Quantum phase estimation is one of the critical building blocks of quantum computing. For early fault-tolerant quantum devices, it is desirable for a quantum phase estimation algorithm to (1) use a minimal number of ancilla qubits, (2) allow for inexact initial states with a significant mismatch, (3) achieve the Heisenberg limit for the total resource used, and (4) have a diminishing prefactor for the maximum circuit length when the overlap between the initial state and the target state approaches one. In this paper, we prove that an existing algorithm from quantum metrology can achieve the first three requirements. As a second contribution, we propose a modified version of the algorithm that also meets the fourth requirement, which makes it particularly attractive for early fault-tolerant quantum devices.
Quantum phase estimation is one of the critical building blocks of quantum computing. For early fault-tolerant quantum devices, it is desirable for a quantum phase estimation algorithm to (1) use a minimal number of ancilla qubits, (2) allow for inexact initial states with a significant mismatch, (3) achieve the Heisenberg limit for the total resource used, and (4) have a diminishing prefactor for the maximum circuit length when the overlap between the initial state and the target state approaches one. In this paper, we prove that an existing algorithm from quantum metrology can achieve the first three requirements. As a second contribution, we propose a modified version of the algorithm that also meets the fourth requirement, which makes it particularly attractive for early fault-tolerant quantum devices.
We develop a phase-estimation method with a distinct feature: its maximal run time (which determines the circuit depth) is δ/ , where is the target precision, and the preconstant δ can be arbitrarily close to 0 as the initial state approaches the target eigenstate.The total cost of the algorithm satisfies the Heisenberg-limited scaling O( -1 ).As a result, our algorithm may significantly reduce the circuit depth for performing phase-estimation tasks on early fault-tolerant quantum computers.The key technique is a simple subroutine called quantum complex exponential least squares (QCELS).Our algorithm can be readily applied to reduce the circuit depth for estimating the ground-state energy of a quantum Hamiltonian, when the overlap between the initial state and the ground state is large.If this initial overlap is small, we can combine our method with the Fourier-filtering method developed in [Lin and Tong, PRX Quantum 3, 010318, 2022], and the resulting algorithm provably reduces the circuit depth in the presence of a large relative overlap compared to .The relative-overlap condition is similar to a spectral-gap assumption but it is aware of the information in the initial state and is therefore applicable to certain Hamiltonians with small spectral gaps.We observe that the circuit depth can be reduced by around 2 orders of magnitude in numerical experiments under various settings.
This paper is an algorithmic study of quantum phase estimation with multiple eigenvalues. We present robust multiple-phase estimation (RMPE) algorithms with Heisenberg-limited scaling. The proposed algorithms improve significantly from the idea of single-phase estimation methods by combining carefully designed signal processing routines and an adaptive determination of runtime amplifying factors. They address both the integer-power model, where the unitary U is given as a black box with only integer runtime accessible, and the real-power model, where U is defined through a Hamiltonian H by $U=exp(\ensuremath{-}2\ensuremath{\pi}\mathrm{i}H)$ with any real runtime allowed. These algorithms are particularly suitable for early fault-tolerant quantum computers in the following senses: (1) a minimal number of ancilla qubits are used, (2) an imperfect initial state with a significant residual is allowed, (3) the prefactor in the maximum runtime can be arbitrarily small given that the residual is sufficiently small and a gap among the dominant eigenvalues is known in advance. Even if the eigenvalue gap does not exist, the proposed RMPE algorithms can achieve the Heisenberg limit while maintaining (1) and (2).
This paper is an algorithmic study of quantum phase estimation with multiple eigenvalues. We present robust multiple-phase estimation (RMPE) algorithms with Heisenberg-limited scaling. The proposed algorithms improve significantly from the idea of single-phase estimation methods by combining carefully designed signal processing routines and an adaptive determination of runtime amplifying factors. They address both the {\em integer-power} model, where the unitary U is given as a black box with only integer runtime accessible, and the {\em real-power} model, where U is defined through a Hamiltonian H by U=exp(−2πiH) with any real runtime allowed. These algorithms are particularly suitable for early fault-tolerant quantum computers in the following senses: (1) a minimal number of ancilla qubits are used, (2) an imperfect initial state with a significant residual is allowed, (3) the prefactor in the maximum runtime can be arbitrarily small given that the residual is sufficiently small and a gap among the dominant eigenvalues is known in advance. Even if the eigenvalue gap does not exist, the proposed RMPE algorithms can achieve the Heisenberg limit while maintaining (1) and (2).
As a signal recovery algorithm, compressed sensing is particularly effective when the data has low complexity and samples are scarce, which aligns natually with the task of quantum phase estimation (QPE) on early fault-tolerant quantum computers. In this work, we present a new Heisenberg-limited, robust QPE algorithm based on compressed sensing, which requires only sparse and discrete sampling of times. Specifically, given multiple copies of a suitable initial state and queries to a specific unitary matrix, our algorithm can recover the phase with a total runtime of O ( ϵ − 1 poly log ( ϵ − 1 ) ) , where ϵ is the desired accuracy. Additionally, the maximum runtime satisfies T max ϵ ≪ π , making it comparable to state-of-the-art algorithms. Furthermore, our result resolves the basis mismatch problem in certain cases by introducing an additional parameter to the traditional compressed sensing framework.
Recent years have seen quantum computers move from theory to practice, with the first prototypes of \emph{fault-tolerant} quantum computers capable of correcting their own errors. This marks the beginning of an exciting era of \emph{early fault tolerance}, with the first practical applications on the horizon. Among the most promising is quantum simulation, where a quantum computer is used to study another quantum system, such as molecules or materials. However, a central challenge is how to reliably extract accurate information from these early imperfect devices under realistic constraints, including noise, limited qubit numbers, circuit depth, and control. This thesis addresses this challenge by developing and analyzing algorithms for quantum phase estimation in these regimes, a key primitive for determining the energy spectra. It also considers the problem of learning the underlying dynamics of a quantum system, demonstrating the advantage of active control over passive observation. Together, these results contribute to ongoing efforts to overcome the limitations of early quantum hardware through improved algorithms and classical post-processing.
Under suitable assumptions, the quantum-phase-estimation (QPE) algorithm is able to achieve Heisenberg-limited precision scaling in estimating the ground-state energy.However, QPE requires a large number of ancilla qubits and a large circuit depth, as well as the ability to perform inverse quantum Fourier transform, making it expensive to implement on an early fault-tolerant quantum computer.We propose an alternative method to estimate the ground-state energy of a Hamiltonian with Heisenberglimited precision scaling, which employs a simple quantum circuit with one ancilla qubit, and a classical postprocessing procedure.Besides the ground-state energy, our algorithm also produces an approximate cumulative distribution function of the spectral measure, which can be used to compute other spectral properties of the Hamiltonian.