Engineering topics

Lukin, Mikhail D.

Publications and source records attributed to Lukin, Mikhail D..

5 records

DOE OSTI2025

Quantum Adiabatic Optimization with Rydberg Arrays: Localization Phenomena and Encoding Strategies

Quantum adiabatic optimization seeks to solve combinatorial problems using quantum dynamics, requiring the Hamiltonian of the system to align with the problem of interest. However, these Hamiltonians are often incompatible with the native constraints of quantum hardware, necessitating encoding strategies to map the original problem into a hardware-conformant form. While the classical overhead associated with such mappings is easily quantifiable and typically polynomial in problem size, it is much harder to quantify their overhead on the quantum algorithm, e.g., the transformation of the adiabatic timescale. In this work, we address this challenge on the concrete example of the encoding scheme proposed in [Nguyen , PRX Quantum , 010316 (2023)], which is designed to map optimization problems on arbitrarily connected graphs into Rydberg atom arrays. We consider the fundamental building blocks underlying this encoding scheme and determine the scaling of the minimum gap with system size along adiabatic protocols. Even when the original problem is trivially solvable, we find that the encoded problem can exhibit an exponentially closing minimum gap. We show that this originates from a quantum coherent effect, which gives rise to an unfavorable localization of the ground-state wave function. On the QuEra Aquila neutral atom machine, we observe such localization and its effect on the success probability of finding the correct solution to the encoded optimization problem. Finally, we propose quantum-aware modifications of the encoding scheme that avoid this quantum bottleneck and lead to an exponential improvement in the adiabatic performance. This highlights the crucial importance of accounting for quantum effects when designing strategies to encode classical problems onto quantum platforms. Published by the American Physical Society 2025

Bombieri, Lisa (ORCID:0009000950422897)↗

DOE OSTI2025

Fault-tolerant optical interconnects for neutral-atom arrays

We analyze the use of photonic links to enable large-scale fault-tolerant connectivity of locally error-corrected modules based on neutral atom arrays. Our approach makes use of recent theoretical results showing the robustness of surface codes to boundary noise and combines recent experimental advances in atom-array quantum computing with logical qubits with optical quantum networking techniques. We find the conditions for fault tolerance can be achieved with local two-qubit Rydberg gate and nonlocal Bell-pair errors below 1% and 10%, respectively, without requiring distillation or space-time overheads. Realizing the interconnects with a lens, a single optical cavity, or an array of cavities enables—with sufficient multiplexing—a Bell-pair generation rate in the 1–50 MHz range. When directly interfacing logical qubits, this rate translates to error-correction cycles in the 25–2000 kHz range, satisfying all requirements for fault tolerance and in the upper range fast enough for 100 kHz logical clock cycles. Published by the American Physical Society 2025

Sinclair, Josiah (ORCID:0000000215238295)↗

DOE OSTI2024

Circumventing superexponential runtimes for hard instances of quantum adiabatic optimization

Classical optimization problems can be solved by adiabatically preparing the ground state of a quantum Hamiltonian that encodes the problem. The performance of this approach is determined by the smallest gap encountered during the evolution. Here, we consider the maximum independent set problem, which can be efficiently encoded in the Hamiltonian describing a Rydberg atom array. We present a general construction of instances of the problem for which the minimum gap decays superexponentially with system size, implying a superexponentially large time to solution via adiabatic evolution. The small gap arises from locally independent choices which cause the system to initially evolve and localize into a configuration far from the solution in terms of Hamming distance. We investigate remedies to this problem. Specifically, we show that quantum quenches in these models can exhibit signatures of quantum many-body scars, which in turn, can circumvent the superexponential gaps. By quenching from a suboptimal configuration, states with a larger ground-state overlap can be prepared, illustrating the utility of quantum quenches as an algorithmic tool. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Schiffer, Benjamin F. (ORCID:0000000189512157)↗

DOE OSTI2024

Enhancing detection of topological order by local error correction

The exploration of topologically-ordered states of matter is a long-standing goal at the interface of several subfields of the physical sciences. Such states feature intriguing physical properties such as long-range entanglement, emergent gauge fields and non-local correlations, and can aid in realization of scalable fault-tolerant quantum computation. However, these same features also make creation, detection, and characterization of topologically-ordered states particularly challenging. Motivated by recent experimental demonstrations, we introduce a paradigm for quantifying topological states—locally error-corrected decoration (LED)—by combining methods of error correction with ideas of renormalization-group flow. Our approach allows for efficient and robust identification of topological order, and is applicable in the presence of incoherent noise sources, making it particularly suitable for realistic experiments. We demonstrate the power of LED using numerical simulations of the toric code under a variety of perturbations. We subsequently apply it to an experimental realization, providing new insights into a quantum spin liquid created on a Rydberg-atom simulator. Finally, we extend LED to generic topological phases, including those with non-abelian order.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

DOE OSTI2023

Logical quantum processor based on reconfigurable atom arrays

Suppressing errors is the central challenge for useful quantum computing, requiring quantum error correction (QEC) for large-scale processing. However, the overhead in the realization of error-corrected ‘logical’ qubits, in which information is encoded across many physical qubits for redundancy, poses substantial challenges to large-scale logical quantum computing. Here we report the realization of a programmable quantum processor based on encoded logical qubits operating with up to 280 physical qubits. Using logical-level control and a zoned architecture in reconfigurable neutral-atom arrays, our system combines high two-qubit gate fidelities, arbitrary connectivity, as well as fully programmable single-qubit rotations and mid-circuit readout. Operating this logical processor with various types of encoding, we demonstrate improvement of a two-qubit logic gate by scaling surface-code distance from d = 3 to d = 7, preparation of colour-code qubits with break-even fidelities, fault-tolerant creation of logical Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger (GHZ) states and feedforward entanglement teleportation, as well as operation of 40 colour-code qubits. Finally, using 3D [[8,3,2]] code blocks, we realize computationally complex sampling circuits with up to 48 logical qubits entangled with hypercube connectivity with 228 logical two-qubit gates and 48 logical CCZ gates. We find that this logical encoding substantially improves algorithmic performance with error detection, outperforming physical-qubit fidelities at both cross-entropy benchmarking and quantum simulations of fast scrambling. These results herald the advent of early error-corrected quantum computation and chart a path towards large-scale logical processors.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗