C with an average fidelity of 0.9960(2) and two-spin control via a CNOT gate with a fidelity of 0.9877(2). Our method can also be extended to more general multispin heteronuclear systems at zero field. The realization of universal quantum control in zero-field NMR is important for quantum state/coherence preparation, pulse sequence design, and is an essential step toward applications to materials science, chemical analysis, and fundamental physics.
C with an average fidelity of 0.9960(2) and two-spin control via a CNOT gate with a fidelity of 0.9877(2). Our method can also be extended to more general multispin heteronuclear systems at zero field. The realization of universal quantum control in zero-field NMR is important for quantum state/coherence preparation, pulse sequence design, and is an essential step toward applications to materials science, chemical analysis, and fundamental physics.
Zero-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) provides complementary analysis modalities to those of high-field NMR and allows for ultra-high-resolution spectroscopy and measurement of untruncated spin-spin interactions. Unlike for the high-field case, however, universal quantum control -- the ability to perform arbitrary unitary operations -- has not been experimentally demonstrated in zero-field NMR. This is because the Larmor frequency for all spins is identically zero at zero field, making it challenging to individually address different spin species. We realize a composite-pulse technique for arbitrary independent rotations of 1H and 13C spins in a two-spin system. Quantum-information-inspired randomized benchmarking and state tomography are used to evaluate the quality of the control. We experimentally demonstrate single-spin control for 13C with an average gate fidelity of 0.9960(2) and two-spin control via a controlled-not (CNOT) gate with an estimated fidelity of 0.99. The combination of arbitrary single-spin gates and a CNOT gate is sufficient for universal quantum control of the nuclear spin system. The realization of complete spin control in zero-field NMR is an essential step towards applications to quantum simulation, entangled-state-assisted quantum metrology, and zero-field NMR spectroscopy.
Zero-field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) has been recently developed as a complementary tool for nondestructive structural investigations of matter. However, precise and efficient control in such systems is still at the beginning. Based on the controllability of spin systems, we theoretically study the issue of quantum control in zero-field NMR by using a numerical optimization method based on the gradient ascent pulse engineering (GRAPE) algorithm. A set of quantum gates, including single-qubit and two-qubit gates, are achieved as examples. In particular, we show that homonuclear spins can be individually manipulated in zero-field NMR by the GRAPE method, which extends the ability to manipulate spin systems at zero magnetic field. Quantum control realized by the numerical GRAPE method features the properties of high fidelity, robustness, and hardware-friendly characteristics. High-fidelity quantum control in zero-field NMR systems might provide promising applications in material science, chemical analysis, quantum information processing, and fundamental physics.
This paper describes a general method for the manipulation of nuclear spins in zero magnetic field. In the absence of magnetic fields, the spins lose the individual information on chemical shifts and inequivalent spins can only be distinguished by nuclear gyromagnetic ratios and spin-spin couplings. For spin-21 nuclei with different gyromagnetic ratios (i.e., different species) in zero magnetic field, we describe the scheme to realize a set of universal quantum logic gates, e.g., arbitrary single-qubit gates and a two-qubit controlled-not gate. This method allows for universal quantum control in systems which might provide promising applications in materials science, chemistry, biology, quantum information processing, and fundamental physics.
With the development of quantum information science, the active manipulation of quantum systems is becoming an important research frontier. To build realistic quantum information processors, one of the challenges is to implement arbitrary desired operations with high precision on quantum systems. A large number of quantum control methods and relevant numerical techniques have been put forward in recent years, such as quantum optimal control and quantum feedback control. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spin systems offer an excellent testbed to develop benchmark tools and techniques for controlling quantum systems. In this review paper, we briefly introduce some of the basic control ideas developed for NMR systems in recent years. We first explain, for the liquid spin systems, the physics of various couplings and the causes of relaxation effects. These mechanisms govern the system dynamics, and thus are crucial for constructing rigorous and efficient control models. We also identify three types of available control means: 1) raido-frequency fields as coherent controls; 2) phase cycling, gradient fields and relaxation effects as non-unitary controls; 3) radiation damping effect as feedback control mechanism. Then, we elucidate some important control tasks, which may arise from the conventional NMR spectroscopy (e.g., pulse design and polarization transfer) or from quantum information science (e.g., algorithmic cooling and pseudo-pure state preparation). In the last part, we review some of the most important control methods that are applicable to NMR control tasks. For systems with a relatively small number of spins, it is possible to use analytic optimal control theory to realize the target unitary operations. However, for larger systems, numerical methods are necessary. The gradient ascent pulse engineering algorithm and pulse compiler techniques are the most successful techniques for implementing complicated quantum networks currently. There are some interesting topics of utilizing radiation damping and relaxation effects to achieve more powerful controls. Finally, we give an outline of the possible future work.
We propose and experimentally realize an algorithmic benchmark that demonstrates coherent control with a sequence of quantum operations that first generates and then decodes the cat state (|000...>+|111...>)/sqrt(2) to the standard initial state |000...>. This is the first high fidelity experimental quantum algorithm on the currently largest physical quantum register, which has seven quantum bits (qubits) provided by the nuclei of crotonic acid. The experiment has the additional benefit of verifying a seven coherence in a generic system of coupled spins. Our implementation combines numerous nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques in one experiment and introduces practical methods for translating quantum networks to control operations. The experimental procedure can be used as a reliable and efficient method for creating a standard pseudo-pure state, the first step for implementing traditional quantum algorithms in liquid state NMR. The benchmark and the techniques can be adapted for use on other proposed quantum devices.
Thanks to the quantum simulation, more and more problems in quantum mechanics which were previously inaccessible are now open to us. Capitalizing on the state-of-the-art techniques on quantum coherent control developed in past few decades, e.g., the high-precision quantum gate manipulating, the time-reversal harnessing, the high-fidelity state preparation and tomography, the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) system offers a unique platform for quantum simulation of many-body physics and high-energy physics. Here, we review the recent experimental progress and discuss the prospects for quantum simulation realized on NMR systems.