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At least 559 records · Page 31

Realizing symmetry-protected topological phases in a spin-1/2 chain with next-nearest-neighbor hopping on superconducting qubits

Quantum simulation on near-term quantum hardware is a topic of intense interest. The preparation of novel quantum states of matter provides a quantitative assessment of the capabilities of near-term digital quantum computers to implement circuits with structure of relevance to quantum simulation. Here, we conduct a benchmark study by realizing symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases of a spin-1/2 Hamiltonian with next-nearest-neighbor hopping on up to 11 qubits on a programmable superconducting quantum processor using adiabatic state preparation. Using recompilation techniques to reduce the gate count to around 50 two-qubit gates, we observe clear signatures of the two distinct SPT phases, such as excitations localized to specific edges and finite string-order parameters. Finally, we identify a parasitic phase associated with the two-qubit gate as the dominant imperfection that limits the depth of the circuits, indicating a research topic of interest for future hardware development.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Flux-based three-dimensional electrodynamic modeling approach to superconducting circuits and materials

Modeling the behavior of superconducting electronic circuits containing Josephson junctions is crucial for the design of superconducting information processors and devices. In this paper, we introduce DEC-QED, a computational approach for modeling the electrodynamics of superconducting electronic circuits containing Josephson junctions in arbitrary three-dimensional electromagnetic environments. DEC-QED captures the nonlinear response and induced currents in BCS superconductors and accurately captures phenomena such as the Meissner effect, flux quantization, and Josephson effects. Using a spatial coarse-graining formulation based on discrete exterior calculus (DEC), DEC-QED can accurately simulate transient and long-time dynamics in superconductors. Finally, the expression of the entire electrodynamic problem in terms of the gauge-invariant flux field and charges makes the resulting classical field theory suitable for second quantization.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Demonstration of a quantum-classical coprocessing protocol for simulating nuclear reactions

Quantum computers hold great promise for exact simulations of nuclear dynamical processes (e.g., scattering and reactions), which are paramount to the study of nuclear matter at the limit of stability and in the formation of chemical elements in stars. However, quantum simulations of the unitary (real) time dynamics of fermionic many-body systems require a currently prohibitive number of reliable and long-lived qubits. Here we propose a co-processing algorithm for the simulation of real-time dynamics in which the time evolution of the spatial coordinates is carried out on a classical processor, while the evolution of the spin degrees of freedom is carried out on quantum hardware. We demonstrate this hybrid scheme with the simulation of two neutrons scattering at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Advanced Quantum Testbed. After implementing error mitigation strategies to improve the accuracy of the algorithm in addition to a combination of circuit compression techniques and tomography as methods to elucidate the onset of decoherence, our results validate the principle of the proposed co-processing scheme. A generalization of this present scheme will open the way for (real-time) path integral simulations of nuclear scattering.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Robust finite-temperature many-body scarring on a quantum computer

Mechanisms for suppressing thermalization in disorder-free many-body systems, such as Hilbert space fragmentation and quantum many-body scars, have recently attracted much interest in foundations of quantum statistical physics and potential quantum information processing applications. However, their sensitivity to realistic effects such as finite temperature remains largely unexplored. Here, we have utilized IBM's Kolkata quantum processor to demonstrate an unexpected robustness of quantum many-body scars at finite temperatures when the system is prepared in a thermal Gibbs ensemble. We identify such robustness in the PXP model, which describes quantum many-body scars in experimental systems of Rydberg atom arrays and ultracold atoms in tilted Bose-Hubbard optical lattices. By contrast, other theoretical models which host exact quantum many-body scars are found to lack such robustness and their scarring properties quickly decay with temperature. Our study sheds light on the important differences between scarred models in terms of their algebraic structures, which impacts their resilience to finite temperature. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Simulating quantum-classical interfaces via the Lindblad master equation

In hybrid quantum systems, the interface between quantum and classical domains is essential for the generation, control, and measurement of quantum states. Quantum-classical interfaces (QCIs) are ubiquitous in devices such as optical modulators, quantum sensors, and signal processors, where classical signals influence quantum dynamics. In this paper, we employ the Lindblad master equation to simulate the evolution of a quantum system interacting with a classical control system. Our model captures both linear and nonlinear interactions by incorporating first- and second-order susceptibilities, and it quantifies the influence of externally applied control parameters on decoherence and state evolution. As an illustrative example, we analyze an optical modulator and demonstrate how variations in material response and drive conditions affect photon statistics, coherence, and phase-space distributions. In conclusion, the findings offer a path to an all-encompassing model for understanding and optimizing QCIs, with wide-ranging implications for the performance, design, and robustness of next-generation quantum devices.

Quantum engineering↗

Preserving Symmetries for Variational Quantum Eigensolvers in the Presence of Noise

One of the most promising applications of noisy intermediate-scale quantum computers is the simulation of molecular Hamiltonians using the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE). Here, we show that encoding symmetries of the simulated Hamiltonian in the VQE ansatz reduces both classical and quantum resources compared to other widely available ansatze. Through simulations of the H 2 molecule and of a Heisenberg model on a two-dimensional lattice, we verify that these improvements persist in the presence of noise. This is done using both real IBM devices and classical simulations. We also demonstrate how these techniques can be used to find molecular excited states of various symmetries using a noisy processor. We use error-mitigation techniques to further improve the quality of our results.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Superconducting Coupler with Exponentially Large On:Off Ratio

Tunable two-qubit couplers offer an avenue to mitigate errors in multiqubit superconducting quantum processors. However, most couplers achieve this by fine tuning circuit parameters and often target specific couplings, such as the spurious ZZ interaction. We introduce a superconducting coupler that alleviates these limitations by suppressing all two-qubit interactions with an exponentially large on:off ratio and without the need for fine tuning. Our approach is based on a bus mode supplemented by an ancillary nonlinear resonator mode. Driving the ancillary mode leads to a coupler-state-dependent field displacement in the resonator that, in turn, results in an exponential suppression of real and virtual two-qubit interactions with respect to the drive power. A superconducting circuit implementation supporting the proposed mechanism is presented.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Microwave and Optical Entanglement for Quantum Transduction with Electro-Optomechanics

Quantum transduction refers to the coherent conversion between microwave and optical states, which can be achieved by quantum teleportation if given high-fidelity microwave-optical entanglement, namely entanglement-based quantum transduction. Reliable microwave-optical entanglement can be generated using various platforms. Here, in this paper we base the discussion on a piezo-optomechanical system and make the teleportation induced conversion scheme more concrete in the framework of quantum channel theory. By comparing the quantum capacity between the entanglement-based conversion channel and the traditional direct quantum transduction channel, we show that the entanglement-based scheme indeed admits a positive transduction rate when the direct quantum transduction has zero quantum capacity. Given two piezo-optomechanical systems, we also investigate the generation of microwave-microwave entanglement from entanglement swapping within continuous-variable and discrete-variable settings, showing the potentials of directly connecting microwave quantum processors by microwave-microwave quantum teleportation.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Light-induced microwave noise in superconducting microwave-optical transducers

Microwave-to-optical transducers are integral to the future of superconducting quantum computing, as they would enable scaling and long-distance communication of superconducting quantum processors through optical-fiber links. However, optically induced microwave noise poses a significant challenge in achieving quantum transduction between microwave and optical frequencies. In this work, we study light-induced microwave noise in an integrated electro-optical transducer harnessing the Pockels effect of thin-film lithium niobate. We reveal three sources of added noise with distinctive time constants ranging from sub-100 ns to milliseconds. Furthermore, our results provide insights into the mechanisms and corresponding mitigation strategies for light-induced microwave noise in superconducting microwave-optical transducers and pave the way toward realizing the ultimate goal of quantum transduction.

42 ENGINEERING↗

4-Clique network minor embedding for quantum annealers

Quantum annealing is a quantum algorithm for computing solutions to combinatorial optimization problems. This study proposes a method for minor embedding optimization problems onto sparse quantum annealing hardware graphs called 4-clique network minor embedding. This method is in contrast to the standard minor embedding technique of using a path of linearly connected qubits in order to represent a logical variable state. The 4-clique minor embedding is possible on Pegasus graph connectivity, which is the native hardware graph for some of the current D-Wave quantum annealers. The Pegasus hardware graph contains many cliques of size 4, making it possible to form a graph composed entirely of paths of connected 4-cliques on which a problem can be minor-embedded. The 4-clique chains come at the cost of additional qubit usage on the hardware graph, but they allow for stronger coupling within each chain, thereby increasing chain integrity, reducing chain breaks, and allow for greater usage of the available energy scale for programming logical problem coefficients on current quantum annealers. The 4-clique minor embedding technique is compared with the standard linear path minor embedding with experiments on two D-Wave quantum annealing processors with Pegasus hardware graphs. We show proof-of-concept experiments where the 4-clique minor embeddings can use weak chain strengths while successfully carrying out the computation of minimizing random all-to-all spin glass problem instances. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Direct pulse-level compilation of arbitrary quantum logic gates on superconducting qutrits

Advanced simulations and calculations on quantum computers require high-fidelity implementations of quantum operations. The universal gateset approach builds complex unitaries from a small set of primitive gates, often resulting in a long gate sequence, which is typically a leading factor in the total accumulated error. Compiling a complex unitary for processors with higher-dimensional logical elements, such as qutrits, exacerbates the accumulated error per unitary, since an even longer gate sequence is required. Optimal control methods promise time- and resource-efficient compact gate sequences and, therefore, higher fidelity. These methods generate pulses that can directly implement any complex unitary on a quantum device. In this work, we demonstrate that any arbitrary qubit and qutrit gate can be realized with high fidelity, which can significantly reduce the length of a gate sequence. We generate and test pulses for a large set of randomly selected arbitrary unitaries on several quantum processing units (QPUs): the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Quantum Device and Integration Testbed’s (QuDIT’s) standard QPU and three of Rigetti’s QPUs: Ankaa-2, Ankaa-9Q-1, and Aspen-M-3. On the QuDIT platform’s standard QPU, the average fidelity of random qutrit gates is 97.9 ± 0.5% measured with conventional QPT and 98.8 ± 0.6% from QPT with gate folding. Rigetti’s Ankaa-2 achieves random qubit gates with an average fidelity of 98.4 ± 0.5% (conventional QPT) and 99.7 ± 0.1% (QPT with gate folding). On Ankaa-9Q-1 and Aspen-M-3, the average fidelities with conventional qubit QPT measurements were higher than 99% (see Appendix). Here we show that optimal control gates are robust to drift for at least 3 h and that the same calibration parameters can be used for all implemented gates. Our work promises that the calibration overheads for optimal control gates can be made small enough to enable efficient quantum circuits based on this technique.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Crosstalk-robust quantum control in multimode bosonic systems

High-coherence superconducting cavities offer a hardware-efficient platform for quantum information processing. To achieve universal operations of these bosonic modes, the requisite nonlinearity is realized by coupling them to a transmon ancilla. However, this configuration is susceptible to crosstalk errors in the dispersive regime, where the ancilla frequency is Stark shifted by the state of each coupled bosonic mode. This leads to a frequency mismatch of the ancilla drive, lowering the gate fidelities. To mitigate such coherent errors, we employ quantum optimal control to engineer ancilla pulses that are robust to the frequency shifts. These optimized pulses are subsequently integrated into a recently developed echoed conditional displacement protocol for executing single- and two-mode operations. Through numerical simulations, we examine two representative scenarios: the preparation of single-mode Fock states in the presence of spectator modes and the generation of two-mode entangled Bell-cat states. Our approach markedly suppresses crosstalk errors, outperforming conventional ancilla control methods by orders of magnitude. These results provide guidance for experimentally achieving high-fidelity multimode operations and pave the way for developing high-performance bosonic quantum information processors.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Harnessing ionic complexity: A modeling approach for hierarchical ionic circuit design

Since the 1950s, soft ionic devices have evolved from individual components to an expanding library of sensors, actuators, signal transmitters, and processors. However, integrating these components into complex, multifunctional systems remains challenging due to the nonintuitive and nonlinear interactions between ionic elements. In this work, we address these fundamental challenges by developing a lumped element model that enables interrogation of the physics that governs ionic circuits, as well as rapid design and optimization. Our model captures features specific to ionic charge carriers, while preserving the hierarchical design flexibility and computational efficiency of traditional circuit modeling. We demonstrate that our model can not only fit individual device behavior but also accurately predict the behavior of larger circuits formed by combining those devices. Additionally, we show how our tool utilizes the intrinsic nonlinearities of ionic systems to enable extended functionality, revealing how factors such as ion enrichment, ion leakage, and polymer charge density influence performance. Lastly, we present a fully ionic power supply, sensor, control system, and actuator for a soft robot that adapts its motion in response to environmental salt, illustrating the tool’s potential to accelerate advancements in chemical sensing, biointerfacing, biomimetic systems, and adaptive materials.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Modeling phonon-mediated quasiparticle poisoning in superconducting qubit arrays

Correlated errors caused by ionizing radiation impacting superconducting qubit chips are problematic for quantum error correction. Such impacts generate quasiparticle (QP) excitations in the qubit electrodes, which temporarily reduce qubit coherence significantly. The many energetic phonons produced by a particle impact travel efficiently throughout the device substrate and generate quasiparticles with high probability, thus causing errors on a large fraction of the qubits in an array simultaneously. Here, we describe a comprehensive strategy for the numerical simulation of the phonon and quasiparticle dynamics in the aftermath of an impact. We compare the simulations with experimental measurements of phonon-mediated QP poisoning and demonstrate that our modeling captures the spatial and temporal footprint of the QP poisoning for various configurations of phonon downconversion structures. We thus present a path forward for the operation of superconducting quantum processors in the presence of ionizing radiation.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Evaluation of phase shifts for nonrelativistic elastic scattering using quantum computers

Simulations of scattering processes are essential in understanding the physics of our universe. Computing relevant scattering quantities from ab initio methods is extremely difficult on classical devices because of the substantial computational resources needed. Here, this work reports the development of an algorithm that makes it possible to obtain phase shifts for generic nonrelativistic elastic scattering processes on a quantum computer. This algorithm is based on extracting phase shifts from the direct implementation of the real-time evolution. The algorithm is improved by a variational procedure making it more accurate and resistant to the quantum noise. The reliability of the algorithm is first demonstrated by means of classical numerical simulations for different potentials and later tested on existing quantum hardware, specifically on IBM quantum processors.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Preparation of the SU(3) lattice Yang-Mills vacuum with variational quantum methods

Studying QCD and other gauge theories on quantum hardware requires the preparation of physically interesting states. The variational quantum eigensolver provides a way of performing vacuum state preparation on quantum hardware. Here in this work, variational quantum eigensolver is applied to pure SU(3) lattice Yang-Mills on a single plaquette and one dimensional plaquette chains. Bayesian optimization and gradient descent were investigated for performing the classical optimization. Ansatz states for plaquette chains are constructed in a scalable manner from smaller systems using domain decomposition and a stitching procedure analogous to the density matrix renormalization group. Small examples are performed on IBM’s superconducting Manila processor.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Primitive quantum gates for dihedral gauge theories

We describe the simulation of dihedral gauge theories on digital quantum computers. The nonabelian discrete gauge group $D_N$-- the dihedral group -- serves as an approximation to $U(1)\times\mathbb{Z}_2$ lattice gauge theory. In order to carry out such a lattice simulation, we detail the construction of efficient quantum circuits to realize basic primitives including the nonabelian Fourier transform over $D_N$, the trace operation, and the group multiplication and inversion operations. For each case the required quantum resources scale linearly or as low-degree polynomials in $n=\log N$. We experimentally benchmark our gates on the Rigetti Aspen-9 quantum processor for the case of $D_4$. The fidelity of all $D_4$ gates was found to exceed $80\%$.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Fully Arbitrary Control of Frequency-Bin Qubits

Accurate control of two-level systems is a longstanding problem in quantum mechanics. One such quantum system is the frequency-bin qubit: a single photon existing in superposition of two discrete frequency modes. In this Letter, we demonstrate fully arbitrary control of frequency-bin qubits in a quantum frequency processor for the first time. Furthermore, we numerically establish optimal settings for multiple configurations of electro-optic phase modulators and pulse shapers, experimentally confirming near-unity mode-transformation fidelity for all fundamental rotations. Performance at the single-photon level is validated through the rotation of a single frequency-bin qubit to 41 points spread over the entire Bloch sphere, as well as tracking of the state path followed by the output of a tunable frequency beam splitter, with Bayesian tomography confirming state fidelities Fρ>0.98 for all cases. Overall, such high-fidelity transformations expand the practical potential of frequency encoding in quantum communications, offering exceptional precision and low noise in general qubit manipulation.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗