arXiv subjects

B. Neyenhuis

Publications and source records attributed to B. Neyenhuis.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Demonstration of logical qubits and repeated error correction with better-than-physical error rates

The promise of quantum computers hinges on the ability to scale to large system sizes, e.g., to run quantum computations consisting of more than 100 million operations fault-tolerantly. This in turn requires suppressing errors to levels inversely proportional to the size of the computation. As a step towards this ambitious goal, we present experiments on a trapped-ion QCCD processor where, through the use of fault-tolerant encoding and error correction, we are able to suppress logical error rates to levels below the physical error rates. In particular, we entangled logical qubits encoded in the [[7,1,3]] code with error rates 9.8 times to 500 times lower than at the physical level, and entangled logical qubits encoded in a [[12,2,4]] code based on Knill's C4/C6 scheme with error rates 4.7 times to 800 times lower than at the physical level, depending on the judicious use of post-selection. Moreover, we demonstrate repeated error correction with the [[12,2,4]] code, with logical error rates below physical circuit baselines corresponding to repeated CNOTs, and show evidence that the error rate per error correction cycle, which consists of over 100 physical CNOTs, approaches the error rate of two physical CNOTs. These results signify a transition from noisy intermediate scale quantum computing to reliable quantum computing, and demonstrate advanced capabilities toward large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computing.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

High-fidelity and Fault-tolerant Teleportation of a Logical Qubit using Transversal Gates and Lattice Surgery on a Trapped-ion Quantum Computer

Quantum state teleportation is commonly used in designs for large-scale fault-tolerant quantum computers. Using Quantinuum's H2 trapped-ion quantum processor, we implement the first demonstration of a fault-tolerant state teleportation circuit for a quantum error correction code - in particular, the planar topological [[7,1,3]] color code, or Steane code. The circuits use up to 30 trapped ions at the physical layer qubits and employ real-time quantum error correction - decoding mid-circuit measurement of syndromes and implementing corrections during the protocol. We conduct experiments on several variations of logical teleportation circuits using both transversal gates and lattice surgery protocols. Among the many measurements we report on, we measure the logical process fidelity of the transversal teleportation circuit to be 0.975(2) and the logical process fidelity of the lattice surgery teleportation circuit to be 0.851(9). Additionally, we run a teleportation circuit that is equivalent to Knill-style quantum error correction and measure the process fidelity to be 0.989(2).

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

A Race Track Trapped-Ion Quantum Processor

We describe and benchmark a new quantum charge-coupled device (QCCD) trapped-ion quantum computer based on a linear trap with periodic boundary conditions, which resembles a race track. The new system successfully incorporates several technologies crucial to future scalability, including electrode broadcasting, multi-layer RF routing, and magneto-optical trap (MOT) loading, while maintaining, and in some cases exceeding, the gate fidelities of previous QCCD systems. The system is initially operated with 32 qubits, but future upgrades will allow for more. We benchmark the performance of primitive operations, including an average state preparation and measurement error of 1.6(1)$\times 10^{-3}$, an average single-qubit gate infidelity of $2.5(3)\times 10^{-5}$, and an average two-qubit gate infidelity of $1.84(5)\times 10^{-3}$. The system-level performance of the quantum processor is assessed with mirror benchmarking, linear cross-entropy benchmarking, a quantum volume measurement of $\mathrm{QV}=2^{16}$, and the creation of 32-qubit entanglement in a GHZ state. We also tested application benchmarks including Hamiltonian simulation, QAOA, error correction on a repetition code, and dynamics simulations using qubit reuse. We also discuss future upgrades to the new system aimed at adding more qubits and capabilities.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Implementing Fault-tolerant Entangling Gates on the Five-qubit Code and the Color Code

We compare two different implementations of fault-tolerant entangling gates on logical qubits. In one instance, a twelve-qubit trapped-ion quantum computer is used to implement a non-transversal logical CNOT gate between two five qubit codes. The operation is evaluated with varying degrees of fault tolerance, which are provided by including quantum error correction circuit primitives known as flagging and pieceable fault tolerance. In the second instance, a twenty-qubit trapped-ion quantum computer is used to implement a transversal logical CNOT gate on two [[7,1,3]] color codes. The two codes were implemented on different but similar devices, and in both instances, all of the quantum error correction primitives, including the determination of corrections via decoding, are implemented during runtime using a classical compute environment that is tightly integrated with the quantum processor. For different combinations of the primitives, logical state fidelity measurements are made after applying the gate to different input states, providing bounds on the process fidelity. We find the highest fidelity operations with the color code, with the fault-tolerant SPAM operation achieving fidelities of 0.99939(15) and 0.99959(13) when preparing eigenstates of the logical X and Z operators, which is higher than the average physical qubit SPAM fidelities of 0.9968(2) and 0.9970(1) for the physical X and Z bases, respectively. When combined with a logical transversal CNOT gate, we find the color code to perform the sequence--state preparation, CNOT, measure out--with an average fidelity bounded by [0.9957,0.9963]. The logical fidelity bounds are higher than the analogous physical-level fidelity bounds, which we find to be [0.9850,0.9903], reflecting multiple physical noise sources such as SPAM errors for two qubits, several single-qubit gates, a two-qubit gate and some amount of memory error.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Realization of real-time fault-tolerant quantum error correction

Correcting errors in real time is essential for reliable large-scale quantum computations. Realizing this high-level function requires a system capable of several low-level primitives, including single-qubit and two-qubit operations, mid-circuit measurements of subsets of qubits, real-time processing of measurement outcomes, and the ability to condition subsequent gate operations on those measurements. In this work, we use a ten qubit QCCD trapped-ion quantum computer to encode a single logical qubit using the $[[7,1,3]]$ color code, first proposed by Steane~\cite{steane1996error}. The logical qubit is initialized into the eigenstates of three mutually unbiased bases using an encoding circuit, and we measure an average logical SPAM error of $1.7(6) \times 10^{-3}$, compared to the average physical SPAM error $2.4(8) \times 10^{-3}$ of our qubits. We then perform multiple syndrome measurements on the encoded qubit, using a real-time decoder to determine any necessary corrections that are done either as software updates to the Pauli frame or as physically applied gates. Moreover, these procedures are done repeatedly while maintaining coherence, demonstrating a dynamically protected logical qubit memory. Additionally, we demonstrate non-Clifford qubit operations by encoding a logical magic state with an error rate below the threshold required for magic state distillation. Finally, we present system-level simulations that allow us to identify key hardware upgrades that may enable the system to reach the pseudo-threshold.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2021

Demonstration of the trapped-ion quantum-CCD computer architecture

The trapped-ion QCCD (quantum charge-coupled device) architecture proposal lays out a blueprint for a universal quantum computer. The design begins with electrodes patterned on a two-dimensional surface configured to trap multiple arrays of ions (or ion crystals). Communication within the ion crystal network allows for the machine to be scaled while keeping the number of ions in each crystal to a small number, thereby preserving the low error rates demonstrated in trapped-ion experiments. By proposing to communicate quantum information by moving the ions through space to interact with other distant ions, the architecture creates a quantum computer endowed with full-connectivity. However, engineering this fully-connected computer introduces a host of difficulties that have precluded the architecture from being fully realized in the twenty years since its proposal. Using a Honeywell cryogenic surface trap, we report on the integration of all necessary ingredients of the QCCD architecture into a programmable trapped-ion quantum computer. Using four and six qubit circuits, the system level performance of the processor is quantified by the fidelity of a teleported CNOT gate utilizing mid-circuit measurement and a quantum volume measurement of $2^6=64$. By demonstrating that the low error rates achievable in small ion crystals can be successfully integrated with a scalable trap design, parallel optical delivery, and fast ion transport, the QCCD architecture is shown to be a viable path toward large quantum computers. Atomic ions provide perfectly identical, high-fidelity qubits. Our work shows that the QCCD architecture built around these qubits will provide high performance quantum computers, likely enabling important near-term demonstrations such as quantum error correction and quantum advantage.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

Ultrafast Creation of Large Schrödinger Cat States of an Atom

Mesoscopic quantum superpositions, or Schrödinger cat states, are widely studied for fundamental investigations of quantum measurement and decoherence as well as applications in sensing and quantum information science. The generation and maintenance of such states relies upon a balance between efficient external coherent control of the system and sufficient isolation from the environment. Here we create a variety of cat states of a single trapped atom's motion in a harmonic oscillator using ultrafast laser pulses. These pulses produce high fidelity impulsive forces that separate the atom into widely-separated positions, without restrictions that typically limit the speed of the interaction or the size and complexity of the resulting motional superposition. This allows us to quickly generate and measure cat states larger than previously achieved in a harmonic oscillator, and create complex multi-component superposition states in atoms.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

Non-thermalization in trapped atomic ion spin chains

Linear arrays of trapped and laser cooled atomic ions are a versatile platform for studying emergent phenomena in strongly-interacting many-body systems. Effective spins are encoded in long-lived electronic levels of each ion and made to interact through laser mediated optical dipole forces. The advantages of experiments with cold trapped ions, including high spatiotemporal resolution, decoupling from the external environment, and control over the system Hamiltonian, are used to measure quantum effects not always accessible in natural condensed matter samples. In this review we highlight recent work using trapped ions to explore a variety of non-ergodic phenomena in long-range interacting spin-models which are heralded by memory of out-of-equilibrium initial conditions. We observe long-lived memory in static magnetizations for quenched many-body localization and prethermalization, while memory is preserved in the periodic oscillations of a driven discrete time crystal state.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Observation of Prethermalization in Long-Range Interacting Spin Chains

Statistical mechanics can predict thermal equilibrium states for most classical systems, but for an isolated quantum system there is no general understanding on how equilibrium states dynamically emerge from the microscopic Hamiltonian. For instance, quantum systems that are near-integrable usually fail to thermalize in an experimentally realistic time scale and, instead, relax to quasi-stationary prethermal states that can be described by statistical mechanics when approximately conserved quantities are appropriately included in a generalized Gibbs ensemble (GGE). Here we experimentally study the relaxation dynamics of a chain of up to 22 spins evolving under a long-range transverse field Ising Hamiltonian following a sudden quench. For sufficiently long-ranged interactions the system relaxes to a new type of prethermal state that retains a strong memory of the initial conditions. In this case, the prethermal state cannot be described by a GGE, but rather arises from an emergent double-well potential felt by the spin excitations. This result shows that prethermalization occurs in a significantly broader context than previously thought, and reveals new challenges for a generic understanding of the thermalization of quantum systems, particularly in the presence of long-range interactions.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Active Stabilization of Ion Trap Radiofrequency Potentials

We actively stabilize the harmonic oscillation frequency of a laser-cooled atomic ion confined in a rf Paul trap by sampling and rectifying the high voltage rf applied to the trap electrodes. We are able to stabilize the 1 MHz atomic oscillation frequency to better than 10 Hz, or 10 ppm. This represents a suppression of ambient noise on the rf circuit by 34 dB. This technique could impact the sensitivity of ion trap mass spectrometry and the fidelity of quantum operations in ion trap quantum information applications.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2016

Sensing Atomic Motion from the Zero Point to Room Temperature with Ultrafast Atom Interferometry

We sense the motion of a trapped atomic ion using a sequence of state-dependent ultrafast momentum kicks. We use this atom interferometer to characterize a nearly-pure quantum state with $n=1$ phonon and accurately measure thermal states ranging from near the zero-point energy to $\bar{n}\sim 10^4$, with the possibility of extending at least 100 times higher in energy. The complete energy range of this method spans from the ground state to far outside of the Lamb-Dicke regime, where atomic motion is greater than the optical wavelength. Apart from thermometry, these interferometric techniques are useful for characterizing ultrafast entangling gates between multiple trapped ions.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2015

High resolution adaptive imaging of a single atom

We report the optical imaging of a single atom with nanometer resolution using an adaptive optical alignment technique that is applicable to general optical microscopy. By decomposing the image of a single laser-cooled atom, we identify and correct optical aberrations in the system and realize an atomic position sensitivity of $\approx$ 0.5 nm/$\sqrt{\text{Hz}}$ with a minimum uncertainty of 1.7 nm, allowing the direct imaging of atomic motion. This is the highest position sensitivity ever measured for an isolated atom, and opens up the possibility of performing out-of-focus 3D particle tracking, imaging of atoms in 3D optical lattices or sensing forces at the yoctonewton (10$^{-24}$ N) scale.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2013

Quantum Control of Qubits and Atomic Motion Using Ultrafast Laser Pulses

Pulsed lasers offer significant advantages over CW lasers in the coherent control of qubits. Here we review the theoretical and experimental aspects of controlling the internal and external states of individual trapped atoms with pulse trains. Two distinct regimes of laser intensity are identified. When the pulses are sufficiently weak that the Rabi frequency $Ω$ is much smaller than the trap frequency $\otrap$, sideband transitions can be addressed and atom-atom entanglement can be accomplished in much the same way as with CW lasers. By contrast, if the pulses are very strong ($Ω\gg \otrap$), impulsive spin-dependent kicks can be combined to create entangling gates which are much faster than a trap period. These fast entangling gates should work outside of the Lamb-Dicke regime and be insensitive to thermal atomic motion.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2013

Ultrafast Spin-Motion Entanglement and Interferometry with a Single Atom

We report entanglement of a single atom's hyperfine spin state with its motional state in a timescale of less than 3 ns. We engineer a short train of intense laser pulses to impart a spin-dependent momentum transfer of +/- 2 hbar k. Using pairs of momentum kicks, we create an atomic interferometer and demonstrate collapse and revival of spin coherence as the motional wavepacket is split and recombined. The revival after a pair of kicks occurs only when the second kick is delayed by an integer multiple of the harmonic trap period, a signature of entanglement and disentanglement of the spin with the motion. Such quantum control opens a new regime of ultrafast entanglement in atomic qubits.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2012

Anisotropic Polarizability of Ultracold Polar $^{40}$K$^{87}$Rb Molecules

We report the measurement of the anisotropic AC polarizability of ultracold polar $^{40}$K$^{87}$Rb molecules in the ground and first rotationally excited states. Theoretical analysis of the polarizability agrees well with experimental findings. Although the polarizability can vary by more than 30%, a "magic" angle between the laser polarization and the quantization axis is found where the polarizability of the $|N=0,m_N=0>$ and the $|N=1,m_N=0>$ states match. At this angle, rotational decoherence due to the mismatch in trapping potentials is eliminated, and we observe a sharp increase in the coherence time. This paves the way for precise spectroscopic measurements and coherent manipulations of rotational states as a tool in the creation and probing of novel quantum many-body states of polar molecules.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2010

Controlling the quantum stereodynamics of ultracold bimolecular reactions

Chemical reaction rates often depend strongly on stereodynamics, namely the orientation and movement of molecules in three-dimensional space. An ultracold molecular gas, with a temperature below 1 uK, provides a highly unusual regime for chemistry, where polar molecules can easily be oriented using an external electric field and where, moreover, the motion of two colliding molecules is strictly quantized. Recently, atom-exchange reactions were observed in a trapped ultracold gas of KRb molecules. In an external electric field, these exothermic and barrierless bimolecular reactions, KRb+KRb -> K2+Rb2, occur at a rate that rises steeply with increasing dipole moment. Here we show that the quantum stereodynamics of the ultracold collisions can be exploited to suppress the bimolecular chemical reaction rate by nearly two orders of magnitude. We use an optical lattice trap to confine the fermionic polar molecules in a quasi-two-dimensional, pancake-like geometry, with the dipoles oriented along the tight confinement direction. With the combination of sufficiently tight confinement and Fermi statistics of the molecules, two polar molecules can approach each other only in a "side-by-side" collision, where the chemical reaction rate is suppressed by the repulsive dipole-dipole interaction. We show that the suppression of the bimolecular reaction rate requires quantum-state control of both the internal and external degrees of freedom of the molecules. The suppression of chemical reactions for polar molecules in a quasi-two-dimensional trap opens the way for investigation of a dipolar molecular quantum gas. Because of the strong, long-range character of the dipole-dipole interactions, such a gas brings fundamentally new abilities to quantum-gas-based studies of strongly correlated many-body physics, where quantum phase transitions and new states of matter can emerge.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2010

Direct absorption imaging of ultracold polar molecules

We demonstrate a scheme for direct absorption imaging of an ultracold ground-state polar molecular gas near quantum degeneracy. A challenge in imaging molecules is the lack of closed optical cycling transitions. Our technique relies on photon shot-noise limited absorption imaging on a strong bound-bound molecular transition. We present a systematic characterization of this imaging technique. Using this technique combined with time-of-flight (TOF) expansion, we demonstrate the capability to determine momentum and spatial distributions for the molecular gas. We anticipate that this imaging technique will be a powerful tool for studying molecular quantum gases.

cond-mat.quant-gas↗

arXiv2010

Dipolar collisions of polar molecules in the quantum regime

Ultracold polar molecules offer the possibility of exploring quantum gases with interparticle interactions that are strong, long-range, and spatially anisotropic. This is in stark contrast to the dilute gases of ultracold atoms, which have isotropic and extremely short-range, or "contact", interactions. The large electric dipole moment of polar molecules can be tuned with an external electric field; this provides unique opportunities such as control of ultracold chemical reactions, quantum information processing, and the realization of novel quantum many-body systems. In spite of intense experimental efforts aimed at observing the influence of dipoles on ultracold molecules, only recently have sufficiently high densities been achieved. Here, we report the observation of dipolar collisions in an ultracold molecular gas prepared close to quantum degeneracy. For modest values of an applied electric field, we observe a dramatic increase in the loss rate of fermionic KRb molecules due to ultrcold chemical reactions. We find that the loss rate has a steep power-law dependence on the induced electric dipole moment, and we show that this dependence can be understood with a relatively simple model based on quantum threshold laws for scattering of fermionic polar molecules. We directly observe the spatial anisotropy of the dipolar interaction as manifested in measurements of the thermodynamics of the dipolar gas. These results demonstrate how the long-range dipolar interaction can be used for electric-field control of chemical reaction rates in an ultracold polar molecule gas. The large loss rates in an applied electric field suggest that creating a long-lived ensemble of ultracold polar molecules may require confinement in a two-dimensional trap geometry to suppress the influence of the attractive dipolar interactions.

physics.atom-ph↗