Inspired by the Solovay-Kitaev decomposition for approximating unitary operations as a sequence of operations selected from a universal quantum computing gate set, we introduce a method for approximating any single-qubit channel using single-qubit gates and the controlled-not (cnot). Our approach uses the decomposition of the single-qubit channel into a convex combination of "quasiextreme" channels. Previous techniques for simulating general single-qubit channels would require as many as 20 cnot gates, whereas ours only needs one, bringing it within the range of current experiments.
Inspired by the Solovay-Kitaev decomposition for approximating unitary operations as a sequence of operations selected from a universal quantum computing gate set, we introduce a method for approximating any single-qubit channel using single-qubit gates and the controlled-not (cnot). Our approach uses the decomposition of the single-qubit channel into a convex combination of "quasiextreme" channels. Previous techniques for simulating general single-qubit channels would require as many as 20 cnot gates, whereas ours only needs one, bringing it within the range of current experiments.
The Solovay-Kitaev theorem allows us to approximate any single-qubit gate to arbitrary accuracy with a finite sequence of fundamental operations from a universal set of gates. Inspired by this decomposition, we present a quantum channel simulator capable of implementing any completely positive trace-preserving map. Our realization consists of one ancillary qubit, encoded in the transverse mode of a laser beam (orbital degree of freedom), one qubit system, encoded in its polarization (spin), one spin-orbit CNOT gate, and four single-qubit operations performed with prisms and polarization components. Our results describe the implementation of arbitrary single-qubit channels on the photon polarization using the transverse mode as the ancillary qubit.
In quantum computation every unitary operation can be decomposed into quantum circuits---a series of single-qubit rotations and a single type entangling two-qubit gates, such as controlled-not(cnot) gates. Two measures are important when judging the complexity of the circuit: the total number of cnot gates needed to implement it and the depth of the circuit, measured by the minimal number of computation steps needed to perform it. Here we give an explicit and simple quantum circuit scheme for preparation of arbitrary quantum states, which can directly utilize any decomposition scheme for arbitrary full quantum gates, thus connecting the two problems. Our circuit reduces the depth of the best currently known circuit by a factor of 2. It also reduces the total number of cnot gates from 2n to 24232n in the leading order for even number of qubits. Specifically, the scheme allows us to decrease the upper bound from 11 cnot gates to 9 and the depth from 11 to 5 steps for four qubits. Our results are expected to help in designing and building small-scale quantum circuits using present technologies.
This pedagogical review presents the proof of the Solovay-Kitaev theorem in the form of an efficient classical algorithm for compiling an arbitrary single-qubit gate into a sequence of gates from a fixed and finite set. The algorithm can be used, for example, to compile Shor's algorithm, which uses rotations of π/2k, into an efficient fault-tolerant form using only Hadamard, controlled-{\sc not}, and π/8 gates. The algorithm runs in O(log2.71(1/ε)) time, and produces as output a sequence of O(log3.97(1/ε)) quantum gates which is guaranteed to approximate the desired quantum gate to an accuracy within ε>0. We also explain how the algorithm can be generalized to apply to multi-qubit gates and to gates from SU(d).
In quantum control theory, a question of fundamental and practical interest is how an arbitrary unitary transformation can be decomposed into a minimum number of elementary rotations for implementation, subject to various physical constraints. Examples include the singlet-triplet (ST) and exchange-only (EO) qubits in quantum-dot systems, and gate construction in the Solovay--Kitaev algorithm. For two important scenarios, we present complete solutions to the problems of optimal decomposition of single-qubit unitary gates with non-orthogonal rotations. For each unitary gate, the criteria for determining the minimal number of pieces is given, the explicit gate construction procedure, as well as a computer code for practical uses. Our results include an analytic explanation to the four-gate decomposition of EO qubits, previously determined numerically by Divincenzo et al. [Nature (London) 408, 339 (2000)]. Furthermore, compared with the approaches of Ramon sequence and its variant [Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 216802 (2017)], our method can reduce about 50% of gate time for ST qubits. Finally, our approach can be extended to solve the problem of optimal control of topological qubits, where gate construction is achieved through the braiding operations.
This pedagogical review presents the proof of the Solovay-Kitaev theorem in the form of an efficient classical algorithm for compiling an arbitrary single-qubit gate into a sequence of gates from a fixed and finite set. The algorithm can be used, for example, to compile Shor's algorithm, which uses rotations of π/2k, into an efficient fault-tolerant form using only Hadamard, controlled-{\sc not}, and π/8 gates. The algorithm runs in O(log2.71(1/ϵ)) time, and produces as output a sequence of O(log3.97(1/ϵ)) quantum gates which is guaranteed to approximate the desired quantum gate to an accuracy within ϵ>0. We also explain how the algorithm can be generalized to apply to multi-qubit gates and to gates from SU(d).
Arbitrarily accurate fault-tolerant (FT) universal quantum computation can be carried out using the Clifford gates Z, S, CNOT plus the non-Clifford T gate. Moreover, a recent improvement of the Solovay-Kitaev theorem by Kuperberg implies that to approximate any single-qubit gate to an accuracy of ε>0 requires O(logc[1/ε]) quantum gates with c>1.44042. Can one do better? That was the question asked by Nielsen and Chuang in their quantum computation textbook. Specifically, they posted a challenge to efficiently approximate single-qubit gate, fault-tolerantly or otherwise, using Ω(log[1/ε]) gates chosen from a finite set. Here I give a partial answer to this question by showing that this is possible using O(log[1/ε]loglog[1/ε]logloglog[1/ε]⋯) FT gates chosen from a finite set depending on the value of ε. The key idea is to construct an approximation of any phase gate in a FT way by recursion to any given accuracy ε>0. This method is straightforward to implement, easy to understand, and interestingly does not involve the Solovay-Kitaev theorem.