arXiv subjects

Pierre Rouchon

Publications and source records attributed to Pierre Rouchon.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Stabilization of finite-energy grid states of a quantum harmonic oscillator by reservoir engineering with two dissipation channels

We propose and analyze an experimentally accessible Lindblad master equation for a quantum harmonic oscillator, simplifying a previous proposal to alleviate implementation constraints. It approximately stabilizes periodic grid states introduced in 2001 by Gottesman, Kitaev and Preskill (GKP), with applications for quantum error correction and quantum metrology. We obtain explicit estimates for the energy of the solutions of the Lindblad master equation. We estimate the convergence rate to the codespace when stabilizing a GKP qubit, and numerically study the effect of noise. We then present simulations illustrating how a modification of parameters allows preparing states of metrological interest in steady-state.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Convergence Analysis of Galerkin Approximations for the Lindblad Master Equation

This paper analyzes the numerical approximation of the Lindblad master equation on infinite-dimensional Hilbert spaces. We employ a classical Galerkin approach for spatial discretization and investigate the convergence of the discretized solution to the exact solution. Using \textit{a priori} estimates, we derive explicit convergence rates and demonstrate the effectiveness of our method through examples motivated by autonomous quantum error correction.

math.NA↗

arXiv2025

Diffusive Stochastic Master Equation (SME) with dispersive qubit/cavity coupling

A detailed analysis of the quantum diffusive Stochastic Master Equation (SME) for qubit/cavity systems with dispersive coupling is provided. This analysis incorporates classical input signals and output signals (measurement outcomes through homodyne/heterodyne detection). The dynamics of the qubit/cavity density operator is shown to converge exponentially towards a slow invariant manifold. This invariant manifold is parameterized by the density operator of a fictitious qubit governed by a quantum SME incorporating the classical input/output signals preserving complete-positivity and trace. The reduced cavity (resp. qubit) operator obtained by partial trace of the qubit (resp. cavity) is then given by a time-varying deterministic quantum channel from the density operator of this fictitious qubit. This formulation avoids non-Markovian descriptions where negative dephasing rates and detection efficiency exceeding temporary one are present in several publications. Extensions are considered where the qubit is replaced by any qudit dispersively coupled to an arbitrary set of cavity modes with collective input/output classical signals.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Time-averaged continuous quantum measurement

The theory of continuous quantum measurement allows to reconstruct the state $\rho_t$ of a system from a continuous stochastic measurement record $I_t$. However, this truly continuous-time signal $I_t$ is never available in practice. In experiments, one generally has access to its digitization, i.e., to a series of time averages $I_k$ over finite intervals of duration $\Delta t$. In this letter, we take this digitization seriously and define $\bar{\rho}_n$ as the best Bayesian estimate of the quantum state given (only) a digitized record $(I_1,\dots,I_n)$. We show that $\bar{\rho}_{n+1}$ can be computed recursively from $I_{n+1}$ and $\bar{\rho}_n$ using an exact formula. The latter can be evaluated numerically exactly, or used as the basis for a perturbative expansion into successive powers of $\sqrt{\Delta t}$. This allows reconstructing quantum trajectories in regimes of coarse $\Delta t$ where existing methods fail, estimating parameters at fixed $\Delta t$ without bias, and directly sampling digitized quantum trajectories with schemes of arbitrarily high order.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Confinement to deterministic manifolds and low-dimensional solution formulas for continuously measured quantum systems

Quantum systems subjected to a continuous weak measurement process evolve according to stochastic differential equations (SDE). Depending on the outcomes of these stochastic measurements, the quantum state may diffuse in various directions across the state space. This note points out that in many scenarios relevant to quantum engineering, this diffusion is effectively constrained to a low-dimensional space. Specifically, the quantum state remains confined to a low-dimensional, nonlinear manifold -- often time-dependent, yet independent of the specific measurement outcomes. This note derives the corresponding low-dimensional formulations for expressing the stochastically evolving state in several prototypical cases: quantum non-demolition measurements in arbitrary dimensions; quadrature measurements of a harmonic oscillator (linear quantum system); and measurements of subsystems within multipartite quantum systems. Additionally, it introduces an algebraic criterion to determine whether such low-dimensional manifolds exist or persist when additional dynamics are present.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

Unconditionally stable time discretization of Lindblad master equations in infinite dimension using quantum channels

We examine the time discretization of Lindblad master equations in infinite-dimensional Hilbert spaces. Our study is motivated by the fact that, with unbounded Lindbladian, projecting the evolution onto a finite-dimensional subspace using a Galerkin approximation inherently introduces stiffness, leading to a Courant--Friedrichs--Lewy type condition for explicit integration schemes. We propose and establish the convergence of a family of explicit numerical schemes for time discretization adapted to infinite dimension. These schemes correspond to quantum channels and thus preserve the physical properties of quantum evolutions on the set of density operators: linearity, complete positivity and trace. Numerical experiments inspired by bosonic quantum codes illustrate the practical interest of this approach when approximating the solution of infinite dimensional problems by that of finite dimensional problems of increasing dimension.

math.NA↗

arXiv2025

A posteriori error estimates for the Lindblad master equation

We are interested in the simulation of open quantum systems governed by the Lindblad master equation in an infinite-dimensional Hilbert space. To simulate the solution of this equation, the standard approach involves two sequential approximations: first, we truncate the Hilbert space to derive a differential equation in a finite-dimensional subspace. Then, we use discrete time-step to obtain a numerical solution to the finite-dimensional evolution. In this paper, we establish bounds for these two approximations that can be explicitly computed to guarantee the accuracy of the numerical results. Through numerical examples, we demonstrate the efficiency of our method, empirically highlighting the tightness of the upper bound. While adaptive time-stepping is already a common practice in the time discretization of the Lindblad equation, we extend this approach by showing how to dynamically adjust the truncation of the Hilbert space. This enables fully adaptive simulations of the density matrix. For large-scale simulations, this approach can significantly reduce computational time and relieves users of the challenge of selecting an appropriate truncation. Furthermore, as a special case, our method naturally applies to Hamiltonian (unitary) dynamics.

math.NA↗

arXiv2024

Parameters estimation by fitting correlation functions of continuous quantum measurement

We propose a simple method to estimate the parameters of a continuously measured quantum system, by fitting correlation functions of the measured signal. We demonstrate the approach in simulation, both on toy examples and on a recent superconducting circuits experiment which proved particularly difficult to characterise using conventional methods. The idea is applicable to any system whose evolution is described by a jump or diffusive stochastic master equation. It allows the simultaneous estimation of many parameters, is practical for everyday use, is suitable for large Hilbert space dimensions, and takes into account experimental constraints such as detector imperfections and signal filtering and digitisation. Unlike existing methods, it also provides a direct way to understand how each parameter is estimated from the measured signal. This makes the approach interpretable, facilitates debugging, and enables validating the adequacy of a model with the observed data.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Flux-pump induced degradation of $T_1$ for dissipative cat qubits

Dissipative stabilization of cat qubits autonomously corrects for bit flip errors by ensuring that reservoir-engineered two-photon losses dominate over other mechanisms inducing phase flip errors. To describe the latter, we derive an effective master equation for an asymmetrically threaded SQUID based superconducting circuit used to stabilize a dissipative cat qubit. We analyze the dressing of relaxation processes under drives in time-dependent Schrieffer-Wolff perturbation theory for weakly anharmonic bosonic degrees of freedom, and in numerically exact Floquet theory. We find that spurious single-photon decay rates can increase under the action of the parametric pump that generates the required interactions for cat-qubit stabilization. Our analysis feeds into mitigation strategies that can inform current experiments, and the methods presented here can be extended to other circuit implementations.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

On encoded quantum gate generation by iterative Lyapunov-based methods

The problem of encoded quantum gate generation is studied in this paper. The idea is to consider a quantum system of higher dimension $n$ than the dimension $\bar n$ of the quantum gate to be synthesized. Given two orthonormal subsets $\mathbb{E} = \{e_1, e_2, \ldots, e_{\bar n}\}$ and $\mathbb F = \{f_1, f_2, \ldots, f_{\bar n}\}$ of $\mathbb{C}^n$, the problem of encoded quantum gate generation consists in obtaining an open loop control law defined in an interval $[0, T_f]$ in a way that all initial states $e_i$ are steered to $\exp(\jmath \phi) f_i, i=1,2, \ldots ,\bar n$ up to some desired precision and to some global phase $\phi \in \mathbb{R}$. This problem includes the classical (full) quantum gate generation problem, when $\bar n = n$, the state preparation problem, when $\bar n = 1$, and finally the encoded gate generation when $ 1 < \bar n < n$. Hence, three problems are unified here within a unique common approach. The \emph{Reference Input Generation Algorithm (RIGA)} is generalized in this work for considering the encoded gate generation problem for closed quantum systems. A suitable Lyapunov function is derived from the orthogonal projector on the support of the encoded gate. Three case-studies of physical interest indicate the potential interest of such numerical algorithm: two coupled transmon-qubits, a cavity mode coupled to a transmon-qubit, and a chain of $N$ qubits, including a large dimensional case for which $N=10$.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Explicit formulas for adiabatic elimination with fast unitary dynamics

The so-called ``adiabatic elimination'' of fast decaying degrees of freedom in open quantum systems can be performed with a series expansion in the timescale separation. The associated computations are significantly more difficult when the remaining degrees of freedom (center manifold) follow fast unitary dynamics instead of just being slow. This paper highlights how a formulation with Sylvester's equation and with adjoint dynamics leads to systematic, explicit expressions at high orders for settings of physical interest.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Gate generation for open quantum systems via a monotonic algorithm with time optimization

We present a monotonic numerical algorithm including time optimization for generating quantum gates for open systems. Such systems are assumed to be governed by Lindblad master equations for the density operators on a large Hilbert-space whereas the quantum gates are relative to a sub-space of small dimension. Starting from an initial seed of the control input, this algorithm consists in the repetition of the following two steps producing a new control input: (A) backwards integration of adjoint Lindblad-Master equations (in the Heisenberg-picture) from a set of final conditions encoding the quantum gate to generate; (B) forward integration of Lindblad-Master equations in closed-loop where a Lyapunov based control produced the new control input. The numerical stability is ensured by the stability of both the open-loop adjoint backward system and the forward closed-loop system. A clock-control input can be added to the usual control input. The obtained monotonic algorithm allows then to optimise not only the shape of the control imput, but also the gate time. Preliminary numerical implementations indicate that this algorithm is well suited for cat-qubit gates, where Hilbert-space dimensions (2 for the Z-gate and 4 for the CNOT-gate) are much smaller than the dimension of the physical Hilbert-space involving mainly Fock-states (typically 20 or larger for a single cat-qubit). This monotonic algorithm, based on Lyapunov control techniques, is shown to have a straightforward interpretation in terms of optimal control: its stationary conditions coincides with the first-order optimality conditions for a cost depending linearly on the final values of the quantum states.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Online Parameter Estimation for Continuously Monitored Quantum Systems

In this work, we consider the problem of online (real-time, single-shot) estimation of static or slow-varying parameters along quantum trajectories in quantum dynamical systems. Based on the measurement signal of a continuously-monitored quantum system, we propose a recursive algorithm for computing the maximum likelihood estimate of unknown parameters using an approach based on stochastic gradient ascent on the log-likelihood function. We formulate the algorithm in both discrete-time and continuous-time and illustrate the performance of the algorithm through simulations of a simple two-level system undergoing homodyne measurement from which we are able to track multiple parameters simultaneously.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Monitoring the energy of a cavity by observing the emission of a repeatedly excited qubit

The number of excitations in a large quantum system (harmonic oscillator or qudit) can be measured in a quantum nondemolition manner using a dispersively coupled qubit. It typically requires a series of qubit pulses that encode various binary questions about the photon number. Recently, a method based on the fluorescence measurement of a qubit driven by a train of identical pulses was introduced to track the photon number in a cavity, hence simplifying its monitoring and raising interesting questions about the measurement backaction of this scheme. A first realization with superconducting circuits demonstrated how the average number of photons could be measured in this way. Here we present an experiment that reaches single-shot photocounting and number tracking owing to a cavity decay rate 4 orders of magnitude smaller than both the dispersive coupling rate and the qubit emission rate. An innovative notch filter and pogo-pin-based galvanic contact makes possible these seemingly incompatible features. The qubit dynamics under the pulse train is characterized. We observe quantum jumps by monitoring the photon number via the qubit fluorescence as photons leave the cavity one at a time. Additionally, we extract the measurement rate and induced dephasing rate and compare them to theoretical models. Our method could be applied to quantum error correction protocols on bosonic codes or qudits.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Convergence of bipartite open quantum systems stabilized by reservoir engineering

We study a generic family of Lindblad master equations modeling bipartite open quantum systems, where one tries to stabilize a quantum system by carefully designing its interaction with another, dissipative, quantum system-a strategy known as quantum reservoir engineering. We provide sufficient conditions for convergence of the considered Lindblad equations; our setting accommodates the case where steady-states are not unique but rather supported on a given subspace of the underlying Hilbert space. We apply our result to a Lindblad master equation modeling engineered multi-photon emission and absorption processes, a setting that received considerable attention in recent years due to its potential applications for the stabilization of so-called cat qubits.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Quantum control of a cat-qubit with bit-flip times exceeding ten seconds

Quantum bits (qubits) are prone to several types of errors due to uncontrolled interactions with their environment. Common strategies to correct these errors are based on architectures of qubits involving daunting hardware overheads. A hopeful path forward is to build qubits that are inherently protected against certain types of errors, so that the overhead required to correct remaining ones is significantly reduced. However, the foreseen benefit rests on a severe condition: quantum manipulations of the qubit must not break the protection that has been so carefully engineered. A recent qubit - the cat-qubit - is encoded in the manifold of metastable states of a quantum dynamical system, thereby acquiring continuous and autonomous protection against bit-flips. Here, in a superconducting circuit experiment, we implement a cat-qubit with bit-flip times exceeding 10 seconds. This is a four order of magnitude improvement over previous cat-qubit implementations. We prepare and image quantum superposition states, and measure phase-flip times above 490 nanoseconds. Most importantly, we control the phase of these quantum superpositions without breaking bit-flip protection. This experiment demonstrates the compatibility of quantum control and inherent bit-flip protection at an unprecedented level, showing the viability of these dynamical qubits for future quantum technologies.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Stability and decoherence rates of a GKP qubit protected by dissipation

We analyze an experimentally accessible Lindblad master equation for a quantum harmonic oscillator. It approximately stabilizes finite-energy periodic grid states called Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill (GKP) states, that can be used to encode and protect a logical qubit. We give explicit upper bounds for the energy of the solutions of the Lindblad master equation. Using three periodic observables to define the Bloch sphere coordinates of a logical qubit, we show that their dynamics is governed by a diffusion partial differential equation on a 2D-torus with a Witten Laplacian. We show that the evolution of these logical coordinates is exponentially slow even in presence of small diffusive noise processes along the two quadratures of the phase space. Numerical simulations indicate similar results for other physically relevant noise processes.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Dissipative protection of a GKP qubit in a high-impedance superconducting circuit driven by a microwave frequency comb

We propose a novel approach to generate, protect and control GKP qubits. It employs a microwave frequency comb parametrically modulating a Josephson circuit to enforce a dissipative dynamics of a high impedance circuit mode, autonomously stabilizing the finite-energy GKP code. The encoded GKP qubit is robustly protected against all dominant decoherence channels plaguing superconducting circuits but quasi-particle poisoning. In particular, noise from ancillary modes leveraged for dissipation engineering does not propagate at the logical level. In a state-of-the-art experimental setup, we estimate that the encoded qubit lifetime could extend two orders of magnitude beyond the break-even point, with substantial margin for improvement through progress in fabrication and control electronics. Qubit initialization, readout and control via Clifford gates can be performed while maintaining the code stabilization, paving the way toward the assembly of GKP qubits in a fault-tolerant quantum computing architecture.

quant-ph↗