We address the problem of optimal representation of single-qubit rotations in a certain unitary basis consisting of the so-called V gates and Pauli matrices. The V matrices were proposed by Lubotsky, Philips, and Sarnak [Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 40, 401–420 (1987)] as a purely geometric construct in 1987 and recently found applications in quantum computation. They allow for exceptionally simple quantum circuit synthesis algorithms based on quaternionic factorization. We adapt the deterministic-search technique initially proposed by Ross and Selinger to synthesize approximating Pauli+V circuits of optimal depth for single-qubit axial rotations. Our synthesis procedure based on simple SL2(ℤ) geometry is almost elementary.
We address the problem of optimal representation of single-qubit rotations in a certain unitary basis consisting of the so-called V gates and Pauli matrices. The V matrices were proposed by Lubotsky, Philips, and Sarnak [Commun. Pure Appl. Math. 40, 401–420 (1987)] as a purely geometric construct in 1987 and recently found applications in quantum computation. They allow for exceptionally simple quantum circuit synthesis algorithms based on quaternionic factorization. We adapt the deterministic-search technique initially proposed by Ross and Selinger to synthesize approximating Pauli+V circuits of optimal depth for single-qubit axial rotations. Our synthesis procedure based on simple SL2(ℤ) geometry is almost elementary.
Unitary synthesis underlies universal quantum computation by translating unitary transformations into circuits of elementary gates. We show that for any budget m≥0 of ancilla, every n-qubit unitary can be exactly implemented using a quantum circuit consisting of O(4n) CNOT and single-qubit gates in O(n+4n/(n+m)) layers attaining the asymptotically optimal depth--ancilla tradeoff while simultaneously achieving optimal circuit size. The key idea is to encode computational basis states as wavefunctions sharing a Gaussian envelope, converting unitary action on amplitudes into coordinate transformations that admit shallow circuit implementations. The continuous encoding is then discretized, with approximation errors removed by exact residual correction. The depth-ancilla tradeoff follows by recursively applying the quantum Shannon decomposition, synthesizing its smaller unitary factors, and reusing ancillary qubits.
We describe a new efficient algorithm to approximate z-rotations by ancilla-free Clifford+V circuits, up to a given precision epsilon. Our algorithm is optimal in the presence of an oracle for integer factoring: it outputs the shortest Clifford+V circuit solving the given problem instance. In the absence of such an oracle, our algorithm is still near-optimal, producing circuits of V-count m + O(log(log(1/epsilon))), where m is the V-count of the third-to-optimal solution. A restricted version of the algorithm approximates z-rotations in the Pauli+V gate set. Our method is based on previous work by the author and Selinger on the optimal ancilla-free approximation of z-rotations using Clifford+T gates and on previous work by Bocharov, Gurevich, and Svore on the asymptotically optimal ancilla-free approximation of z-rotations using Clifford+V gates.
We describe a new efficient algorithm to approximate z-rotations by ancilla-free Clifford+V circuits, up to a given precision ϵ. Our algorithm is optimal in the presence of an oracle for integer factoring: it outputs the shortest Clifford+V circuit solving the given problem instance. In the absence of such an oracle, our algorithm is still near-optimal, producing circuits of V\!-count m+O(log(log(1/ϵ))), where m is the V\!-count of the third-to-optimal solution. A restricted version of the algorithm approximates z-rotations in the Pauli+V gate set. Our method is based on previous work by the author and Selinger on the optimal ancilla-free approximation of z-rotations using Clifford+T gates and on previous work by Bocharov, Gurevich, and Svore on the asymptotically optimal ancilla-free approximation of z-rotations using Clifford+V gates.
We provide a non-deterministic quantum protocol that approximates the single qubit rotations R x (2 ϕ 2 1 ϕ 2 2 ) using R x (2 ϕ 1 ) and R x (2 ϕ 2 ) and a constant number of Clifford and T operations. We then use this method to construct a 'floating point' implementation of a small rotation wherein we use the aforementioned method to construct the exponent part of the rotation and also to combine it with a mantissa. This causes the cost of the synthesis to depend more strongly on the relative (rather than absolute) precision required. We analyze the mean and variance of the T -count required to use our techniques and provide new lower bounds for the T -count for ancilla free synthesis of small single-qubit axial rotations. We further show that our techniques can use ancillas to beat these lower bounds with high probability. We also discuss the T -depth of our method and see that the vast majority of the cost of the resultant circuits can be shifted to parallel computation paths.
Abstract We study quantum circuits constructed from i SWAP gates and, more generally, from the entangling gates that can be realized with the XX + YY interaction alone. Such gates preserve the Hamming weight of states in the computational basis, which means they respect the global U(1) symmetry corresponding to rotations around the z axis. Equivalently, assuming that the intrinsic Hamiltonian of each qubit in the system is the Pauli Z operator, they conserve the total energy of the system. We develop efficient methods for synthesizing circuits realizing any desired energy-conserving unitary using XX + YY interaction with or without single-qubit rotations around the z axis. Interestingly, implementing generic energy-conserving unitaries, such as CCZ and Fredkin gates, with two-local energy-conserving gates requires the use of ancilla qubits. When single-qubit rotations around the z-axis are permitted, our scheme requires only a single ancilla qubit, whereas with the XX+YY interaction alone, it requires two ancilla qubits. In addition to exact realizations, we also consider approximate realizations and show how a general energy-conserving unitary can be synthesized using only a sequence of i SWAP gates and two ancillary qubits, with arbitrarily small error, which can be bounded via the Solovay–Kitaev theorem. Our methods are also applicable for synthesizing energy-conserving unitaries when, rather than the XX + YY interaction, one has access to any other energy-conserving two-body interaction that is not diagonal in the computational basis, such as the Heisenberg exchange interaction. We briefly discuss the applications of these circuits in the context of quantum computing, quantum thermodynamics, and quantum clocks.
Approximate synthesis of general single-qubit unitaries over the Clifford+T gate set
For the standard Clifford+T gate set, deterministic, ancilla-free synthesis now attains the minimal T-count for general single-qubit unitaries (Morisaki et al., arXiv:2510.05816). The T gate rotates by half the angle of T, generating a finer lattice of implementable operations. Access to this magic state is expected to lower the cost of deterministic and ancilla-free synthesis of general single-qubit unitaries (Kliuchnikov et al., arXiv:2203.10064), but no direct Clifford+T algorithm existed for this case. We provide one by extending the integer lattice-point enumeration method of Morisaki et al. We adopt a resource state cost model based on the magic-state catalysis approach of Gidney and Fowler (arXiv:1812.01238). On Haar-random targets synthesized to precisions ranging from ε=10−3 to 10−8, the cost of Clifford+T circuits scales as 2.4log2(1/ε) compared to 3.0log2(1/ε) for T-count-optimal Clifford+T circuits. Once a one-time catalyst state is amortized, the Clifford+T circuits are never costlier than their Clifford+T counterparts.