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arXiv:1502.02677 · Physical Review A

Robust calibration of a universal single-qubit gate set via robust phase estimation

Shelby Kimmel, Guang Hao Low, Theodore J. Yoder

Published Dec 8, 2015• 132 citations
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Abstract

An important step in building a quantum computer is calibrating experimentally implemented quantum gates to produce operations that are close to ideal unitaries. The calibration step involves estimating the systematic errors in gates and then using controls to correct the implementation. Quantum process tomography is a standard technique for estimating these errors but is both time consuming (when one wants to learn only a few key parameters) and usually inaccurate without resources such as perfect state preparation and measurement, which might not be available. With the goal of efficiently and accurately estimating specific errors using minimal resources, we develop a parameter estimation technique, which can gauge key systematic parameters (specifically, amplitude and off-resonance errors) in a universal single-qubit gate set with provable robustness and efficiency. In particular, our estimates achieve the optimal efficiency, Heisenberg scaling, and do so without entanglement and entirely within a single-qubit Hilbert space. Our main theorem making this possible is a robust version of the phase estimation procedure of Higgins et al. [B. L. Higgins et al., New J. Phys. 11, 073023 (2009)].

DOI
10.1103/physreva.92.062315

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An important step in building a quantum computer is calibrating experimentally implemented quantum gates to produce operations that are close to ideal unitaries. The calibration step involves estimating the systematic errors in gates and then using controls to correct the implementation. Quantum process tomography is a standard technique for estimating these errors but is both time consuming (when one wants to learn only a few key parameters) and usually inaccurate without resources such as perfect state preparation and measurement, which might not be available. With the goal of efficiently and accurately estimating specific errors using minimal resources, we develop a parameter estimation technique, which can gauge key systematic parameters (specifically, amplitude and off-resonance errors) in a universal single-qubit gate set with provable robustness and efficiency. In particular, our estimates achieve the optimal efficiency, Heisenberg scaling, and do so without entanglement and entirely within a single-qubit Hilbert space. Our main theorem making this possible is a robust version of the phase estimation procedure of Higgins et al. [B. L. Higgins et al., New J. Phys. 11, 073023 (2009)].
An important step in building a quantum computer is calibrating experimentally implemented quantum gates to produce operations that are close to ideal unitaries. The calibration step involves estimating the error in gates and then using controls to correct the implementation. Quantum process tomography is a standard technique for estimating these errors, but is both time consuming, (when one only wants to learn a few key parameters), and requires resources, like perfect state preparation and measurement, that might not be available. With the goal of efficiently estimating specific errors using minimal resources, we develop a parameter estimation technique, which can gauge two key parameters (amplitude and off-resonance errors) in a single-qubit gate with provable robustness and efficiency. In particular, our estimates achieve the optimal efficiency, Heisenberg scaling. Our main theorem making this possible is a robust version of the phase estimation procedure of Higgins et al. [B. L. Higgins, New J. Phys. 11, 073023 (2009)].
The calibration of high-quality two-qubit entangling gates is an essential component in engineering large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computers. However, many standard calibration techniques are based on randomized circuits that are only quadratically sensitive to calibration errors. As a result, these approaches are inefficient, requiring many experimental shots to achieve acceptable performance. In this work, we demonstrate that robust phase estimation can enable high-precision, Heisenberg-limited estimates of coherent errors in multi-qubit gates. Equipped with an efficient estimator, the calibration problem may be reduced to a simple optimization loop that minimizes the estimated coherent error. We experimentally demonstrate our calibration protocols by improving the operation of a two-qubit controlled-Z gate on a superconducting processor, and we validate the improved performance with gate set tomography. Our methods are applicable to gates in other quantum hardware platforms such as ion traps and neutral atoms, and on other multi-qubit gates, such as CNOT or iSWAP.
Accurate calibration of control parameters in quan-tum gates is crucial for high-fidelity operations, yet it represents a significant time and resource challenge, necessitating periods of downtime for quantum computers. Robust Phase Estimation (RPE) [8] has emerged as a practical and effective calibration technique aimed at tackling this challenge. It combines a provably efficient number of control pulses with a classical post-processing algorithm to estimate the phase accumulated by a quantum gate. We introduce Bayesian Robust Phase Estimation (BRPE), an in-novative approach that integrates Bayesian parameter estimation into the classical post-processing phase to reduce the sampling overhead. Our numerical analysis shows that BRPE markedly reduces phase estimation errors, requiring approximately 50% fewer samples than standard RPE. Specifically, in an ideal, noise-free setting, it achieves up to a 96% reduction in average absolute estimation error for a fixed sample cost of 88 shots when compared to RPE. Under a depolarizing noise model, it attains up to a 47% reduction for a fixed cost of 1 76 shots. Additionally, we adapt BRPE for Ramsey spectroscopy applications and successfully implement it experimentally in a trapped ion system.
Debugging quantum states transformations is an important task of modern quantum computing. The use of quantum tomography for these purposes significantly expands the range of possibilities. However, the presence of preparation and measurement errors complicates the practical use of this procedure. In this work, we investigate the possibility of estimating these errors from experiment. These estimates are subsequently used to build a robust quantum tomography model. The model allows one to accurately reconstruct unitary errors of single-qubit gates. We show that, having such imperfect single-qubit gates with pre-estimated errors, one can obtain transformations close to ideal ones. A similar approach can also significantly mitigate single-qubit gates cross-talk.
Quantum process tomography (QPT) methods aim at identifying a given quantum process. QPT is a major quantum information processing tool, since it especially allows one to characterize the actual behavior of quantum gates, which are the building blocks of quantum computers. The present paper focuses on the estimation of a unitary process. This class is of particular interest because quantum mechanics postulates that the evolution of any closed quantum system is described by a unitary transformation. Unitary processes have significantly fewer parameters than general quantum processes (22nqb vs. 24nqb−22nqb real independent parameters for nqb qubits). By assuming that the process is unitary we develop two methods that scale better with the size of the system. In the present paper, we stay as close as possible to the standard setup of QPT: the operator has to prepare copies of different input states. The properties those states have to satisfy in order for our method to achieve QPT are very mild. Therefore, we choose to operate with copies of 2nqb initially unknown pure input states. In order to perform QPT without knowing the input states, we perform measurements on half the copies of each state, and let the other half be transformed by the system before measuring them (each copy is only measured once). This setup has the advantage of removing the issue of systematic (i.e., same on all the copies of a state) errors entirely because it does not require the process input to take predefined values. We develop a straightforward analytical solution that first estimates the states from the averaged measurements and then finds the unitary matrix (representing the process) coherent with those estimates by using our analytical solution to an extended version of Wahba’s problem. This estimate may then be used as an initial point for a fine tuning algorithm that maximizes the likelihood of the measurements. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed methods.
The robust phase estimation (RPE) protocol was designed to be an efficient and robust way to calibrate quantum operations. The robustness of RPE refers to its ability to estimate a single parameter, usually gate amplitude, even when other parameters are poorly calibrated or when the gate experiences significant errors. Here we demonstrate the robustness of RPE to errors that affect initialization, measurement, and gates. In each case, the error threshold at which RPE begins to fail matches quantitatively with theoretical bounds. We conclude that RPE is an effective and reliable tool for calibration of one-qubit rotations and that it is particularly useful for automated calibration routines and sensor tasks.