to manipulate the energy levels and mitigate this crosstalk via a simultaneous AC Stark effect on coupled qubits. This breaks a fundamental deadlock between qubit-qubit coupling and crosstalk, leading to a 90ns CNOT with a gate error of (0.19 $pm$ 0.02) $%$ and the demonstration of a novel CZ gate with fixed-coupling single-junction transmon qubits. Furthermore, we show a definitive improvement in circuit performance with crosstalk cancellation over seven qubits, demonstrating the scalability of the technique. This work paves the way for superconducting hardware with faster gates and greatly improved multi-qubit circuit fidelities.