Due to the great difficulty in scalability, quantum computers are limited in the number of qubits during the early stages of the quantum computing regime. In addition to the required qubits for storing the corresponding eigenvector, suppose we have additional k qubits available. Given such a constraint k, we propose an approach for the phase estimation for an eigenphase of exactly n-bit precision. This approach adopts the standard recursive circuit for quantum Fourier transform (QFT) in [R. Cleve and J. Watrous, Fast parallel circuits for quantum fourier transform, Proc. 41st Annual Symp. on Foundations of Computer Science (2000), pp. 526–536.] and adopts classical bits to implement such a task. Our algorithm has the complexity of O(n log k), instead of O(n2) in the conventional QFT, in terms of the total invocation of rotation gates. We also design a scheme to implement the factorization algorithm by using k available qubits via either the continued fractions approach or the simultaneous Diophantine approximation.
Due to the great difficulty in scalability, quantum computers are limited in the number of qubits during the early stages of the quantum computing regime. In addition to the required qubits for storing the corresponding eigenvector, suppose we have additional k qubits available. Given such a constraint k, we propose an approach for the phase estimation for an eigenphase of exactly n-bit precision. This approach adopts the standard recursive circuit for quantum Fourier transform (QFT) in [R. Cleve and J. Watrous, Fast parallel circuits for quantum fourier transform, Proc. 41st Annual Symp. on Foundations of Computer Science (2000), pp. 526–536.] and adopts classical bits to implement such a task. Our algorithm has the complexity of O(n log k), instead of O(n2) in the conventional QFT, in terms of the total invocation of rotation gates. We also design a scheme to implement the factorization algorithm by using k available qubits via either the continued fractions approach or the simultaneous Diophantine approximation.
Abstract The ability to implement the Quantum Fourier Transform (QFT) efficiently on a quantum computer facilitates the advantages offered by a variety of fundamental quantum algorithms, such as those for integer factoring, computing discrete logarithm over Abelian groups, solving systems of linear equations, and phase estimation, to name a few. The standard fault-tolerant implementation of an n-qubit unitary QFT approximates the desired transformation by removing small-angle controlled rotations and synthesizing the remaining ones into Clifford+T gates, incurring the T-count complexity of O(nlog2(n)) O ( n log 2 ( n ) ) . In this paper, we show how to obtain approximate QFT with the T-count of O(nlog(n)) O ( n log ( n ) ) . For brevity, the above figures omit the dependence on the approximation error ε, assuming the error is fixed. Our approach relies on quantum circuits with measurements and feedforward, and on reusing a special quantum state that induces the phase gradient transformation. We report asymptotic analysis as well as concrete circuits, demonstrating significant advantages in both theory and practice.
The Quantum Fourier Transform (QFT)andQuantumPhaseEstimation (QPE)are twofundamental algorithmic frameworks in quantum computation, and they provide the mathematical basis of many exponential-speedup quan tum algorithms, such as Shor’s factoring algorithm and quantum simulation techniques. In this work we present a detailed theoretical and computational study of the Quantum Fourier Transform and its integration in the Quan tum Phase Estimation. The discussion begins with the linear algebraic structure of the Hilbert spaces, the unitary transformations, and the complex vector representations that enable quantum interference and superposition. The QFT is studied as the unitary transform of computational basis states in the amplitudes in the frequency domain by phase rotations and tensor-product decompositions. The efficient circuit implementation in terms of Hadamard and controlled phase gates of this transform is discussed. The advantage of the transform in terms of polynomial time complexity over the classical discrete Fourier transform in some quantum scenarios is discussed.The QFT is implemented and the Quantum Phase Estimation algorithm is proposed to obtain the eigenphase information of the unitary operators. In the report the mathematical representation of QPE is derived by using the controlled unitary evolution, the inverse Fourier transforms and the measurement theory in finite dimensional Hilbert spaces. We discuss the probabilistic interpretation of phase extraction in detail and the convergence properties of the bi nary phase approximation. We also discuss the relation of QPE to eigenvalue problems in quantum mechanics and its applications to Hamiltonian simulation, quantum chemistry, cryptography, and hidden subgroup prob lems.Implementation aspects of these algorithms are studied using quantum circuit representations and oracle based computation models. We also discuss error sensitivity, qubit precision requirements, decoherence limita tions and practical constraints of Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) hardware. The work synthesizes the mathematical foundations, computational complexity analysis and physical realizations of the QFT and the QPE, demonstrating how the Fourier-based quantum transformations provide the essential mechanism underlying modern quantum algorithmic speedups and scalable quantum information processing.
While Quantum phase estimation (QPE) is at the core of many quantum algorithms known to date, its physical implementation (algorithms based on quantum Fourier transform (QFT) ) is highly constrained by the requirement of high-precision controlled phase shift operators, which remain difficult to realize. In this paper, we introduce an alternative approach to approximately implement QPE with arbitrary constant-precision controlled phase shift operators. The new quantum algorithm bridges the gap between QPE algorithms based on QFT and Kitaev's original approach. For approximating the eigenphase precise to the nth bit, Kitaev's original approach does not require any controlled phase shift operator. In contrast, QPE algorithms based on QFT or approximate QFT require controlled phase shift operators with precision of at least Pi/2n. The new approach fills the gap and requires only arbitrary constant-precision controlled phase shift operators. From a physical implementation viewpoint, the new algorithm outperforms Kitaev's approach.
Quantum algorithms solve certain computational problems faster than the best known classical algorithms. Many algorithms, including Shor's for factoring, Grover's for unstructured search, and the HHL for solving linear systems, rely on quantum phase estimation (QPE) as a fundamental subroutine. The QPE protocol proceeds through the initialization of a control register in a uniform superposition, controlled unitary evolution encoding the eigenphase, and a final inverse quantum Fourier transform followed by measurement to extract the phase. Here, we address a special class of unitary operators that frequently appear in quantum Fourier transform-based protocols, cyclic group representations, and periodically evolving quantum systems. We introduce a QPE algorithm that successfully reduces the circuit complexity from O(n2) to O(n) for a special class of unitary operators and implement it on a four-qubit photonic system. The four-qubit system is realised using a photon pair, with two qubits encoded in its polarization degree of freedom and the remaining two in its path modes. In contrast to previous photonic implementations of QPE based on dual-rail encoding and KLM protocol, where controlled operations are inherently probabilistic and thus reduce the overall success probability of phase estimation, our scheme is fully deterministic. Moreover, it is scalable to higher-dimensional unitaries, provided the underlying structure of the unitaries is preserved.
Quantum phase estimation (QPE) is fundamental to quantum algorithms for eigenvalue problems, chemistry simulation, and number-theoretic applications. However, canonical QPE implementations employ controlled unitary operations and quantum Fourier transform, incurring substantial circuit depth and control overhead that severely limit applicability on nearterm quantum hardware. This work develops a novel class of control-free phase estimation algorithms that eliminate both controlled unitaries and QFT by leveraging signal processing principles. Our approach applies uncontrolled powers of the unitary U = e −iHτ to an eigenstate or eigenstate-rich state, measures in multiple bases to capture interference patterns, and reconstructs eigenphases via classical post-processing techniques including Prony's method, compressed sensing, and harmonic inversion. We establish that for eigenstates or states with sparse eigendecomposition, our algorithms achieve phase estimation precision ϵ using Õ(1/ϵ) applications of U , matching standard QPE query complexity up to logarithmic factors while dramatically reducing circuit depth and eliminating control overhead. We provide detailed error analysis characterizing robustness to measurement noise, finite sampling, and state preparation errors. Applications to electronic structure estimation in small molecules and variational quantum eigensolvers demonstrate the practical viability of control-free QPE on both NISQ and early fault-tolerant quantum computers. Our results suggest that signal-processing-based phase estimation may offer more efficient implementations of quantum algorithms on realistic hardware.
ABSTRACT Quantum Phase Estimation (QPE) is a cornerstone algorithm in quantum computing, with applications ranging from integer factorization to quantum chemistry simulations. However, the resource demands of standard QPE, which require a large number of coherent qubits and deep circuits, pose significant challenges for current Noisy Intermediate Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices. In this work, we introduce the Adaptive Windowed Quantum Phase Estimation (AWQPE) algorithm, a novel method designed to address the limitations of standard QPE. AWQPE utilizes small, independent blocks of control qubits to estimate multiple phase bits simultaneously within a “window,” thereby significantly reducing the number of coherent qubits required to achieve a desired precision. These independent blocks are amenable to parallelization and, when combined with a robust least‐significant‐bit (LSB) to most‐significant‐bit (MSB) ambiguity resolution mechanism, enhance the algorithm's accuracy while mitigating the risk of error propagation. Our numerical simulations demonstrate AWQPE's accuracy and improved robustness relative to standard QPE under representative noise models, showcasing a favorable balance between resource efficiency and computational speed. This makes AWQPE particularly well‐suited for near‐term quantum platforms.