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arXiv:0902.2957 · Physical Review A

Experimental Uhrig dynamical decoupling using trapped ions

Michael J. Biercuk, Hermann Uys, Aaron P. VanDevender, Nobuyasu Shiga, Wayne M. Itano, J. J. Bollinger

Published Jun 25, 2009• 149 citations
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Abstract

We present a detailed experimental study of the Uhrig dynamical decoupling (UDD) sequence in a variety of noise environments. Our qubit system consists of a crystalline array of ${^{9}\text{B}\text{e}}^{+}$ ions confined in a Penning trap. We use an electron-spin-flip transition as our qubit manifold and drive qubit rotations using a 124 GHz microwave system. We study the effect of the UDD sequence in mitigating phase errors and compare against the well known Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill-style multipulse spin echo as a function of pulse number, rotation axis, noise spectrum, and noise strength. Our results agree well with theoretical predictions for qubit decoherence in the presence of classical phase noise, accounting for the effect of finite-duration $\ensuremath{\pi}$ pulses. Finally, we demonstrate that the Uhrig sequence is more robust against systematic over- or under-rotation and detuning errors than is multipulse spin echo, despite the precise prescription for pulse timing in UDD.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.79.062324

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We present a detailed experimental study of the Uhrig dynamical decoupling (UDD) sequence in a variety of noise environments. Our qubit system consists of a crystalline array of 9Be+{^{9}\text{B}\text{e}}^{+}9Be+ ions confined in a Penning trap. We use an electron-spin-flip transition as our qubit manifold and drive qubit rotations using a 124 GHz microwave system. We study the effect of the UDD sequence in mitigating phase errors and compare against the well known Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill-style multipulse spin echo as a function of pulse number, rotation axis, noise spectrum, and noise strength. Our results agree well with theoretical predictions for qubit decoherence in the presence of classical phase noise, accounting for the effect of finite-duration \ensuremathπ\ensuremath{\pi}\ensuremathπ pulses. Finally, we demonstrate that the Uhrig sequence is more robust against systematic over- or under-rotation and detuning errors than is multipulse spin echo, despite the precise prescription for pulse timing in UDD.
We demonstrate the use of dynamic decoupling techniques to extend the coherence time of a single memory qubit by nearly two orders of magnitude. By extending the Hahn spin-echo technique to correct for unknown, arbitrary polynomial variations in the qubit precession frequency, we show analytically that the required sequence of π-pulses is identical to the Uhrig dynamic decoupling (UDD) sequence. We compare UDD and Carr–Purcell–Meiboom–Gill (CPMG) sequences applied to a single 43 Ca + trapped-ion qubit and find that they afford comparable protection in our ambient noise environment.
We present a study of dynamical decoupling schemes for the suppression of phase errors from various noise environments using ions in a Penning trap as a model ensemble of qubits. By injecting frequency noise we demonstrate that in an ohmic noise spectrum with a sharp, high-frequency cutoff the recently proposed UDD decoupling sequence gives noise suppression superior to the traditional CPMG technique. Under only the influence of ambient magnetic field fluctuations with a 1/ω4 power spectrum, we find little benefit from using the UDD sequence, consistent with theoretical predictions for dynamical decoupling performance in the presence of noise spectra with soft cutoffs. Finally, we implement an optimization algorithm using measurement feedback, demonstrating that local optimization of dynamical decoupling can further lead to significant gains in error suppression over known sequences.
Abstract Dynamical decoupling (DD) is a quantum error-mitigation technique based on applying sequences of control pulses to suppress decoherence. Here we perform a numerical study to compare different DD protocols, namely Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill (CPMG), Periodic Dynamical Decoupling (PDD), Concatenated Dynamical Decoupling (CDD) and Uhrig Dynamical Decoupling (UDD) applied to three commonly used noise power spectral densities: (i) white, (ii) 1/f, (iii) 1/f 2 and their hybrid combinations. By ignoring qubit relaxation, we simulate these protocols focusing purely on dephasing noise. We then consider independent multi-axial noise with uniaxial control pulses. The effective coherence times T2,eff are extracted for each case and compared with the baseline free induction decay T ∗ 2 [6]. In all these simulations, the time-domain decoherence profiles follow a stretched exponential form ∼ exp −(t/T2,eff) β with the effective coherence times dependent on the noise spectrum considered, the strength of the noise, and the DD sequence employed. An exception is observed for the UDD under specific noise conditions where it cannot be described by a simple stretched exponential decay form.
Dynamical decoupling (DD) emerges as a promising tool to suppress decoherence of quantum systems by eliminating the system-environment coupling. We investigate its power in combating pure dephasing of a qubit under random classical noise. Interestingly, the decoherence rate can be viewed as the interplay between noise spectrum and a controllable filter function. More specifically, the filter function is determined by the DD sequence we employed. Here we take Uhrig DD (UDD) as a benchmark sequence to illustrate the filtering process. We find that UDD sequence works as a perfect dynamical filter for low-frequency noise. For spectrum with hard cutoff, UDD increases the performance order by order with linearly increased number of pulses. However, for noise spectrum with soft cutoff, the required pulse number grows exponentially.
Recent studies have shown that applying a sequence of Hahn spin-echo pulses to a qubit system at judiciously chosen intervals can, in certain noise environments, greatly improve the suppression of phase errors compared to traditional dynamical decoupling approaches. By enforcing a simple analytical condition, we obtain sets of dynamical decoupling sequences that are designed for optimized noise filtration, but are independent of the noise spectrum up to a single scaling factor set by the coherence time of the system. These sequences are tested in a model qubit system, ;{9}Be;{+} ions in a Penning trap. Our combined theoretical and experimental studies show that in high-frequency-dominated noise environments with sharp high-frequency cutoffs this approach may suppress phase errors orders of magnitude more efficiently than comparable techniques can.
In quantum information processing, it is vital to protect the coherence of qubits in noisy environments. Dynamical decoupling (DD), which applies a sequence of flips on qubits and averages the qubit-environment coupling to zero, is a promising strategy compatible with other desired functionalities, such as quantum gates. Here, we review the recent progresses in theories of dynamical decoupling and experimental demonstrations. We give both semiclassical and quantum descriptions of the qubit decoherence due to coupling to noisy environments. Based on the quantum picture, a geometrical interpretation of DD is presented. The periodic Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill DD and the concatenated DD are reviewed, followed by a detailed exploration of the recently developed Uhrig DD, which employs the least number of pulses in an unequally spaced sequence to suppress the qubit-environment coupling to a given order of the evolution time. Some new developments and perspectives are also discussed.