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arXiv:2003.02472 · Physical review. B./Physical review. B

Quantifying the performance of multipulse quantum sensing

Yang Dong, Shao-Chun Zhang, Hao-Bin Lin, Xiang-Dong Chen, Wei Zhu, Guanzhong Wang, Guang‐Can Guo, Fang‐Wen Sun

Published Mar 15, 2021• 7 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The quality of a quantum operation determines the performance of quantum information processing, such as the sensitivity of quantum sensing. Different from the fidelity of quantum operation in quantum computation, we present an effective function to evaluate the performance and diagnose the imperfection of operations in multipulse based quantum sensing. The evaluation function directly links the realistic sensitivity with intrinsic sensitivity in a simple way. Moreover, guided by this evaluation function, we optimize a composite-pulse sequence for high sensitivity nitrogen-vacancy- center based magnetometry against spectrum inhomogeneities and control errors to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of nanoscale nuclear magnetic resonance by one order of magnitude. It marks an important step towards quantitative quantum sensing with imperfect quantum control in practical applications.

DOI
10.1103/physrevb.103.104104

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The quality of a quantum operation determines the performance of quantum information processing, such as the sensitivity of quantum sensing. Different from the fidelity of quantum operation in quantum computation, we present an effective function to evaluate the performance and diagnose the imperfection of operations in multipulse based quantum sensing. The evaluation function directly links the realistic sensitivity with intrinsic sensitivity in a simple way. Moreover, guided by this evaluation function, we optimize a composite-pulse sequence for high sensitivity nitrogen-vacancy- center based magnetometry against spectrum inhomogeneities and control errors to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of nanoscale nuclear magnetic resonance by one order of magnitude. It marks an important step towards quantitative quantum sensing with imperfect quantum control in practical applications.
The sensitivity of practical solid quantum sensing can be boosted up by increasing the number of probes. However, the effects of spin dephasing caused by inhomogeneous broadening and imperfect quantum control can reduce the fidelity of quantum control and the sensitivity of quantum sensing with the dense ensemble of probes, such as nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond. Here, we present a robust and effective composite-pulse for high fidelity operation against inhomogeneous broadening and control errors via optimized modulation of the control field. Such a composite-pulse was verified on NV center to keep high fidelity quantum control up to a spectrum detuning as large as 110% of Rabi frequency. The sensitivity of the magnetometer with NV center ensemble was experimentally improved by a factor of 4, comparing to dynamical decoupling with a normal rectangular pulse. Our work marks an important step towards high trustworthy ultra-sensitive quantum sensing with imperfect quantum control in practical applications. The used principle is universal and not restricted to NV center ensemble magnetometer.
The sensitivity of a practical quantum magnetometer is challenged by both inhomogeneous coupling between sensors and environment and errors in quantum control. Based on the physical criteria of modern quantum sensing, we present a robust and effective composite-pulse for high fidelity operation against inhomogeneous broadening of sensor and control errors via optimized modulation of control field. Such a technique is verified on nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond to keep almost perfect operation up to a detuning as larger as 110%110\%110%. The sensitivity of the magnetometer with NV center ensemble is experimentally improved by a factor of 444, comparing to dynamical decoupling with normal rectangular pulse. Our work marks an important step towards high trustworthy ultra-sensitive quantum sensing with imperfect quantum control in realistic systems. The used principle however, is universal and not restricted to NV center ensemble magnetometer.
We develop theoretically and demonstrate experimentally a universal dynamical decoupling method for robust quantum sensing with unambiguous signal identification. Our method uses randomization of control pulses to simultaneously suppress two types of errors in the measured spectra that would otherwise lead to false signal identification. These are spurious responses due to finite-width π pulses, as well as signal distortion caused by π pulse imperfections. For the cases of nanoscale nuclear-spin sensing and ac magnetometry, we benchmark the performance of the protocol with a single nitrogen vacancy center in diamond against widely used nonrandomized pulse sequences. Our method is general and can be combined with existing multipulse quantum sensing sequences to enhance their performance.
The nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond is a quantum defect in diamond with unique properties for use in high-sensitive, high-resolution quantum sensors of magnetic fields. One of the most interesting and challenging application of NV quantum sensors is nanoscale magnetic resonance imaging (nano-MRI), which would enable to address single biomolecules. To this goal, improving the sensitivity of the NV sensor is a crucial task. Here, we present a quantum optimal control method that optimizes the sensitivity of NV sensor to specific weak magnetic signals with biologically-relevant, complex spectrum. The method, based on the mapping of the sensing problem on a problem of energy optimization of an Ising chain, allows us to improve sensitivity by three orders of magnitude compared to standard control sequences.
Enhancing quantum sensing The quantum properties of the nitrogen vacancy (NV) defect in diamond can be used as an atomic compass needle that is sensitive to tiny variations in magnetic field. Schmitt et al. and Boss et al. successfully enhanced this sensitivity by several orders of magnitude (see the Perspective by Jordan). They applied a sequence of pulses to the NV center, the timing of which was set by and compared with a highly stable oscillator. This allowed them to measure the frequency of an oscillating magnetic field (megahertz bandwidth) with submillihertz resolution. Such enhanced precision measurement could be applied, for example, to improve nuclear magnetic resonance-based imaging protocols of single molecules. Science , this issue p. 832 , p. 837 ; see also p. 802
Robust and high-fidelity control of electron spins in solids is the cornerstone for facilitating applications of solid-state spins in quantum information processing and quantum sensing. However, precise control of spin systems is always challenging due to the presence of various noises originating from the thermal environment and control fields. Here, noise-resilient quantum gates, designed with robust optimal control (ROC) algorithms, are demonstrated experimentally with nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond to realize tailored robustness against detunings and Rabi errors simultaneously. In the presence of both 10% off-resonance detuning and 10% deviation of a Rabi frequency, we achieve an average single-qubit gate fidelity of up to 99.89%. Our experiments also show that, ROC-based multipulse quantum sensing sequences can suppress spurious responses resulting from finite widths and imperfections of microwave pulses, which provides an efficient strategy for enhancing the performance of existing multipulse quantum sensing sequences.