Minimizing the resources required to build logic gates into useful processing circuits is key to realizing quantum computers. Although the salient features of a quantum computer have been shown in proof-of-principle experiments, difficulties in scaling quantum systems have made more complex operations intractable. This is exemplified in the classical Fredkin (controlled-SWAP) gate for which, despite theoretical proposals, no quantum analog has been realized. By adding control to the SWAP unitary, we use photonic qubit logic to demonstrate the first quantum Fredkin gate, which promises many applications in quantum information and measurement. We implement example algorithms and generate the highest-fidelity three-photon Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states to date. The technique we use allows one to add a control operation to a black-box unitary, something that is impossible in the standard circuit model. Our experiment represents the first use of this technique to control a two-qubit operation and paves the way for larger controlled circuits to be realized efficiently.
Minimizing the resources required to build logic gates into useful processing circuits is key to realizing quantum computers. Although the salient features of a quantum computer have been shown in proof-of-principle experiments, difficulties in scaling quantum systems have made more complex operations intractable. This is exemplified in the classical Fredkin (controlled-SWAP) gate for which, despite theoretical proposals, no quantum analog has been realized. By adding control to the SWAP unitary, we use photonic qubit logic to demonstrate the first quantum Fredkin gate, which promises many applications in quantum information and measurement. We implement example algorithms and generate the highest-fidelity three-photon Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states to date. The technique we use allows one to add a control operation to a black-box unitary, something that is impossible in the standard circuit model. Our experiment represents the first use of this technique to control a two-qubit operation and paves the way for larger controlled circuits to be realized efficiently.
One of the greatest challenges in modern science is the realisation of quantum computers which, as their scale increases, will allow enhanced performance of tasks across many areas of quantum information processing. Quantum logic gates play a vital role in realising these applications by carrying out the elementary operations on the qubits; a key aim is minimising the resources needed to build these gates into useful circuits. While the salient features of a quantum computer have been shown in proof-of-principle experiments, e.g., single- and two-qubit gates, difficulties in scaling quantum systems to encode and manipulate multiple qubits has hindered demonstrations of more complex operations. This is exemplified by the classical Fredkin (or controlled-SWAP) gate [1] for which, despite many theoretical proposals [2,3] relying on concatenating multiple two-qubit gates, a quantum analogue has yet to be realised. Here, by directly adding control to a two-qubit SWAP unitary [4], we use photonic qubit logic to report the first experimental demonstration of a quantum Fredkin gate [5]. Our scheme uses linear optics and improves on the overall probability of success by an order of magnitude over previous proposals [2,3]. This optical approach allows us to add control an arbitrary black-box unitary which is otherwise forbidden in the standard circuit model [6]. Additionally, the action of our gate exhibits quantum coherence allowing the generation of the highest fidelity three-photon GHZ states to date. The quantum Fredkin gate has many applications in quantum computing, quantum measurements [7] and cryptography [8,9]. Using our scheme, we apply the Fredkin gate to the task of direct measurements of the purity and state overlap of a quantum system [7] without recourse to quantum state tomography.
Quantum information science addresses how the storage, processing, and transmission of information are affected by uniquely quantum mechanical phenomena, such as superposition and entanglement. New technologies that harness these quantum effects are beginning to be realized in the areas of communication, information processing and precision measurement. For the realization of a universal gate set, by which, in principle, any quantum information task can be realized, two-qubit gates have been demonstrated and have been used to realize small-scale quantum circuits. However, scalability is becoming a critical problem. It may therefore be helpful to consider the use of three-qubit gates, which can simplify the structure of quantum circuits dramatically. Although both the controlled-SWAP (CSWAP) gate (also called Fredkin gate) and the controlled-controlled-NOT gate (also called Toffoli gate) are representative three-qubit gates, the Fredkin gates can be directly applied to many important quantum information protocols, e.g., error correction, fingerprinting, optimal cloning, and controlled entanglement filtering. Here we report a realization of the Fredkin gate using a photonic quantum circuit, following the theoretical proposal by Fiurasek. We achieve a fidelity of 0.85 for the classical truth table of CSWAP operation and an output state fidelity of 0.81 for a generated 3-photon Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) state. We also confirmed that the gate is capable of genuine tripartite entanglement with a quantum coherence corresponding to a visibility of 0.69 for three-photon interferences. From these results, we estimate a process fidelity of 0.77, which indicates that our Fredkin gate can be applied to various quantum tasks.
Quantum information science addresses how the processing and transmission of information are affected by uniquely quantum mechanical phenomena. Combination of two-qubit gates has been used to realize quantum circuits, however, scalability is becoming a critical problem. The use of three-qubit gates may simplify the structure of quantum circuits dramatically. Among them, the controlled-SWAP (Fredkin) gates are essential since they can be directly applied to important protocols, e.g., error correction, fingerprinting, and optimal cloning. Here we report a realization of the Fredkin gate for photonic qubits. We achieve a fidelity of 0.85 in the computational basis and an output state fidelity of 0.81 for a 3-photon Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state. The estimated process fidelity of 0.77 indicates that our Fredkin gate can be applied to various quantum tasks.
Summary form only given. Photonic qubit logic provides flexible, low noise scheme for quantum information processing. However, implementation of increasing scale requires numbers of resources beyond what is readily available. A recent demonstration [1] has shown how to add a control operation to existing unitary transformations, providing a practical method for moving to medium-scale quantum circuits. Here we use the entanglement-based version of this scheme to implement a complex quantum gate - the Fredkin, or 3-qubit swap gate - with significantly less resources than its decomposition into a 2-qubit gate array.In the technique proposed in [1], the Hilbert space is expended in order to have a four-level system for each qubit. Each system is composed of a qubit sub-system on which the target operation acts, and a second qubit sub-system, which remains unaffected. The control is added by gates that switch between the different subsystems according to the control qubit. Despite its conceptual simplicity, this technique still uses too many gates for practical implementations with current photonic technology. A more feasible way is a version that replaces the gates with pre-existing entanglement between the gates with qubit system and the second subsystem. The experiment is based on four possible photon pairs -called x, o, s and e - with photons either only in x and e, leading to the swapping, or only in o and s, leading to no swapping (Fig. 1). Each qubit is encoded twice and the two last modes are only used for triggering. The coincidences and the polarization beam splitter on two first mode ensure that the possibilities for the origin of the photons are linked to the state of the control qubit.The four possible photon pairs are encoding in the polarization mode coming from two polarization entangling down-conversion crystals. One crystal give a photon pair either in modes x or o and the second one a pair in mode s or e . We then separate spatially the polarization mode using beam displacer or Sagnac interferometers to preserve the phase stability (Fig . 2) . From the simulation we expect a fidelity around 85% for the truth table.
Optimizing the physical realization of quantum gates is important to build a quantum computer. Fredkin gate, also named controlled-swap gate, can be widely applicable in various quantum information processing schemes. In the present research, we propose and experimentally implement quantum Fredkin gate in a single-photon hybrid-degrees-of-freedom system. Polarization is used as the control qubit, and SWAP operation is achieved in a four-dimensional Hilbert space spanned by photonic orbital angular momentum. The effective conversion rate P of the quantum Fredkin gate in our experiment is (95.4±2.6)%. Besides, we find that a kind of Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states can also be prepared by using our quantum Fredkin gate, and the Mermin inequality test shows its quantum contextual characteristic. Our experimental design paves the way for quantum computing and quantum fundamental study in high-dimensional and hybrid coding quantum systems.
Abstract Optimizing the physical realization of quantum gates is important to build a quantum computer. The controlled-SWAP gate, also named Fredkin gate, can be widely applicable in various quantum information processing schemes. In the present research, we propose and experimentally implement quantum Fredkin gate in a single-photon hybrid-degrees-of-freedom system. Polarization is used as the control qubit, and SWAP operation is achieved in a four-dimensional Hilbert space spanned by photonic orbital angular momentum. The effective conversion rate P of the quantum Fredkin gate in our experiment is (95.4 ± 2.6)%. Besides, we find that a kind of Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger-like states can be prepared by using our quantum Fredkin gate, and these nonseparale states can show its quantum contextual characteristic by the violation of Mermin inequality. Our experimental design and coding method are useful for quantum computing and quantum fundamental study in high-dimensional and hybrid coding quantum systems.