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arXiv:1806.10043 · Physical Review A

Efficient continuous-wave noise spectroscopy beyond weak coupling

Kyle Willick, Daniel K. Park, Jonathan Baugh

Published Jul 18, 2018• 11 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The optimization of quantum control for physical qubits relies on accurate noise characterization. Probing the spectral density $S(\ensuremath{\omega})$ of semiclassical phase noise using a spin interacting with a continuous-wave (CW) resonant excitation field has recently gained attention. CW noise spectroscopy protocols have been based on the generalized Bloch equations (GBE) or the filter function formalism, assuming weak coupling to a Markovian bath. However, this standard protocol can substantially underestimate $S(\ensuremath{\omega})$ at low frequencies when the CW pulse amplitude becomes comparable to $S(\ensuremath{\omega})$. Here we derive the coherence decay function more generally by extending it to higher orders in the noise strength and discarding the Markov approximation. Numerical simulations show that this provides a more accurate description of the spin dynamics compared to a simple exponential decay, especially on short timescales. Exploiting these results, we devise a protocol that uses an experiment at a single CW pulse amplitude to extend the spectral range over which $S(\ensuremath{\omega})$ can be reliably determined to $\ensuremath{\omega}=0$.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.98.013414

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The optimization of quantum control for physical qubits relies on accurate noise characterization. Probing the spectral density S(\ensuremathω)S(\ensuremath{\omega})S(\ensuremathω) of semiclassical phase noise using a spin interacting with a continuous-wave (CW) resonant excitation field has recently gained attention. CW noise spectroscopy protocols have been based on the generalized Bloch equations (GBE) or the filter function formalism, assuming weak coupling to a Markovian bath. However, this standard protocol can substantially underestimate S(\ensuremathω)S(\ensuremath{\omega})S(\ensuremathω) at low frequencies when the CW pulse amplitude becomes comparable to S(\ensuremathω)S(\ensuremath{\omega})S(\ensuremathω). Here we derive the coherence decay function more generally by extending it to higher orders in the noise strength and discarding the Markov approximation. Numerical simulations show that this provides a more accurate description of the spin dynamics compared to a simple exponential decay, especially on short timescales. Exploiting these results, we devise a protocol that uses an experiment at a single CW pulse amplitude to extend the spectral range over which S(\ensuremathω)S(\ensuremath{\omega})S(\ensuremathω) can be reliably determined to \ensuremathω=0\ensuremath{\omega}=0\ensuremathω=0.
The optimization of dynamical decoupling and quantum error correction for a particular qubit realization is based on a detailed knowledge of the noise properties. Spectroscopy of single-axis noise using dynamical decoupling pulse sequences has garnered much recent attention. Here we consider noise spectroscopy based on a spin-locking type pulse sequence, i.e. a continuous-wave (CW) on-resonance driving field. We show that a heuristic filter function approach produces a qualitatively correct (but quantitatively incorrect) result, whereas a 0th-order average Hamiltonian calculation is shown to agree with the result predicted by the generalized Bloch equations. We further calculate up to 2nd-order average Hamiltonian corrections and show the deviation from the generalized Bloch equation result. This shows that noise spectroscopy using continuous fields, in some cases simpler to implement and more robust to errors than pulsed schemes, can be rigorously analyzed and criteria for reliable measurements can be established. Finally, a solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance experiment is presented which demonstrates that the CW and pulsed methods agree within experimental error. The noise, due to magnetization fluctuations in a dipolar coupled proton spin bath, is found to obey a roughly 1/ω power law decay in the range of frequencies ω investigated.
We extend quantum noise spectroscopy (QNS) of amplitude control noise to settings where dephasing noise or detuning errors make significant contributions to qubit dynamics. Previous approaches to characterize amplitude noise are limited by their vulnerability to low-frequency dephasing noise and static detuning errors, which can overwhelm the target control noise signal and introduce bias into estimates of the amplitude noise spectrum. To overcome this problem, we leverage optimal control to identify a family of amplitude control waveforms that optimally suppress low-frequency dephasing noise and detuning errors, while maintaining the spectral concentration in the amplitude filter essential for spectral estimation. The waveforms found via numerical optimization have surprisingly simple analytic forms, consisting of oscillating sine waves obeying particular amplitude and frequency constraints. In numerically simulated QNS experiments, these waveforms demonstrate superior robustness, enabling accurate estimation of the amplitude noise spectrum in regimes where existing approaches are biased by low-frequency dephasing noise and detuning errors.
I present a theory of environmental noise spectroscopy via dynamical decoupling of a qubit at an optimal working point. Considering a sequence of nnn pulses and pure dephasing due to quadratic coupling to Gaussian distributed noise $\ensuremath{\xi}(t)$, I use the linked-cluster (cumulant) expansion to calculate the coherence decay. Solutions allowing for reconstruction of spectral density of noise are given. For noise with correlation time shorter than the time scale on which coherence decays, the noise filtered by the dynamical decoupling procedure can be treated as effectively Gaussian at large nnn, and well-established methods of noise spectroscopy can be used to reconstruct the spectrum of ${\ensuremath{\xi}}^{2}(t)$ noise. On the other hand, for noise of dominant low-frequency character $(1/{f}^{\ensuremath{\beta}}$ noise with $\ensuremath{\beta}>1)$, an infinite-order resummation of the cumulant expansion is necessary, and it leads to an analytical formula for coherence decay having a power-law tail at long times. In this case, the coherence at time ttt depends both on spectral density of $\ensuremath{\xi}(t)$ noise at $\ensuremath{\omega}=n\ensuremath{\pi}/t$, and on the effective low-frequency cutoff of the noise spectrum, which is typically given by the inverse of the data acquisition time. Simulations of decoherence due to purely transverse noise show that the analytical formulas derived in this paper apply in this often encountered case of an optimal working point, provided that the number of pulses is not very large, and that the longitudinal qubit splitting is much larger than the transverse noise amplitude.
We introduce multipulse quantum noise spectroscopy protocols for spectral estimation of the noise affecting multiple qubits coupled to Gaussian dephasing environments including both classical and quantum sources. Our protocols are capable of reconstructing all the noise auto- and cross-correlation spectra entering the multiqubit dynamics, providing access, in particular, to the asymmetric spectra associated with nonclassical environments. Our result relies on (i) an exact analytic solution for the reduced multiqubit dynamics that holds in the presence of an arbitrary Gaussian environment and dephasing-preserving control; (ii) the use of specific timing symmetries, which allow for a frequency comb to be engineered for all filter functions of interest, and for the spectra to be related to experimentally accessible observables. We show that quantum spectra have distinctive dynamical signatures, which we explore in two paradigmatic open-system models describing spin and charge qubits coupled to bosonic environments. Complete noise spectroscopy is demonstrated numerically in a realistic setting consisting of two-exciton qubits coupled to a phonon bath. The estimated spectra allow us to accurately predict the exciton dynamics as well as extract the temperature and spectral density of the quantum environment.
System noise identification is crucial to the engineering of robust quantum systems. Although existing quantum noise spectroscopy (QNS) protocols measure an aggregate amount of noise affecting a quantum system, they generally cannot distinguish between the underlying processes that contribute to it. Here, we propose and experimentally validate a spin-locking-based QNS protocol that exploits the multi-level energy structure of a superconducting qubit to achieve two notable advances. First, our protocol extends the spectral range of weakly anharmonic qubit spectrometers beyond the present limitations set by their lack of strong anharmonicity. Second, the additional information gained from probing the higher-excited levels enables us to identify and distinguish contributions from different underlying noise mechanisms.
We investigate the reduced dynamics of a qubit subject to correlated longitudinal and transverse noise arising from its coupling to a shared bosonic bath. The environmental fluctuations are characterized by a positive-semidefinite matrix-valued spectral density, whose complex off-diagonal elements encode correlations between dephasing and relaxation channels in the frequency domain. Within the second-order time-convolutionless framework, we derive closed time-local equations for the Bloch-vector components of the reduced density matrix. The numerical implementation is validated against the exact pure-dephasing solution and the established behavior of the transverse-coupling spin-boson model. When both noise channels are present, the cross-spectral terms couple the otherwise distinct dephasing and relaxation sectors, producing dynamics that cannot be reproduced by adding independent noise contributions. In particular, the correlations generate non-monotonic population relaxation and a transient revival of coherence following its initial decay. The strength, bandwidth, delay, and phase of the cross spectrum provide control parameters for the magnitude and temporal structure of these effects. Our results demonstrate that correlated multi-axis noise can redistribute coherence loss and energy relaxation in time, thereby providing finite temporal windows of enhanced coherence or suppressed relaxation within the weak-coupling regime.