arXiv:2303.14069 · Proceedings - International Symposium on Computer Architecture/Proceedings
Dancing the Quantum Waltz: Compiling Three-Qubit Gates on Four Level Architectures
Andrew Litteken, Lennart Maximilian Seifert, Jason D. Chadwick, Natalia Nottingham, Tanay Roy, Ziqian Li, David Schuster, Frederic T. Chong, Jonathan M. Baker
Superconducting quantum devices are a leading technology for quantum computation, but they face several challenges. Gate errors, coherence errors and a lack of connectivity all contribute to low fidelity results. In particular, connectivity restrictions enforce a gate set that requires three-qubit gates to be decomposed into one- or two-qubit gates. This substantially increases the number of two-qubit gates that need to be executed. However, many quantum devices have access to higher energy levels. We can expand the qubit abstraction of |0〉 and |1〉 to a ququart which has access to the |2〉 and |3〉 state, but with shorter coherence times. This allows for two qubits to be encoded in one ququart, enabling increased virtual connectivity between physical units from two adjacent qubits to four fully connected qubits. This connectivity scheme allows us to more efficiently execute three-qubit gates natively between two physical devices.
Superconducting quantum devices are a leading technology for quantum computation, but they face several challenges. Gate errors, coherence errors and a lack of connectivity all contribute to low fidelity results. In particular, connectivity restrictions enforce a gate set that requires three-qubit gates to be decomposed into one- or two-qubit gates. This substantially increases the number of two-qubit gates that need to be executed. However, many quantum devices have access to higher energy levels. We can expand the qubit abstraction of |0〉 and |1〉 to a ququart which has access to the |2〉 and |3〉 state, but with shorter coherence times. This allows for two qubits to be encoded in one ququart, enabling increased virtual connectivity between physical units from two adjacent qubits to four fully connected qubits. This connectivity scheme allows us to more efficiently execute three-qubit gates natively between two physical devices.
Current quantum computers are especially error prone and require high levels of optimization to reduce operation counts and maximize the probability the compiled program will succeed. These computers only support operations decomposed into one- and two-qubit gates and only two-qubit gates between physically connected pairs of qubits. Typical compilers first decompose operations, then route data to connected qubits. We propose a new compiler structure, Orchestrated Trios, that first decomposes to the three-qubit Toffoli, routes the inputs of the higher-level Toffoli operations to groups of nearby qubits, then finishes decomposition to hardware-supported gates.
One of the largest obstacles to building a quantum computer is gate error, where the physical evolution of the state of a qubit or group of qubits during a gate operation does not match the intended unitary transformation. Gate error stems from a combination of control errors and random single qubit errors from interaction with the environment. While great strides have been made in mitigating control errors, intrinsic qubit error remains a serious problem that limits gate fidelity in modern qubit architectures. Simultaneously, recent developments of small error-corrected logical qubit devices promise significant increases in logical state lifetime, but translating those improvements into increases in gate fidelity is a complex challenge. In this Letter, we construct protocols for gates on and between small logical qubit devices which inherit the parent device's tolerance to single qubit errors which occur at any time before or during the gate. We consider two such devices, a passive implementation of the three-qubit bit flip code, and the author's own [E. Kapit, Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 150501 (2016)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.116.150501] very small logical qubit (VSLQ) design, and propose error-tolerant gate sets for both. The effective logical gate error rate in these models displays superlinear error reduction with linear increases in single qubit lifetime, proving that passive error correction is capable of increasing gate fidelity. Using a standard phenomenological noise model for superconducting qubits, we demonstrate a realistic, universal one- and two-qubit gate set for the VSLQ, with error rates an order of magnitude lower than those for same-duration operations on single qubits or pairs of qubits. These developments further suggest that incorporating small logical qubits into a measurement based code could substantially improve code performance.
Quantum algorithms on near-term quantum processors are typically executed using shallow quantum circuits composed of one- and two-qubit gates. However, as circuit depth and gate number increase, gate imperfections and qubit decoherence begin to dominate, limiting algorithmic complexity. An alternative approach is to explore gates involving more than two qubits. In previous work (X. Wu et al., Physical Review X 14, 041030 (2024)), we demonstrated a new superconducting qubit architecture with user-selectable two-qubit interactions via a reconfigurable router, used to connect pairs of qubits. Here, we leverage this novel architecture to realize programmable and efficient multi-qubit operations involving more than two qubits, resulting in faster preparation of multi-qubit entangled states with good fidelities. We also successfully apply model-free reinforcement learning to perform multi-qubit gates, including training a two-qubit controlled-Z gate as well as three-qubit controlled-SWAP and controlled-controlled-phase (Fredkin and Toffoli) gates. Higher nth-order gates may also be feasible, using our high-connectivity router design. This could provide a more efficient and higher-fidelity implementation of complex quantum algorithms and a more practical approach to quantum computation.
Abstract While all quantum algorithms can be expressed in terms of single-qubit and two-qubit gates, more expressive gate sets can help reduce the algorithmic depth. This is important in the presence of gate errors, especially those due to decoherence. Using superconducting qubits, we have implemented a three-qubit gate by simultaneously applying two-qubit operations, thereby realizing a three-body interaction. This method straightforwardly extends to other quantum hardware architectures, requires only a firmware upgrade to implement, and is faster than its constituent two-qubit gates. The three-qubit gate represents an entire family of operations, creating flexibility in the quantum-circuit compilation. We demonstrate a process fidelity of 97.90%, which is near the coherence limit of our device. We then generate two classes of entangled states, the Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger and Dicke states, by applying the new gate only once; in comparison, decompositions into the standard gate set would have a two-qubit gate depth of two and three, respectively. Finally, we combine characterization methods and analyze the experimental and statistical errors in the fidelity of the gates and of the target states.
A quantum computer will use the properties of quantum physics to solve certain computational problems much faster than otherwise possible. One promising potential implementation is to use superconducting quantum bits in the circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED) architecture. There, the low energy states of a nonlinear electronic oscillator are isolated and addressed as a qubit. These qubits are capacitively coupled to the modes of a microwave-frequency transmission line resonator which serves as a quantum communication bus. Microwave electrical pulses are applied to the resonator to manipulate or measure the qubit state. State control is calibrated using diagnostic sequences that expose systematic errors. Hybridization of the resonator with the qubit gives it a nonlinear response when driven strongly, useful for amplifying the measurement signal to enhance accuracy. Qubits coupled to the same bus may coherently interact with one another via the exchange of virtual photons. A two-qubit conditional phase gate mediated by this interaction can deterministically entangle its targets, and is used to generate two-qubit Bell states and three-qubit GHZ states. These three-qubit states are of particular interest because they redundantly encode quantum information. They are the basis of the quantum repetition code prototypical of more sophisticated schemes required for quantum computation. Using a three-qubit Toffoli gate, this code is demonstrated to autonomously correct either bit- or phase-flip errors. Despite observing the expected behavior, the overall fidelity is low because of decoherence. A superior implementation of cQED replaces the transmission-line resonator with a three-dimensional box mode, increasing lifetimes by an order of magnitude. In-situ qubit frequency control is enabled with control lines, which are used to fully characterize and control the system Hamiltonian.
While the common practice of decomposing general quantum algorithms into a collection of single- and two-qubit gates is conceptually simple, in many cases it is possible to have more efficient solutions where quantum gates engaging multiple qubits are used. In the noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) era where a universal error correction is still unavailable, this strategy is particularly appealing since it can significantly reduce the computational resources required for executing quantum algorithms. In this work, we experimentally investigate a three-qubit Controlled-CPHASE-SWAP (CCZS) gate on superconducting quantum circuits. By exploiting the higher energy levels of superconducting qubits, we are able to realize a Fredkin-like CCZS gate with a duration of 40 ns, which is comparable to typical single- and two-qubit gates realized on the same platform. By performing quantum process tomography for the two target qubits, we obtain a process fidelity of 86.0% and 81.1% for the control qubit being prepared in ∣0〉 and ∣1〉, respectively. We also show that our scheme can be readily extended to realize a general CCZS gate with an arbitrary swap angle. The results reported here provide valuable additions to the toolbox for achieving large-scale hardware-efficient quantum circuits.