Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:2205.02324 · Physical Review Letters

Toward the Speed Limit of High-Fidelity Two-Qubit Gates

Swathi S. Hegde, Jingfu Zhang, Dieter Suter

Published Jun 8, 2022• 12 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Most implementations of quantum gate operations rely on external control fields to drive the evolution of the quantum system. Generating these control fields requires significant efforts to design the suitable control Hamiltonians. Furthermore, any error in the control fields reduces the fidelity of the implemented control operation with respect to the ideal target operation. Achieving sufficiently fast gate operations at low error rates remains therefore a huge challenge. In this Letter, we present a novel approach to overcome this challenge by eliminating, for specific gate operations, the time-dependent control fields entirely. This approach appears useful for maximizing the speed of the gate operation while simultaneously eliminating relevant sources of errors. We present an experimental demonstration of the concept in a single nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond at room temperature.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.128.230502

Related papers

High-fidelity entangling gates for electron and nuclear spin qubits in diamond

Regina Finsterhoelzl, Wolf-Rüdiger Hannes, Guido Burkard

Motivated by the recent experimental progress in exploring the use of a nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond as a quantum computing platform, we propose schemes for fast and high-fidelity entangling gates on this platform. Using both analytical and numerical calculations, we demonstrate that synchronization effects between resonant and off-resonant transitions may be exploited such that spin-flip errors due to strong driving may be eliminated by adjusting the gate time or the driving field. This allows for fast, high-fidelity entangling operations between the electron spin and one or several nuclear spins. We investigate a two-qubit system where the NV center comprises a N 15 atom and a qubit-qutrit system for the case of a N 14 atom. In both cases, we predict a complete suppression of off-resonant driving errors for two-qubit gates when addressing the NV electron spin conditioned on states of nuclear spins of the nitrogen atom of the defect. Additionally, we predict fidelities > 0.99 for multiqubit gates when including the surrounding C 13 atoms in the diamond lattice in the conditioned logic.

arXiv:2403.11553•Physical review. B./Physical review. B•Jun 3, 2025•6 citations

Gate Optimization via Efficient Two-Qubit Benchmarking for NV Centers in Diamond

Alessandro Marcomini, Philipp J. Vetter, Tommaso Calarco +3 more

High-fidelity gate implementation requires sophisticated control pulses that steer the quantum system to undergo the desired transformation. Quantum Optimal Control allows to derive these control pulses in an open-loop fashion based on numerical simulations. However, their precision can be limited by incomplete knowledge of the system. Closed-loop optimization overcomes this limitation by incorporating feedback from measurements, provided a suitable and efficient measure of the gate performance can be defined. In this article, we present an efficient method to evaluate the performance of a two-qubit gate by preparation and measurement of only two quantum states, enabling experimental closed-loop optimization with a metric previously believed to be limited to open-loop control. We tailor the approach to nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond and, through numerical simulations, demonstrate how the method can optimize a two-qubit gate while reducing the number of required measurements by two orders of magnitude compared to standard process tomography under realistic experimental settings.

quant-pharXiv:2603.08581•Mar 10, 2026•0 citations

Optimisation of diamond quantum processors

YunHeng Chen, Sophie Stearn, Scott Vella +2 more

Abstract Diamond quantum processors consisting of a nitrogen-vacancy centre and surrounding nuclear spins have been the key to significant advancements in room-temperature quantum computing, quantum sensing and microscopy. The optimisation of these processors is crucial for the development of large-scale diamond quantum computers and the next generation of enhanced quantum sensors and microscopes. Here, we present a full model of multi-qubit diamond quantum processors and develop a semi-analytical method for designing gate pulses. This method optimises gate speed and fidelity in the presence of random control errors and is readily compatible with feedback optimisation routines. We theoretically demonstrate infidelities approaching ∼10−5 for single-qubit gates and established evidence that this can also be achieved for a two-qubit CZ gate. Consequently, our method reduces the effects of control errors below the errors introduced by hyperfine field misalignment and the unavoidable decoherence that is intrinsic to the processors. Having developed this optimal control, we simulated the performance of a diamond quantum processor by computing quantum Fourier transforms. We find that the simulated diamond quantum processor is able to achieve fast operations with low error probability.

arXiv:2002.00545•New Journal of Physics•Sep 1, 2020•18 citations

Engineering fast high-fidelity quantum operations with constrained interactions

Thales Figueiredo Roque, Aashish A. Clerk, Hugo Ribeiro

Abstract Understanding how to tailor quantum dynamics to achieve the desired evolution is a crucial problem in almost all quantum technologies. Oftentimes an otherwise ideal quantum dynamics is corrupted by unavoidable interactions, and finding ways to mitigate the unwanted effects of such interactions on the dynamics is a very active field of research. Here, we present a very general method for designing high-efficiency control sequences that are fully compatible with experimental constraints on available interactions and their tunability. Our approach relies on the Magnus expansion to find order by order the necessary corrections that result in a high-fidelity operation. In the end finding, the control fields are reduced to solve a set of linear equations. We illustrate our method by applying it to a number of physically relevant problems: the strong-driving limit of a two-level system, fast squeezing in a parametrically driven cavity, the leakage problem in transmon qubit gates, and the acceleration of SNAP gates in a qubit-cavity system.

arXiv:2003.12096•npj Quantum Information•Feb 8, 2021•0 citations

Quantum gates via dynamical decoupling of a central qubit on IBMQ and N 15 -vacancy centers in diamond

Lucas Tsunaki, Michael Dotan, Kseniia Volkova +1 more

We demonstrate a hardware-agnostic protocol for realizing fast, high-fidelity gates through dynamical decoupling (DD) pulse sequences applied to a central qubit coupled to target qubits. The target qubits are controlled by leveraging their intrinsic interaction with the central qubit, eliminating the need for slow, error-prone direct control. We develop and implement the DD-gate protocol within two distinct frameworks: a general model with minimal assumptions, benchmarked on a gate-based digital quantum simulator given by the IBM quantum (IBMQ) platforms; and an experimentally realistic case with a N 15 -vacancy center ( NV 15 ) in diamond. Using IBMQ, we are able to elucidate the underlying quantum dynamics of the DD gates and test them, independently of experimental constraints. For NV 15 , we realize the protocol considering system-specific properties, which could represent a significant reduction in gate duration and improved technological scalability compared with current dynamical-decoupling-based control. We also propose a simple application for high-efficiency polarization of the N 15 nuclear spin that could potentially be less technically demanding than current methods. Altogether, this work provides a robust strategy for quantum control that can be implemented in arbitrary systems fitting the central-target qubit architecture. Beyond these results, our open-source simulations and implementations for both platforms provide a practical framework for simulating time-dependent qubit dynamics on noisy intermediate-scale quantum era gate-based quantum processors.

arXiv:2509.22107•Physical Review A•Mar 9, 2026•0 citations

Implementing two-qubit gates at the quantum speed limit

J.E. Howard, Alexander Lidiak, Casey Jameson +8 more

The speed of elementary quantum gates, particularly two-qubit gates, ultimately sets the limit on the speed at which quantum circuits can operate. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate commonly used two-qubit gates at nearly the fastest possible speed allowed by the physical interaction strength between two superconducting transmon qubits. We achieve this quantum speed limit by implementing experimental gates designed using a machine-learning-inspired optimal control method. Importantly, our method only requires the single-qubit drive strength to be moderately larger than the interaction strength to achieve an arbitrary two-qubit gate close to its analytical speed limit with high fidelity. Thus the method is applicable to a variety of platforms, including those with comparable single-qubit and two-qubit gate speeds, or those with always-on interactions. We expect our method to offer significant speedups for non-native two-qubit gates that are typically achieved with a long sequence of single-qubit and native two-qubit gates.

arXiv:2206.07716•Physical Review Research•Dec 1, 2023•19 citations
Most implementations of quantum gate operations rely on external control fields to drive the evolution of the quantum system. Generating these control fields requires significant efforts to design the suitable control Hamiltonians. Furthermore, any error in the control fields reduces the fidelity of the implemented control operation with respect to the ideal target operation. Achieving sufficiently fast gate operations at low error rates remains therefore a huge challenge. In this Letter, we present a novel approach to overcome this challenge by eliminating, for specific gate operations, the time-dependent control fields entirely. This approach appears useful for maximizing the speed of the gate operation while simultaneously eliminating relevant sources of errors. We present an experimental demonstration of the concept in a single nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond at room temperature.
Motivated by the recent experimental progress in exploring the use of a nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond as a quantum computing platform, we propose schemes for fast and high-fidelity entangling gates on this platform. Using both analytical and numerical calculations, we demonstrate that synchronization effects between resonant and off-resonant transitions may be exploited such that spin-flip errors due to strong driving may be eliminated by adjusting the gate time or the driving field. This allows for fast, high-fidelity entangling operations between the electron spin and one or several nuclear spins. We investigate a two-qubit system where the NV center comprises a N 15 atom and a qubit-qutrit system for the case of a N 14 atom. In both cases, we predict a complete suppression of off-resonant driving errors for two-qubit gates when addressing the NV electron spin conditioned on states of nuclear spins of the nitrogen atom of the defect. Additionally, we predict fidelities > 0.99 for multiqubit gates when including the surrounding C 13 atoms in the diamond lattice in the conditioned logic.
High-fidelity gate implementation requires sophisticated control pulses that steer the quantum system to undergo the desired transformation. Quantum Optimal Control allows to derive these control pulses in an open-loop fashion based on numerical simulations. However, their precision can be limited by incomplete knowledge of the system. Closed-loop optimization overcomes this limitation by incorporating feedback from measurements, provided a suitable and efficient measure of the gate performance can be defined. In this article, we present an efficient method to evaluate the performance of a two-qubit gate by preparation and measurement of only two quantum states, enabling experimental closed-loop optimization with a metric previously believed to be limited to open-loop control. We tailor the approach to nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond and, through numerical simulations, demonstrate how the method can optimize a two-qubit gate while reducing the number of required measurements by two orders of magnitude compared to standard process tomography under realistic experimental settings.
Abstract Diamond quantum processors consisting of a nitrogen-vacancy centre and surrounding nuclear spins have been the key to significant advancements in room-temperature quantum computing, quantum sensing and microscopy. The optimisation of these processors is crucial for the development of large-scale diamond quantum computers and the next generation of enhanced quantum sensors and microscopes. Here, we present a full model of multi-qubit diamond quantum processors and develop a semi-analytical method for designing gate pulses. This method optimises gate speed and fidelity in the presence of random control errors and is readily compatible with feedback optimisation routines. We theoretically demonstrate infidelities approaching ∼10−5 for single-qubit gates and established evidence that this can also be achieved for a two-qubit CZ gate. Consequently, our method reduces the effects of control errors below the errors introduced by hyperfine field misalignment and the unavoidable decoherence that is intrinsic to the processors. Having developed this optimal control, we simulated the performance of a diamond quantum processor by computing quantum Fourier transforms. We find that the simulated diamond quantum processor is able to achieve fast operations with low error probability.
Abstract Understanding how to tailor quantum dynamics to achieve the desired evolution is a crucial problem in almost all quantum technologies. Oftentimes an otherwise ideal quantum dynamics is corrupted by unavoidable interactions, and finding ways to mitigate the unwanted effects of such interactions on the dynamics is a very active field of research. Here, we present a very general method for designing high-efficiency control sequences that are fully compatible with experimental constraints on available interactions and their tunability. Our approach relies on the Magnus expansion to find order by order the necessary corrections that result in a high-fidelity operation. In the end finding, the control fields are reduced to solve a set of linear equations. We illustrate our method by applying it to a number of physically relevant problems: the strong-driving limit of a two-level system, fast squeezing in a parametrically driven cavity, the leakage problem in transmon qubit gates, and the acceleration of SNAP gates in a qubit-cavity system.
We demonstrate a hardware-agnostic protocol for realizing fast, high-fidelity gates through dynamical decoupling (DD) pulse sequences applied to a central qubit coupled to target qubits. The target qubits are controlled by leveraging their intrinsic interaction with the central qubit, eliminating the need for slow, error-prone direct control. We develop and implement the DD-gate protocol within two distinct frameworks: a general model with minimal assumptions, benchmarked on a gate-based digital quantum simulator given by the IBM quantum (IBMQ) platforms; and an experimentally realistic case with a N 15 -vacancy center ( NV 15 ) in diamond. Using IBMQ, we are able to elucidate the underlying quantum dynamics of the DD gates and test them, independently of experimental constraints. For NV 15 , we realize the protocol considering system-specific properties, which could represent a significant reduction in gate duration and improved technological scalability compared with current dynamical-decoupling-based control. We also propose a simple application for high-efficiency polarization of the N 15 nuclear spin that could potentially be less technically demanding than current methods. Altogether, this work provides a robust strategy for quantum control that can be implemented in arbitrary systems fitting the central-target qubit architecture. Beyond these results, our open-source simulations and implementations for both platforms provide a practical framework for simulating time-dependent qubit dynamics on noisy intermediate-scale quantum era gate-based quantum processors.
The speed of elementary quantum gates, particularly two-qubit gates, ultimately sets the limit on the speed at which quantum circuits can operate. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate commonly used two-qubit gates at nearly the fastest possible speed allowed by the physical interaction strength between two superconducting transmon qubits. We achieve this quantum speed limit by implementing experimental gates designed using a machine-learning-inspired optimal control method. Importantly, our method only requires the single-qubit drive strength to be moderately larger than the interaction strength to achieve an arbitrary two-qubit gate close to its analytical speed limit with high fidelity. Thus the method is applicable to a variety of platforms, including those with comparable single-qubit and two-qubit gate speeds, or those with always-on interactions. We expect our method to offer significant speedups for non-native two-qubit gates that are typically achieved with a long sequence of single-qubit and native two-qubit gates.