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arXiv:1811.12926 · Physical Review A

Validating quantum computers using randomized model circuits

Andrew W. Cross, Lev S. Bishop, Sarah Sheldon, Paul D. Nation, Jay Gambetta

Published Sep 20, 2019• 702 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We introduce a single-number metric, quantum volume, that can be measured using a concrete protocol on near-term quantum computers of modest size ($n\ensuremath{\lesssim}50$), and measure it on several state-of-the-art transmon devices, finding values as high as 16. The quantum volume is linked to system error rates, and is empirically reduced by uncontrolled interactions within the system. It quantifies the largest random circuit of equal width and depth that the computer successfully implements. Quantum computing systems with high-fidelity operations, high connectivity, large calibrated gate sets, and circuit rewriting toolchains are expected to have higher quantum volumes. The quantum volume is a pragmatic way to measure and compare progress toward improved system-wide gate error rates for near-term quantum computation and error-correction experiments.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.100.032328

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arXiv:1905.10724•May 26, 2019•2 citations
We introduce a single-number metric, quantum volume, that can be measured using a concrete protocol on near-term quantum computers of modest size (n\ensuremath≲50n\ensuremath{\lesssim}50n\ensuremath≲50), and measure it on several state-of-the-art transmon devices, finding values as high as 16. The quantum volume is linked to system error rates, and is empirically reduced by uncontrolled interactions within the system. It quantifies the largest random circuit of equal width and depth that the computer successfully implements. Quantum computing systems with high-fidelity operations, high connectivity, large calibrated gate sets, and circuit rewriting toolchains are expected to have higher quantum volumes. The quantum volume is a pragmatic way to measure and compare progress toward improved system-wide gate error rates for near-term quantum computation and error-correction experiments.
Quantum volume is a full-stack benchmark for near-term quantum computers. It quantifies the largest size of a square circuit which can be executed on the target device with reasonable fidelity. Error mitigation is a set of techniques intended to remove the effects of noise present in the computation of noisy quantum computers when computing an expectation value of interest. Effective quantum volume is a proposed metric that applies error mitigation to the quantum volume protocol to evaluate the effectiveness not only of the target device but also of the error mitigation algorithm. Digital zero-noise extrapolation is an error mitigation technique that estimates the noiseless expectation value using circuit folding to amplify errors by known scale factors and then extrapolating computed expectation values to the zero-noise limit. Here we demonstrate that zero-noise extrapolation, with global and local unitary folding with fractional scale factors, in conjunction with dynamical decoupling, can increase the effective quantum volume over the vendor-measured quantum volume. Specifically, we measure the effective quantum volume of four IBM Quantum superconducting processor units, obtaining values that are larger than the vendor-measured quantum volume on each device. This is the first such increase reported.
As quantum processors grow, new performance benchmarks are required to capture the full quality of the devices at scale. While quantum volume is an excellent benchmark, it focuses on the highest quality subset of the device and so is unable to indicate the average performance over a large number of connected qubits. Furthermore, it is a discrete pass/fail and so is not reflective of continuous improvements in hardware nor does it provide quantitative direction to large-scale algorithms. For example, there may be value in error mitigated Hamiltonian simulation at scale with devices unable to pass strict quantum volume tests. Here we discuss a scalable benchmark which measures the fidelity of a connecting set of two-qubit gates over NNN qubits by measuring gate errors using simultaneous direct randomized benchmarking in disjoint layers. Our layer fidelity can be easily related to algorithmic run time, via γγγ defined in Ref.\cite{berg2022probabilistic} that can be used to estimate the number of circuits required for error mitigation. The protocol is efficient and obtains all the pair rates in the layered structure. Compared to regular (isolated) RB this approach is sensitive to crosstalk. As an example we measure a N=80 (100)N=80~(100)N=80 (100) qubit layer fidelity on a 127 qubit fixed-coupling "Eagle" processor (ibm\_sherbrooke) of 0.26(0.19) and on the 133 qubit tunable-coupling "Heron" processor (ibm\_montecarlo) of 0.61(0.26). This can easily be expressed as a layer size independent quantity, error per layered gate (EPLG), which is here 1.7×10−2(1.7×10−2)1.7\times10^{-2}(1.7\times10^{-2})1.7×10−2(1.7×10−2) for ibm\_sherbrooke and 6.2×10−3(1.2×10−2)6.2\times10^{-3}(1.2\times10^{-2})6.2×10−3(1.2×10−2) for ibm\_montecarlo.
Quantum volume (QV) is a widely recognized metric for assessing the practical capabilities of quantum computers, as it provides an estimate of the largest quantum circuit that can be reliably executed. However, measuring QV on a real device requires comparing experimental outcomes with ideal theoretical results—a process that rapidly becomes computationally expensive. By examining the cumulative impact of errors in two-qubit gates, we present a simple, accessible `rule of thumb’ that relates the quantum volume directly to the average error rate of native gates. Our formula shows a strong agreement with experimental data from leading quantum computing platforms, including both superconducting and trapped-ion systems. This straightforward model offers a clear, intuitive guideline for predicting quantum hardware performance, enabling more informed decisions regarding circuit design and resource allocation.
Defining metrics for near-term quantum computing processors has been an integral part of the quantum hardware research and development efforts. Such quantitative characteristics are not only useful for reporting the progress and comparing different quantum platforms but also essential for identifying the bottlenecks and designing a technology road map. Most metrics such as randomized benchmarking and quantum volume were originally introduced for circuit-based quantum computers and were not immediately applicable to measurement-based quantum computing (MBQC) processors such as in photonic devices. In this Letter, we close this long-standing gap by presenting a framework to map physical noises and imperfections in MBQC processes to logical errors in equivalent quantum circuits, whereby enabling the well-known metrics to characterize MBQC. To showcase our framework, we study a continuous-variable cluster state based on the Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill (GKP) encoding as a near-term candidate for photonic quantum computing, and derive the effective logical gate error channels and calculate the quantum volume in terms of the GKP squeezing and photon transmission rate.
The Quantum Volume protocol uses scrambling random circuits to benchmark NISQ computers. Quantum Volume is generally well-regarded as a benchmark for small, noisy, quantum computers because it requires the quantum computer to implement many non-local entangling gates within a square-shaped circuit, which incentivizes high qubit count, long qubit coherence times, and low error rates on all hardware gates. Quantum Volume circuits inherently produce high-entanglement states that are fragile to errors and decoherence. The Quantum Volume benchmark measures an observable called heavy-output-probability (HOP), where an HOP of 0.50.50.5 corresponds to complete loss of coherence, and in the limit of system size an HOP ≈0.84\approx 0.84≈0.84 for a fully coherent quantum processor. Here, we numerically study the tradeoff between depolarizing noise, entanglement as quantified by the bipartite negativity measure, and HOP in quantum volume circuits. Our results contextualize prior small scale quantum volume demonstrations on quantum computers and highlight that under depolarizing noise, due to finite system size effects heavy output probabilities can be greater than 0.50.50.5 while the bipartite negativity entanglement has been destroyed. This implies, although improbable, that a NISQ computer could pass the Quantum Volume benchmark test threshold of 2/32/32/3 while the underlying quantum computation has no global entanglement -- albeit only for small nnn.
Experimentally realizable quantum computers are rapidly approaching the threshold of quantum supremacy. Quantum Hamiltonian simulation promises to be one of the first practical applications for which such a device could demonstrate an advantage over all classical systems. However, these early devices will inevitably remain both noisy and small, precluding the use of quantum error correction. We use high-performance classical tools to construct, optimize, and simulate quantum circuits subject to realistic error models in order to empirically determine the "simulation capacity" of near-term simulation experiments implemented via quantum signal processing (QSP), describing the relationship between simulation time, system size, and resolution of QSP circuits which are optimally configured to balance algorithmic precision and external noise. From simulation capacity models, we estimate maximum tolerable error rate for meaningful simulation experiments on a near-term quantum computer. By exploiting symmetry inherent to the QSP circuit, we further demonstrate that its capacity for quantum simulation can be increased by at least two orders of magnitude if errors are systematic and unitary. We find that a device with ε2=10−5ε^2=10^{-5}ε2=10−5 systematic amplitude errors could meaningfully simulate systems up to n≈16n\approx16n≈16 with an expected failure rate below 10%10\%10%, whereas the largest system a device with a stochastic error rate of pε=10−5p_ε=10^{-5}pε​=10−5 could meaningfully simulate with the same rate of failure is between n=3n=3n=3 and n=5n=5n=5 (depending on the stochastic channel). Extrapolating from empirical results, we estimate that one would typically need a stochastic error rate below pε=10−8p_ε=10^{-8}pε​=10−8 to perform a meaningful n=50n=50n=50 simulation experiment with a failure rate below 10%10\%10%, while the same experiment could tolerate systematic unitary errors with strength ε2≈10−6ε^2\approx10^{-6}ε2≈10−6.