arXiv subjects

Alexis Morvan

Publications and source records attributed to Alexis Morvan.

27 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

QubiC: An open source FPGA-based control and measurement system for superconducting quantum information processors

As quantum information processors grow in quantum bit (qubit) count and functionality, the control and measurement system becomes a limiting factor to large scale extensibility. To tackle this challenge and keep pace with rapidly evolving classical control requirements, full control stack access is essential to system level optimization. We design a modular FPGA (field-programmable gate array) based system called QubiC to control and measure a superconducting quantum processing unit. The system includes room temperature electronics hardware, FPGA gateware, and engineering software. A prototype hardware module is assembled from several commercial off-the-shelf evaluation boards and in-house developed circuit boards. Gateware and software are designed to implement basic qubit control and measurement protocols. System functionality and performance are demonstrated by performing qubit chip characterization, gate optimization, and randomized benchmarking sequences on a superconducting quantum processor operating at the Advanced Quantum Testbed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The single-qubit and two-qubit process fidelities are measured to be 0.9980$\pm$0.0001 and 0.948$\pm$0.004 by randomized benchmarking. With fast circuit sequence loading capability, the QubiC performs randomized compiling experiments efficiently and improves the feasibility of executing more complex algorithms.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Leveraging Randomized Compiling for the QITE Algorithm

The success of the current generation of Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) hardware shows that quantum hardware may be able to tackle complex problems even without error correction. One outstanding issue is that of coherent errors arising from the increased complexity of these devices. These errors can accumulate through a circuit, making their impact on algorithms hard to predict and mitigate. Iterative algorithms like Quantum Imaginary Time Evolution are susceptible to these errors. This article presents the combination of both noise tailoring using Randomized Compiling and error mitigation with a purification. We also show that Cycle Benchmarking gives an estimate of the reliability of the purification. We apply this method to the Quantum Imaginary Time Evolution of a Transverse Field Ising Model and report an energy estimation and a ground state infidelity both below 1\%. Our methodology is general and can be used for other algorithms and platforms. We show how combining noise tailoring and error mitigation will push forward the performance of NISQ devices.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Hardware-Efficient Microwave-Activated Tunable Coupling Between Superconducting Qubits

Generating high-fidelity, tunable entanglement between qubits is crucial for realizing gate-based quantum computation. In superconducting circuits, tunable interactions are often implemented using flux-tunable qubits or coupling elements, adding control complexity and noise sources. Here, we realize a tunable $ZZ$ interaction between two transmon qubits with fixed frequencies and fixed coupling, induced by driving both transmons off-resonantly. We show tunable coupling over one order of magnitude larger than the static coupling, and change the sign of the interaction, enabling cancellation of the idle coupling. Further, this interaction is amenable to large quantum processors: the drive frequency can be flexibly chosen to avoid spurious transitions, and because both transmons are driven, it is resilient to microwave crosstalk. We apply this interaction to implement a controlled phase (CZ) gate with a gate fidelity of $99.43(1)\%$ as measured by cycle benchmarking, and we find the fidelity is limited by incoherent errors.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Randomized compiling for scalable quantum computing on a noisy superconducting quantum processor

The successful implementation of algorithms on quantum processors relies on the accurate control of quantum bits (qubits) to perform logic gate operations. In this era of noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) computing, systematic miscalibrations, drift, and crosstalk in the control of qubits can lead to a coherent form of error which has no classical analog. Coherent errors severely limit the performance of quantum algorithms in an unpredictable manner, and mitigating their impact is necessary for realizing reliable quantum computations. Moreover, the average error rates measured by randomized benchmarking and related protocols are not sensitive to the full impact of coherent errors, and therefore do not reliably predict the global performance of quantum algorithms, leaving us unprepared to validate the accuracy of future large-scale quantum computations. Randomized compiling is a protocol designed to overcome these performance limitations by converting coherent errors into stochastic noise, dramatically reducing unpredictable errors in quantum algorithms and enabling accurate predictions of algorithmic performance from error rates measured via cycle benchmarking. In this work, we demonstrate significant performance gains under randomized compiling for the four-qubit quantum Fourier transform algorithm and for random circuits of variable depth on a superconducting quantum processor. Additionally, we accurately predict algorithm performance using experimentally-measured error rates. Our results demonstrate that randomized compiling can be utilized to leverage and predict the capabilities of modern-day noisy quantum processors, paving the way forward for scalable quantum computing.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Automatic Qubit Characterization and Gate Optimization with QubiC

As the size and complexity of a quantum computer increases, quantum bit (qubit) characterization and gate optimization become complex and time-consuming tasks. Current calibration techniques require complicated and verbose measurements to tune up qubits and gates, which cannot easily expand to the large-scale quantum systems. We develop a concise and automatic calibration protocol to characterize qubits and optimize gates using QubiC, which is an open source FPGA (field-programmable gate array) based control and measurement system for superconducting quantum information processors. We propose mutli-dimensional loss-based optimization of single-qubit gates and full XY-plane measurement method for the two-qubit CNOT gate calibration. We demonstrate the QubiC automatic calibration protocols are capable of delivering high-fidelity gates on the state-of-the-art transmon-type processor operating at the Advanced Quantum Testbed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The single-qubit and two-qubit Clifford gate infidelities measured by randomized benchmarking are of $4.9(1.1) \times 10^{-4}$ and $1.4(3) \times 10^{-2}$, respectively.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Observation of topological valley Hall edge states in honeycomb lattices of superconducting microwave resonators

We have designed honeycomb lattices for microwave photons with a frequency imbalance between the two sites in the unit cell. This imbalance is the equivalent of a mass term that breaks the lattice inversion symmetry. At the interface between two lattices with opposite imbalance, we observe topological valley edge states. By imaging the spatial dependence of the modes along the interface, we obtain their dispersion relation that we compare to the predictions of an ab initio tight-binding model describing our microwave photonic lattices.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2021

Bulk properties of honeycomb lattices of superconducting microwave resonators

We have realized different honeycomb lattices for microwave photons in the 4 to 8 GHz band using superconducting spiral resonators. Each lattice comprises a few hundred sites. Two designs have been studied, one leading to two bands touching at the Dirac points and one where a gap opens at the Dirac points. Using a scanning laser technique to image the eigenmodes of this new type of photonic lattices, we are able to reconstruct their band structure. The measured bands are in excellent agreement with ab initio models that combine numerical simulations of the electromagnetic properties of the spiral resonator and analytical calculations.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2019

High Kinetic Inductance Microwave Resonators Made by He-Beam Assisted Deposition of Tungsten Nanowires

We evaluate the performance of hybrid microwave resonators made by combining sputtered Nb thin films with Tungsten nanowires grown with a He-beam induced deposition technique. Depending on growth conditions the nanowires have a typical width $w\in[35-75]$~nm and thickness $t\in[5-40]$~nm. We observe a high normal state resistance $R_{sq}\in [65-150]$ $Ω/sq$ which together with a critical temperature $T_c\in[4-6]~K$ ensure a high kinetic inductance making the resonator strongly nonlinear. Both lumped and coplanar waveguide resonators were fabricated and measured at low temperature exhibiting internal quality factors up to $3990$ at $4.5$~GHz in the few photon regime. Analyzing the wire length, temperature and microwave power dependence we extracted a kinetic inductance for the W nanowire of $L_K\approx15$ pH/sq, which is 250 times higher than the geometrical inductance, and a Kerr non-linearity as high as $K_{W,He}/2π=200 \pm 120$~Hz/photon at $4.5$~GHz. The nanowires made with the helium focused ion beam are thus versatile objects to engineer compact, high impedance, superconducting environments with a mask and resist free direct write process.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Observation of the Unconventional Photon Blockade in the Microwave Domain

We have observed the unconventional photon blockade effect for microwave photons using two coupled superconducting resonators. As opposed to the conventional blockade, only weakly nonlinear resonators are required. The blockade is revealed through measurements of the second order correlation function $g^{(2)}(t)$ of the microwave field inside one of the two resonators. The lowest measured value of $g^{(2)}(0)$ is 0.4 for a resonator population of approximately $10^{-2}$ photons. The time evolution of $g^{(2)}(t)$ exhibits an oscillatory behavior, which is characteristic of the unconventional photon blockade.

quant-ph↗