It was shown by Ahn, Wiseman, and Milburn [PRA {\bf 67}, 052310 (2003)] that feedback control could be used as a quantum error correction process for errors induced by weak continuous measurement, given one perfectly measured error channel per qubit. Here we point out that this method can be easily extended to an arbitrary number of error channels per qubit. We show that the feedback protocols generated by our method encode $n-2$ logical qubits in $n$ physical qubits, thus requiring just one more physical qubit than in the previous case.
We investigate the use of continuously-applied external fields to maximize the fidelity of quantum logic operations performed on a decohering qubit. Assuming a known error operator and an environment represented by a scalar boson field at a finite temperature, we show how decoherence during logical operations can be efficiently reduced by applying a superposition of two external vector fields: one rotating orthogonally to the direction of the other, which remains static. The required field directions, frequency of rotation and amplitudes to decouple noise dynamically are determined by the coup…
We examine most-likely paths between initial and final states for diffusive quantum trajectories in continuously monitored pure-state qubits, obtained as extrema of a stochastic path integral. We demonstrate the possibility of "multipaths" in the dynamics of continuously-monitored qubit systems, wherein multiple most-likely paths travel between the same pre- and post-selected states over the same time interval. Most-likely paths are expressed as solutions to a Hamiltonian dynamical system. The onset of multipaths may be determined by analyzing the evolution of a Lagrange manifold in this phase…
Monitoring a quantum observable continuously in time produces a stochastic measurement record that noisily tracks the observable. For a classical process such noise may be reduced to recover an average signal by minimizing the mean squared error between the noisy record and a smooth dynamical estimate. We show that for a monitored qubit this usual procedure returns unusual results. While the record seems centered on the expectation value of the observable during causal generation, examining the collected past record reveals that it better approximates a moving-mean Gaussian stochastic process …
Reliable quantum information processing in the face of errors is a major fundamental and technological challenge. Quantum error correction protects quantum states by encoding a logical quantum bit (qubit) in multiple physical qubits. To be compatible with universal fault-tolerant computations, it is essential that the states remain encoded at all times and that errors are actively corrected. Here we demonstrate such active error correction on a continuously protected qubit using a diamond quantum processor. We encode a logical qubit in three long-lived nuclear spins, repeatedly detect phase er…
The quantum state of a superconducting transmon qubit inside a three-dimensional cavity is monitored by reflection of a microwave field on the cavity. The information inferred from the measurement record is incorporated in a density matrix $ρ_t$, which is conditioned on probe results until $t$, and in an auxiliary matrix $E_t$, which is conditioned on probe results obtained after $t$. Here, we obtain these matrices from experimental data and we illustrate their application to predict and retrodict the outcome of weak and strong qubit measurements.
We show that quantum feedback control can be used as a quantum error correction process for errors induced by weak continuous measurement. In particular, when the error model is restricted to one, perfectly measured, error channel per physical qubit, quantum feedback can act to perfectly protect a stabilizer codespace. Using the stabilizer formalism we derive an explicit scheme, involving feedback and an additional constant Hamiltonian, to protect an ($n-1$)-qubit logical state encoded in $n$ physical qubits. This works for both Poisson (jump) and white-noise (diffusion) measurement processes.…
Any technology for quantum information processing (QIP) must embody within it quantum bits (qubits) and maintain control of their key quantum properties of superposition and entanglement. Typical QIP schemes envisage an array of physical systems, such as electrons or nuclei, with each system representing a given qubit. For adequate control, systems must be distinguishable either by physical separation or unique frequencies, and their mutual interactions must be individually manipulable. These difficult requirements exclude many nanoscale technologies where systems are densely packed and contin…
A new class of error-correcting quantum codes is introduced capable of stabilizing qubits against spontaneous decay arising from couplings to statistically independent reservoirs. These quantum codes are based on the idea of using an embedded quantum code and exploiting the classical information available about which qubit has been affected by the environment. They are immediately relevant for quantum computation and information processing using arrays of trapped ions or nuclear spins. Interesting relations between these quantum codes and basic notions of design theory are established.
We predict that continuously monitored quantum dynamics can be chaotic. The optimal paths between past and future boundary conditions can diverge exponentially in time when there is time-dependent evolution and continuous weak monitoring. Optimal paths are defined by extremizing the global probability density to move between two boundary conditions. We investigate the onset of chaos in pure-state qubit systems with optimal paths generated by a periodic Hamiltonian. Specifically, chaotic quantum dynamics are demonstrated in a scheme where two non-commuting observables of a qubit are continuousl…
We study a realistic model for driven qubits using the numerical solution of the Bloch-Redfield equation as well as analytical approximations using a high-frequency scheme. Unlike in idealized rotating-wave models suitable for NMR or quantum optics, we study a driving term which neither is orthogonal to the static term nor leaves the adiabatic energy value constant. We investigate the underlying dynamics and analyze the spectroscopy peaks obtained in recent experiments. We show, that unlike in the rotating-wave case, this system exhibits nonlinear driving effects.We study the width of spectros…
We analyze the dynamics of a continuously observed, damped, microwave driven solid state charge qubit. The qubit consists of a single electron in a double well potential, coupled to an oscillating electric field, and which is continuously observed by a nearby point contact electrometer. The microwave field induces transitions between the qubit eigenstates, which have a profound effect on the detector output current. We show that useful information about the qubit dynamics, such as dephasing and relaxation rates, and the Rabi frequency, can be extracted from the DC detector conductance and the …
We investigate the continuous quantum measurement of a superconducting qubit undergoing fluorescence. The fluorescence of the qubit is detected via a phase-preserving heterodyne measurement, giving the fluorescence quadrature signals as two continuous qubit readout results. By using the stochastic path integral approach to the measurement physics, we derive most likely paths between boundary conditions on the state, and compute approximate time correlation functions between all stochastic variables via diagrammatic perturbation theory. We focus on paths that increase in energy during the conti…
A universal set of quantum gates is constructed for the recently developed jump-error correcting quantum codes. These quantum codes are capable of correcting errors arising from the spontaneous decay of distinguishable qubits into statistically independent reservoirs. The proposed universal quantum gates are constructed with the help of Heisenberg- and Ising-type Hamiltonians acting on these physical qubits. This way it is guaranteed that the relevant error correcting code space is not left at any time even during the application of one of these quantum gates. The proposed entanglement gate is…
We study a system of qubits that are coupled to each other via only one degree of freedom represented, e.g., by $σ_z$-operators. We prove that, if by changing the Hamiltonian parameters, a non-degenerate ground state of the system is continuously transformed in such a way that the expectation values of $σ_z$ operators of at least two coupled qubits change, this ground state is entangled. Using this proof, we discuss connection between energy level anticrossings and ground state entanglement. Following the same line of thought, we introduce entanglement witnesses, based on cross-susceptibilitie…
In quantum physics, measurements give random results and yield a corresponding random back action on the state of the system subject to measurement. If a quantum system is probed continuously over time, its state evolves along a stochastic quantum trajectory. To investigate the characteristic properties of such dynamics, we perform weak continuous measurements on a superconducting qubit that is driven to undergo Rabi oscillations. From the data we observe a number of striking temporal correlations within the time dependent signals and the quantum trajectories of the qubit, and we discuss their…
Anomalous decoherence in the Jaynes-Cummings model emerges for a certain class of bosonic reservoirs, described by spectral densities with a band edge frequency coinciding with the qubit transition frequency. The special reservoirs are piecewise similar to those usually adopted in Quantum Optics, i.e., sub-ohmic at low frequencies and inverse power laws at high frequencies. The exact dynamics of the qubit is described analytically through Fox $H$-functions. Over estimated long time scales, decoherence results in inverse power laws with powers decreasing continuously to unity, according to the …
We discuss the problem of estimating a frequency via N-qubit probes undergoing independent dephasing channels that can be continuously monitored via homodyne or photo-detection. We derive the corresponding analytical solutions for the conditional states, for generic initial states and for arbitrary efficiency of the continuous monitoring. For the detection strategies considered, we show that: i) in the case of perfect continuous detection, the quantum Fisher information (QFI) of the conditional states is equal to the one obtained in the noiseless dynamics; ii) for smaller detection efficiencie…
The measurement of a quantum two-level system, or a qubit in modern terminology, often involves an electromagnetic field that interacts with the qubit, before the field is measured continuously and the qubit state is inferred from the noisy field measurement. During the measurement, the qubit may undergo spontaneous transitions, further obscuring the initial qubit state from the observer. Taking advantage of some well known techniques in stochastic detection theory, here we propose a novel signal processing protocol that can infer the initial qubit state optimally from the measurement in the p…
Measuring the polarisation of a single photon typically results in its destruction. We propose, demonstrate, and completely characterise a \emph{quantum non-demolition} (QND) scheme for realising such a measurement non-destructively. This scheme uses only linear optics and photo-detection of ancillary modes to induce a strong non-linearity at the single photon level, non-deterministically. We vary this QND measurement continuously into the weak regime, and use it to perform a non-destructive test of complementarity in quantum mechanics. Our scheme realises the most advanced general measurement…
The ability to generate large-scale entanglement is an important progenitor of quantum information processing capability in noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices. In this paper, we investigate the extent to which entangled quantum states over large numbers of qubits can be prepared on current superconducting quantum devices. We prepared native-graph states on the IBM Quantum 65-qubit $\textit{ibmq_manhattan}$ device and the 53-qubit $\textit{ibmq_rochester}$ device and applied quantum readout-error mitigation (QREM). Connected entanglement graphs spanning each of the full devices wer…
We consider a two-level quantum system (qubit) which is continuously measured by a detector. The information provided by the detector is taken into account to describe the evolution during a particular realization of measurement process. We discuss the Bayesian formalism for such ``selective'' evolution of an individual qubit and apply it to several solid-state setups. In particular, we show how to suppress the qubit decoherence using continuous measurement and the feedback loop.
The recently introduced detected-jump correcting quantum codes are capable of stabilizing qubit-systems against spontaneous decay processes arising from couplings to statistically independent reservoirs. These embedded quantum codes exploit classical information about which qubit has emitted spontaneously and correspond to an active error-correcting code embedded in a passive error-correcting code. The construction of a family of one detected jump-error correcting quantum codes is shown and the optimal redundancy, encoding and recovery as well as general properties of detected jump-error corre…
We experimentally demonstrate the steady-state generation of propagating Wigner-negative states from a continuously driven superconducting qubit. We reconstruct the Wigner function of the radiation emitted into propagating modes defined by their temporal envelopes, using digital filtering. For an optimized temporal filter, we observe a large Wigner logarithmic negativity, in excess of 0.08, in agreement with theory. The fidelity between the theoretical predictions and the states generated experimentally is up to 99%, reaching state-of-the-art realizations in the microwave frequency domain. Our…
The state of a continuously monitored qubit evolves stochastically, exhibiting competition between coherent Hamiltonian dynamics and diffusive partial collapse dynamics that follow the measurement record. We couple these distinct types of dynamics together by linearly feeding the collected record for dispersive energy measurements directly back into a coherent Rabi drive amplitude. Such feedback turns the competition cooperative, and effectively stabilizes the qubit state near a target state. We derive the conditions for obtaining such dispersive state stabilization and verify the stabilizatio…
Benchmarking and characterising quantum states and logic gates is essential in the development of devices for quantum computing. We introduce a Bayesian approach to self-consistent process tomography, called fast Bayesian tomography (FBT), and experimentally demonstrate its performance in characterising a two-qubit gate set on a silicon-based spin qubit device. FBT is built on an adaptive self-consistent linearisation that is robust to model approximation errors. Our method offers several advantages over other self-consistent tomographic methods. Most notably, FBT can leverage prior informatio…
We present a scheme that allows integration of the Berry curvature and thus determination of the Chern number of a qubit eigenstate manifold. Our proposal continuously couples the qubit with a meter system while it explores a quasi-adiabatic path in the manifold. The accumulated change of one of the meter observables then provides an estimate of the Chern number. By varying the initial state of the meter, we explore the delicate interplay between the measurement precision and the disturbance of the qubit. A simple argument yields a correction factor that allows estimation of the Chern number, …
Entangling superconducting quantum processors via light would enable new means of secure communication and distributed quantum computing. However, transducing quantum signals between these disparate regimes of the electromagnetic spectrum remains an outstanding goal, and interfacing superconducting qubits with electro-optic transducers presents significant challenges due to the deleterious effects of optical photons on superconductors. Moreover, many remote entanglement protocols require multiple qubit gates both preceding and following the upconversion of the quantum state, and thus an ideal …
A new method for detecting the magnetic resonance of electronic spins at low temperature is demonstrated. It consists in measuring the signal emitted by the spins with a superconducting qubit that acts as a single-microwave-photon detector, resulting in an enhanced sensitivity. We implement this new type of electron-spin resonance spectroscopy using a hybrid quantum circuit in which a transmon qubit is coupled to a spin ensemble consisting of NV centers in diamond. With this setup we measure the NV center absorption spectrum at 30mK at an excitation level of \thicksim15\,μ_{B} out of an ensemb…
A superconducting qubit in the strong dispersive regime of a circuit quantum electrodynamics system is a powerful probe for microwave photons in a cavity mode. In this regime, a qubit spectrum is split into multiple peaks, with each peak corresponding to an individual photon number in the cavity (discrete ac Stark shift). Here, we measure the qubit spectrum in the cavity that is driven continuously with a squeezed vacuum field generated by a Josephson parametric amplifier. By fitting the qubit spectrum with a model which takes into account the finite qubit excitation power, the photon number d…
A new method for quantum computation in the presence of detected spontaneous emission is proposed. The method combines strong and fast (dynamical decoupling) pulses and a quantum error correcting code that encodes $n$ logical qubits into only $n+1$ physical qubits. Universal fault-tolerant quantum computation is shown to be possible in this scheme using Hamiltonians relevant to a range of promising proposals for the physical implementation of quantum computers.
We discuss quantum evolution of a decaying state in relation to a recent experiment of Katz et al. Based on exact analytical and numerical solutions of a simple model, we identify a regime where qubit retains coherence over a finite time interval independently of the rates of three competing decoherence processes. In this regime, the quantum decay process can be continuously monitored via a ``weak'' measurement without affecting the qubit coherence.
Modular networks are a promising paradigm for increasingly complex quantum devices based on the ability to transfer qubits and generate entanglement between modules. These tasks require a low-loss, high-speed intermodule link that enables extensible network connectivity. Satisfying these demands simultaneously remains an outstanding goal for long-range optical quantum networks as well as modular superconducting processors within a single cryostat. We demonstrate communication and entanglement in a superconducting network with a microwave-actuated beamsplitter transformation between two bosonic…
We develop dynamical programming methods for the purpose of optimal control of quantum states with convex constraints and concave cost and bequest functions of the quantum state. We consider both open loop and feedback control schemes, which correspond respectively to deterministic and stochastic Master Equation dynamics. For the quantum feedback control scheme with continuous non-demolition observations we exploit the separation theorem of filtering and control aspects for quantum stochastic dynamics to derive a generalized Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation. If the control is restricted to onl…
In quantum mechanics, continuously measuring an observable steers the system into one eigenstate of that observable. This property has interesting and useful consequences when the observable is a joint property of two remotely separated qubits. In particular, if the measurement of the two-qubit joint observable is performed in a way that is blind to single-qubit information, quantum back-action generates correlation of the discord type even if the measurement is weak and inefficient. We demonstrate the ability to generate these quantum correlations in a circuit-QED setup by performing a weak j…
Artificial neural networks have been proposed as potential algorithms that could benefit from being implemented and run on quantum computers. In particular, they hold promise to greatly enhance Artificial Intelligence tasks, such as image elaboration or pattern recognition. The elementary building block of a neural network is an artificial neuron, i.e. a computational unit performing simple mathematical operations on a set of data in the form of an input vector. Here we show how the design for the implementation of a previously introduced quantum artificial neuron [npj Quant. Inf. $\textbf{5}$…
Resilience Beyond the Light Cone: Error-Detected Primitives for Practical Dynamic Circuits
IBM Quantum, IBM Research Cambridge（IBM量子，IBM剑桥研究院）；IBM Quantum, Thomas J. Watson Research Center（IBM量子，托马斯·J·沃森研究中心）；University of Wisconsin-Madison（威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校）
Most quantum error correcting codes are predicated on the assumption that there exists a reservoir of qubits in the state $\ket{0}$, which can be used as ancilla qubits to prepare multi-qubit logical states. In this report, we examine the consequences of relaxing this assumption, and propose a method to increase the fidelity produced by a given code when the ancilla qubits are initialized in mixed states, using the same number of qubits, at most doubling the number of gates. The procedure implemented consists of altering the encoding operator to include the inverse of the unitary operation use…
We present a scheme for correcting qubit loss error while quantum computing with neutral atoms in an addressable optical lattice. The qubit loss is first detected using a quantum non-demolition measurement and then transformed into a standard qubit error by inserting a new atom in the vacated lattice site. The logical qubit, encoded here into four physical qubits with the Grassl-Beth-Pellizzari code, is reconstructed via a sequence of one projective measurement, two single-qubit gates, and three controlled-NOT operations. No ancillary qubits are required. Both quantum non-demolition and projec…
We propose a method to reliably and efficiently extract the fidelity of many-qubit quantum circuits composed of continuously parametrized two-qubit gates called matchgates. This method, which we call matchgate benchmarking, relies on advanced techniques from randomized benchmarking as well as insights from the representation theory of matchgate circuits. We argue the formal correctness and scalability of the protocol, and moreover deploy it to estimate the performance of matchgate circuits generated by two-qubit XY spin interactions on a quantum processor.
We propose a fully operational framework to study the non-equilibrium thermodynamics of a quantum system $S$ that is coupled to a detector $D$ whose state is continuously monitored, allowing to single out individual quantum trajectories of $S$. We focus on detailed fluctuation theorems and characterize the entropy production of the system. We establish fundamental differences with respect to the thermodynamic of unmonitored, unitarily evolved systems. We consider the paradigmatic example of circuit-QED, where superconducting qubits can be coupled to a continuously monitored resonator and show …
The storage and processing of quantum information are susceptible to external noise, resulting in computational errors that are inherently continuous A powerful method to suppress these effects is to use quantum error correction. Typically, quantum error correction is executed in discrete rounds where errors are digitized and detected by projective multi-qubit parity measurements. These stabilizer measurements are traditionally realized with entangling gates and projective measurement on ancillary qubits to complete a round of error correction. However, their gate structure makes them vulnerab…
We plot the geometry of several distance-based quantifiers of coherence for Bell-diagonal states. We find that along with both $l_{1}$ norm and relative entropy of coherence changes continuously from zero to one, their surfaces move from the separable regions to the entangled regions. Based on this fact, it is more illuminating to use an intuitive geometry to explain quantum states with nonzero coherence can be used for entanglement creation, rather than the other way around. We find the necessary and sufficient conditions that quantum discord of Bell-diagonal states equal to its relative entr…
We study quantum interference effects of a qubit whose energy levels are continuously modulated. The qubit is formed by an impurity electron spin in a silicon tunneling field-effect transistor, and it is read out by spin blockade in a double-dot configuration. The qubit energy levels are modulated via its gate-voltage-dependent g-factors, with either rectangular, sinusoidal, or ramp radio-frequency waves. The energy-modulated qubit is probed by the electron spin resonance. Our results demonstrate the potential of spin qubit interferometry implemented in a silicon device and operated at a relat…
We study private quantum channels on a single qubit, which encrypt given set of plaintext states $P$. Specifically, we determine all achievable states $ρ^{(0)}$ (average output of encryption) and for each particular set $P$ we determine the entropy of the key necessary and sufficient to encrypt this set. It turns out that single bit of key is sufficient when the set $P$ is two dimensional. However, the necessary and sufficient entropy of the key in case of three dimensional $P$ varies continuously between 1 and 2 bits depending on the state $ρ^{(0)}$. Finally, we derive private quantum channel…
A quantum system interacts with its environment, if ever so slightly, no matter how much care is put into isolating it. As a consequence, quantum bits (qubits) undergo errors, putting dauntingly difficult constraints on the hardware suitable for quantum computation. New strategies are emerging to circumvent this problem by encoding a qubit non-locally across the phase space of a physical system. Since most sources of decoherence are due to local fluctuations, the foundational promise is to exponentially suppress errors by increasing a measure of this non-locality. Prominent examples are topolo…
We study the occurrence of errors in a continuously decoupled two-qubit state during a $\sqrt{SWAP}$ quantum operation under decoherence. We consider a realization of this quantum gate based on the Heisenberg exchange interaction, which alone suffices for achieving universal quantum computation. Furthermore, we introduce a continuous-dynamical-decoupling scheme that commutes with the Heisenberg Hamiltonian to protect it from the amplitude damping and dephasing errors caused by the system-environment interaction. We consider two error-protection settings. One protects the qubits from both ampli…
