arXiv subjects

Barbara M. Terhal

Publications and source records attributed to Barbara M. Terhal.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2019

Spectral Quantum Tomography

We introduce spectral quantum tomography, a simple method to extract the eigenvalues of a noisy few-qubit gate, represented by a trace-preserving superoperator, in a SPAM-resistant fashion, using low resources in terms of gate sequence length. The eigenvalues provide detailed gate information, supplementary to known gate-quality measures such as the gate fidelity, and can be used as a gate diagnostic tool. We apply our method to one- and two-qubit gates on two different superconducting systems available in the cloud, namely the QuTech Quantum Infinity and the IBM Quantum Experience. We discuss how cross-talk, leakage and non-Markovian errors affect the eigenvalue data.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Hamiltonian quantum computing with superconducting qubits

We consider how the Hamiltonian Quantum Computing scheme introduced in [arXiv:1509.01278] can be implemented using a 2D array of superconducting transmon qubits. We show how the scheme requires the engineering of strong attractive cross-Kerr and weak flip-flop or hopping interactions and we detail how this can be achieved. Our proposal uses a new electric circuit for obtaining the attractive cross-Kerr coupling between transmons via a dipole-like element. We discuss and numerically analyze the forward motion and execution of the computation and its dependence on coupling strengths and their variability. We extend [arXiv:1509.01278] by explicitly showing how to construct a direct Toffoli gate, thus establishing computational universality via the Hadamard and Toffoli gate or via controlled-Hadamard, Hadamard and CNOT.

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arXiv2019

Two-local qubit Hamiltonians: when are they stoquastic?

We examine the problem of determining if a 2-local Hamiltonian is stoquastic by local basis changes. We analyze this problem for two-qubit Hamiltonians, presenting some basic tools and giving a concrete example where using unitaries beyond Clifford rotations is required in order to decide stoquasticity. We report on simple results for $n$-qubit Hamiltonians with identical 2-local terms on bipartite graphs. Our most significant result is that we give an efficient algorithm to determine whether an arbitrary $n$-qubit XYZ Heisenberg Hamiltonian is stoquastic by local basis changes.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Code Deformation and Lattice Surgery Are Gauge Fixing

The large-scale execution of quantum algorithms requires basic quantum operations to be implemented fault-tolerantly. The most popular technique for accomplishing this, using the devices that can be realised in the near term, uses stabilizer codes which can be embedded in a planar layout. The set of fault-tolerant operations which can be executed in these systems using unitary gates is typically very limited. This has driven the development of measurement-based schemes for performing logical operations in these codes, known as lattice surgery and code deformation. In parallel, gauge fixing has emerged as a measurement-based method for performing universal gate sets in subsystem stabilizer codes. In this work, we show that lattice surgery and code deformation can be expressed as special cases of gauge fixing, permitting a simple and rigorous test for fault-tolerance together with simple guiding principles for the implementation of these operations. We demonstrate the accuracy of this method numerically with examples based on the surface code, some of which are novel.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Roads towards fault-tolerant universal quantum computation

Current experiments are taking the first steps toward noise-resilient logical qubits. Crucially, a quantum computer must not merely store information, but also process it. A fault-tolerant computational procedure ensures that errors do not multiply and spread. This review compares the leading proposals for promoting a quantum memory to a quantum processor. We compare magic state distillation, color code techniques and other alternative ideas, paying attention to relative resource demands. We discuss the several no-go results which hold for low-dimensional topological codes and outline the potential rewards of using high-dimensional quantum (LDPC) codes in modular architectures.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Quantum Error Correction with the Toric-GKP Code

We examine the performance of the single-mode GKP code and its concatenation with the toric code for a noise model of Gaussian shifts, or displacement errors. We show how one can optimize the tracking of errors in repeated noisy error correction for the GKP code. We do this by examining the maximum-likelihood problem for this setting and its mapping onto a 1D Euclidean path-integral modeling a particle in a random cosine potential. We demonstrate the efficiency of a minimum-energy decoding strategy as a proxy for the path integral evaluation. In the second part of this paper, we analyze and numerically assess the concatenation of the GKP code with the toric code. When toric code measurements and GKP error correction measurements are perfect, we find that by using GKP error information the toric code threshold improves from $10\%$ to $14\%$. When only the GKP error correction measurements are perfect we observe a threshold at $6\%$. In the more realistic setting when all error information is noisy, we show how to represent the maximum likelihood decoding problem for the toric-GKP code as a 3D compact QED model in the presence of a quenched random gauge field, an extension of the random-plaquette gauge model for the toric code. We present a new decoder for this problem which shows the existence of a noise threshold at shift-error standard deviation $σ_0 \approx 0.243$ for toric code measurements, data errors and GKP ancilla errors. If the errors only come from having imperfect GKP states, this corresponds to states with just 4 photons or more. Our last result is a no-go result for linear oscillator codes, encoding oscillators into oscillators. For the Gaussian displacement error model, we prove that encoding corresponds to squeezing the shift errors. This shows that linear oscillator codes are useless for quantum information protection against Gaussian shift errors.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

The Small Stellated Dodecahedron Code and Friends

We explore a distance-3 homological CSS quantum code, namely the small stellated dodecahedron code, for dense storage of quantum information and we compare its performance with the distance-3 surface code. The data and ancilla qubits of the small stellated dodecahedron code can be located on the edges resp. vertices of a small stellated dodecahedron, making this code suitable for 3D connectivity. This code encodes 8 logical qubits into 30 physical qubits (plus 22 ancilla qubits for parity check measurements) as compared to 1 logical qubit into 9 physical qubits (plus 8 ancilla qubits) for the surface code. We develop fault-tolerant parity check circuits and a decoder for this code, allowing us to numerically assess the circuit-based pseudo-threshold.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Performance and structure of single-mode bosonic codes

The early Gottesman, Kitaev, and Preskill (GKP) proposal for encoding a qubit in an oscillator has recently been followed by cat- and binomial-code proposals. Numerically optimized codes have also been proposed, and we introduce new codes of this type here. These codes have yet to be compared using the same error model; we provide such a comparison by determining the entanglement fidelity of all codes with respect to the bosonic pure-loss channel (i.e., photon loss) after the optimal recovery operation. We then compare achievable communication rates of the combined encoding-error-recovery channel by calculating the channel's hashing bound for each code. Cat and binomial codes perform similarly, with binomial codes outperforming cat codes at small loss rates. Despite not being designed to protect against the pure-loss channel, GKP codes significantly outperform all other codes for most values of the loss rate. We show that the performance of GKP and some binomial codes increases monotonically with increasing average photon number of the codes. In order to corroborate our numerical evidence of the cat/binomial/GKP order of performance occurring at small loss rates, we analytically evaluate the quantum error-correction conditions of those codes. For GKP codes, we find an essential singularity in the entanglement fidelity in the limit of vanishing loss rate. In addition to comparing the codes, we draw parallels between binomial codes and discrete-variable systems. First, we characterize one- and two-mode binomial as well as multi-qubit permutation-invariant codes in terms of spin-coherent states. Such a characterization allows us to introduce check operators and error-correction procedures for binomial codes. Second, we introduce a generalization of spin-coherent states, extending our characterization to qudit binomial codes and yielding a new multi-qudit code.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Generating Grid States From Schrödinger Cat States without Post-Selection

Grid (or comb) states are an interesting class of bosonic states introduced by Gottesman, Kitaev and Preskill to encode a qubit into an oscillator. A method to generate or `breed' a grid state from Schrödinger cat states using beam splitters and homodyne measurements is known, but this method requires post-selection. In this paper we show how post-processing of the measurement data can be used to entirely remove the need for post-selection, making the scheme much more viable. We bound the asymptotic behavior of the breeding procedure and demonstrate the efficacy of the method numerically.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

Renormalization group decoder for a four-dimensional toric code

We describe a computationally-efficient heuristic algorithm based on a renormalization-group procedure which aims at solving the problem of finding minimal surface given its boundary (curve) in any hypercubic lattice of dimension $D>2$. We use this algorithm to correct errors occurring in a four-dimensional variant of the toric code, having open as opposed to periodic boundaries. For a phenomenological error model which includes measurement errors we use a five-dimensional version of our algorithm, achieving a threshold of $4.35\pm0.1\%$. For this error model, this is the highest known threshold of any topological code. Without measurement errors, a four-dimensional version of our algorithm can be used and we find a threshold of $7.3\pm0.1\%$. For the gate-based depolarizing error model we find a threshold of $0.31\pm0.01\%$ which is below the threshold found for the two-dimensional toric code.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

Hyperbolic and Semi-Hyperbolic Surface Codes for Quantum Storage

We show how a hyperbolic surface code could be used for overhead-efficient quantum storage. We give numerical evidence for a noise threshold of 1.3% for the {4,5}-hyperbolic surface code in a phenomenological noise model (as compared to 2.9% for the toric code). In this code family parity checks are of weight 4 and 5 while each qubit participates in 4 different parity checks. We introduce a family of semi-hyperbolic codes which interpolate between the toric code and the {4,5}-hyperbolic surface code in terms of encoding rate and threshold. We show how these hyperbolic codes outperform the toric code in terms of qubit overhead for a target logical error probability. We show how Dehn twists and lattice code surgery can be used to read and write individual qubits to this quantum storage medium.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

Quantum phase transitions of the Majorana toric code in the presence of finite Cooper-pair tunneling

The toric code based on Majorana fermions on mesoscopic superconducting islands is a promising candidate for quantum information processing. In the limit of vanishing Cooper-pair tunneling, it has been argued that the phase transition separating the topologically ordered phase of the toric code from the trivial one is in the universality class of (2+1)D-XY. On the other hand, in the limit of infinitely large Cooper-pair tunneling, the phase transition is in the universality class of (2+1)D-Ising. In this work, we treat the case of finite Cooper-pair tunneling and address the question of how the continuous XY symmetry breaking phase transition turns into a discrete $\mathbb{Z}_2$ symmetry breaking one when the Cooper-pair tunneling rate is increased. We show that this happens through a couple of tricritical points and first order phase transitions. Using a Jordan-Wigner transformation, we map the problem to that of spins coupled to quantum rotors and subsequently, propose a Landau field theory for this model that matches the known results in the respective limits. We calculate the effective field theories and provide the relevant critical exponents for the different phase transitions. Our results are relevant for predicting the stability of the topological phase in realistic experimental implementations.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Single-Mode Displacement Sensor

We show that one can determine both parameters of a displacement acting on an oscillator with an accuracy which scales inversely with the square root of the number of photons in the oscillator. Our results are obtained by using a grid state as a sensor state for detecting small translations in phase space (displacements). Grid states were first proposed in (see https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.64.012310 ) for encoding a qubit into an oscillator: an efficient preparation protocol of such states, using a coupling to a qubit, was developed in (see https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.93.012315 ). We compare the performance of the grid state with the quantum compass or cat code state and place our results in the context of the two-parameter quantum Cramér-Rao lower bound on the variances of the displacement parameters. We show that the accessible information about the displacement for a grid state increases with the number of photons in the state when we measure and prepare the state using a phase estimation protocol. This is in contrast with the accessible information in the quantum compass state which we show is always upper bounded by a constant, independent of the number of photons. We present numerical simulations of a phase estimation based preparation protocol of a grid state in the presence of photon loss, nonlinearities and qubit measurement, using no post-selection, showing how the two effective squeezing parameters which characterize the grid state change during the preparation. The idea behind the phase estimation protocol is a simple maximal-information gain strategy.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Local Decoders for the 2D and 4D Toric Code

We analyze the performance of decoders for the 2D and 4D toric code which are local by construction. The 2D decoder is a cellular automaton decoder formulated by Harrington which explicitly has a finite speed of communication and computation. For a model of independent $X$ and $Z$ errors and faulty syndrome measurements with identical probability we report a threshold of $0.133\%$ for this Harrington decoder. We implement a decoder for the 4D toric code which is based on a decoder by Hastings arXiv:1312.2546 . Incorporating a method for handling faulty syndromes we estimate a threshold of $1.59\%$ for the same noise model as in the 2D case. We compare the performance of this decoder with a decoder based on a 4D version of Toom's cellular automaton rule as well as the decoding method suggested by Dennis et al. arXiv:quant-ph/0110143 .

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Constructions and Noise Threshold of Hyperbolic Surface Codes

We show how to obtain concrete constructions of homological quantum codes based on tilings of 2D surfaces with constant negative curvature (hyperbolic surfaces). This construction results in two-dimensional quantum codes whose tradeoff of encoding rate versus protection is more favorable than for the surface code. These surface codes would require variable length connections between qubits, as determined by the hyperbolic geometry. We provide numerical estimates of the value of the noise threshold and logical error probability of these codes against independent X or Z noise, assuming noise-free error correction.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2015

Quantum Error Correction for Quantum Memories

Active quantum error correction using qubit stabilizer codes has emerged as a promising, but experimentally challenging, engineering program for building a universal quantum computer. In this review we consider the formalism of qubit stabilizer and subsystem stabilizer codes and their possible use in protecting quantum information in a quantum memory. We review the theory of fault-tolerance and quantum error-correction, discuss examples of various codes and code constructions, the general quantum error correction conditions, the noise threshold, the special role played by Clifford gates and the route towards fault-tolerant universal quantum computation. The second part of the review is focused on providing an overview of quantum error correction using two-dimensional (topological) codes, in particular the surface code architecture. We discuss the complexity of decoding and the notion of passive or self-correcting quantum memories. The review does not focus on a particular technology but discusses topics that will be relevant for various quantum technologies.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Universal adiabatic quantum computation via the space-time circuit-to-Hamiltonian construction

We show how to perform universal adiabatic quantum computation using a Hamiltonian which describes a set of particles with local interactions on a two-dimensional grid. A single parameter in the Hamiltonian is adiabatically changed as a function of time to simulate the quantum circuit. We bound the eigenvalue gap above the unique groundstate by mapping our model onto the ferromagnetic XXZ chain with kink boundary conditions; the gap of this spin chain was computed exactly by Koma and Nachtergaele using its $q$-deformed version of SU(2) symmetry. We also discuss a related time-independent Hamiltonian which was shown by Janzing to be capable of universal computation. We observe that in the limit of large system size, the time evolution is equivalent to the exactly solvable quantum walk on Young's lattice.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2014

Space-Time Circuit-to-Hamiltonian Construction and Its Applications

The circuit-to-Hamiltonian construction translates dynamics (a quantum circuit and its output) into statics (the groundstate of a circuit Hamiltonian) by explicitly defining a quantum register for a clock. The standard Feynman-Kitaev construction uses one global clock for all qubits while we consider a different construction in which a clock is assigned to each interacting qubit. This makes it possible to capture the spatio-temporal structure of the original quantum circuit into features of the circuit Hamiltonian. The construction is inspired by the original two-dimensional interacting fermionic model (see http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevA.63.040302) We prove that for one-dimensional quantum circuits the gap of the circuit Hamiltonian is appropriately lower-bounded, partially using results on mixing times of Markov chains, so that the applications of this construction for QMA (and partially for quantum adiabatic computation) go through. For one-dimensional quantum circuits, the dynamics generated by the circuit Hamiltonian corresponds to diffusion of a string around the torus.

quant-ph↗