Joseph Emerson

Exact and approximate unitary 2-designs and their application to fidelity estimation

We consider an extension of the concept of spherical t-designs to the unitary group in order to develop a unified framework for analyzing the resource requirements of randomized quantum algorithms. We show that certain protocols based on twirling require a unitary 2-design. We describe an efficient construction for an exact unitary 2-design based on the Clifford group, and then develop a method for generating an ǫ-approximate unitary 2-design that requires only O(n log(1/ǫ)) gates, where n is the number of qubits and ǫ is an appropriate measure of precision. These results lead to a protocol with exponential resource savings over existing experimental methods for estimating the characteristic fidelities of physical quantum processes.

Quantum process tomography of the quantum Fourier transform

The results of quantum process tomography on a three-qubit nuclear magnetic resonance quantum information processor are presented and shown to be consistent with a detailed model of the system-plus-apparatus used for the experiments. The quantum operation studied was the quantum Fourier transform, which is important in several quantum algorithms and poses a rigorous test for the precision of our recently developed strongly modulating control fields. The results were analyzed in an attempt to decompose the implementation errors into coherent (overall systematic), incoherent (microscopically deterministic), and decoherent (microscopically random) components. This analysis yielded a superoperator consisting of a unitary part that was strongly correlated with the theoretically expected unitary superoperator of the quantum Fourier transform, an overall attenuation consistent with decoherence, and a residual portion that was not completely positive-although complete positivity is required for any quantum operation. By comparison with the results of computer simulations, the lack of complete positivity was shown to be largely a consequence of the incoherent errors which occurred over the full quantum process tomography procedure. These simulations further showed that coherent, incoherent, and decoherent errors can often be identified by their distinctive effects on the spectrum of the overall superoperator. The gate fidelity of the experimentally determined superoperator was 0.64, while the correlation coefficient between experimentally determined superoperator and the simulated superoperator was 0.79; most of the discrepancies with the simulations could be explained by the cumulative effect of small errors in the single qubit gates.

Scalable and robust randomized benchmarking of quantum processes.

In this Letter we propose a fully scalable randomized benchmarking protocol for quantum information processors. We prove that the protocol provides an efficient and reliable estimate of the average error-rate for a set operations (gates) under a very general noise model that allows for both time and gate-dependent errors. In particular we obtain a sequence of fitting models for the observable fidelity decay as a function of a (convergent) perturbative expansion of the gate errors about the mean error. We illustrate the protocol through numerical examples.

Scalable noise estimation with random unitary operators

We describe a scalable stochastic method for the experimental measurement of generalized fidelities characterizing the accuracy of the implementation of a coherent quantum transformation. The method is based on the motion reversal of random unitary operators. In the simplest case our method enables direct estimation of the average gate fidelity. The more general fidelities are characterized by a universal exponential rate of fidelity loss. In all cases the measurable fidelity decrease is directly related to the strength of the noise affecting the implementation, quantified by the trace of the superoperator describing the non-unitary dynamics. While the scalability of our stochastic protocol makes it most relevant in large Hilbert spaces (when quantum process tomography is infeasible), our method should be immediately useful for evaluating the degree of control that is achievable in any prototype quantum processing device. By varying over different experimental arrangements and error-correction strategies, additional information about the noise can be determined.

Pseudo-Random Unitary Operators for Quantum Information Processing

Pseudo-random operators consist of sets of operators that exhibit many of the important statistical features of uniformly distributed random operators. Such pseudo-random sets of operators are most useful whey they may be parameterized and generated on a quantum processor in a way that requires exponentially fewer resources than direct implementation of the uniformly random set. Efficient pseudo-random operators can overcome the exponential cost of random operators required for quantum communication tasks such as super-dense coding of quantum states and approximately secure quantum data-hiding, and enable efficient stochastic methods for noise estimation on prototype quantum processors. This paper summarizes some recently published work demonstrating a random circuit method for the implementation of pseudo-random unitary operators on a quantum processor [Emerson et al., Science 302:2098 (Dec.~19, 2003)], and further elaborates the theory and applications of pseudo-random states and operators.

Negative quasi-probability as a resource for quantum computation

A central problem in quantum information is to determine the minimal physical resources that are required for quantum computational speed-up and, in particular, for fault-tolerant quantum computation. We establish a remarkable connection between the potential for quantum speed-up and the onset of negative values in a distinguished quasi-probability representation, a discrete analogue of the Wigner function for quantum systems of odd dimension. This connection allows us to resolve an open question on the existence of bound states for magic state distillation: we prove that there exist mixed states outside the convex hull of stabilizer states that cannot be distilled to non-stabilizer target states using stabilizer operations. We also provide an efficient simulation protocol for Clifford circuits that extends to a large class of mixed states, including bound universal states.

Symmetrized characterization of noisy quantum processes.

A major goal of developing high-precision control of many-body quantum systems is to realize their potential as quantum computers. A substantial obstacle to this is the extreme fragility of quantum systems to “decoherence” from environmental noise and other control limitations. Although quantum computation is possible if the noise affecting the quantum system satisfies certain conditions, existing methods for noise characterization are intractable for present multibody systems. We introduce a technique based on symmetrization that enables direct experimental measurement of some key properties of the decoherence affecting a quantum system. Our method reduces the number of experiments required from exponential to polynomial in the number of subsystems. The technique is demonstrated for the optimization of control over nuclear spins in the solid state.

Robust control of quantum information

Errors in the control of quantum systems may be classified as unitary, decoherent, and incoherent. Unitary errors are systematic, and result in a density matrix that differs from the desired one by a unitary operation. Decoherent errors correspond to general completely positive superoperators, and can only be corrected using methods such as quantum error correction. Incoherent errors can also be described, on average, by completely positive superoperators, but can nevertheless be corrected by the application of a locally unitary operation that “refocuses” them. They are due to reproducible spatial or temporal variations in the system’s Hamiltonian, so that information on the variations is encoded in the system’s spatiotemporal state and can be used to correct them. In this paper liquid-state nuclear magnetic resonance is used to demonstrate that such refocusing effects can be built directly into the control fields, where the incoherence arises from spatial inhomogeneities in the quantizing static magnetic...

Fidelity decay as an efficient indicator of quantum chaos.

We demonstrate that a systems rate of fidelity decay under repeated perturbations may be measured efficiently on a quantum information processor, and analyze the conditions under which this indicator is a reliable probe of quantum chaos. The type and rate of the decay are not dependent on the eigenvalue statistics of the unperturbed system, but depend on the systems eigenvector statistics in the eigenbasis of the perturbation. For random eigenvector statistics, the decay is exponential with a rate fixed by the variance of the perturbations energy spectrum. Hence, even classically regular models can exhibit an exponential fidelity decay under generic quantum perturbations. These results clarify which perturbations can distinguish classically regular and chaotic quantum systems.

Quantum t-designs: t-wise Independence in the Quantum World

A t-design for quantum states is a finite set of quantum states with the property of simulating the Haar-measure on quantum states w.r.t. any test that uses at most t copies of a state. We give efficient constructions for approximate quantum t-designs for arbitrary t. We then show that an approximate 4-design provides a derandomization of the statedistinction problem considered by Sen (quant-ph/0512085), which is relevant to solving certain instances of the hidden subgroup problem.