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arXiv:2306.03075

Preserving a qubit during adjacent measurements at a few micrometers distance

Sainath Motlakunta, Nikhil Kotibhaskar, Chung-You Shih, Anthony Vogliano, Darian McLaren, Lewis Hahn, Jingwen Zhu, Roland Hablützel, Rajibul Islam

Published Jun 5, 2023• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Protecting a quantum object against irreversible accidental measurements from its surroundings is necessary for controlled quantum operations. This becomes especially challenging or unfeasible if one must simultaneously measure or reset a nearby object's quantum state, such as in quantum error correction. In atomic systems - among the most established quantum information processing platforms - current attempts to preserve qubits against resonant laser-driven adjacent measurements waste valuable experimental resources such as coherence time or extra qubits and introduce additional errors. Here, we demonstrate high-fidelity preservation of an `asset' ion qubit while a neighboring `process' qubit is reset or measured at a few microns distance. We achieve $< 1\times 10^{-3}$ probability of accidental measurement of the asset qubit while the process qubit is reset, and $< 4\times 10^{-3}$ probability while applying a detection beam on the same neighbor for experimentally demonstrated fast detection times, at a distance of $6\ \rm{μm}$ or four times the addressing Gaussian beam waist. These low probabilities correspond to the preservation of the quantum state of the asset qubit with fidelities above $99.9\%$ (state reset) and $99.6\%$ (state measurement). Our results are enabled by precise wavefront control of the addressing optical beams while utilizing a single ion as a quantum sensor of optical aberrations. Our work demonstrates the feasibility of in-situ state reset and measurement operations, building towards enhancements in the speed and capabilities of quantum processors, such as in simulating measurement-driven quantum phases and realizing quantum error correction.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2306.03075

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Protecting a quantum object against irreversible accidental measurements from its surroundings is necessary for controlled quantum operations. This becomes especially challenging or unfeasible if one must simultaneously measure or reset a nearby object's quantum state, such as in quantum error correction. In atomic systems - among the most established quantum information processing platforms - current attempts to preserve qubits against resonant laser-driven adjacent measurements waste valuable experimental resources such as coherence time or extra qubits and introduce additional errors. Here, we demonstrate high-fidelity preservation of an asset' ion qubit while a neighboring process' qubit is reset or measured at a few microns distance. We achieve <1×10−3< 1\times 10^{-3}<1×10−3 probability of accidental measurement of the asset qubit while the process qubit is reset, and <4×10−3< 4\times 10^{-3}<4×10−3 probability while applying a detection beam on the same neighbor for experimentally demonstrated fast detection times, at a distance of 6 μm6\ \rm{μm}6 μm or four times the addressing Gaussian beam waist. These low probabilities correspond to the preservation of the quantum state of the asset qubit with fidelities above 99.9%99.9\%99.9% (state reset) and 99.6%99.6\%99.6% (state measurement). Our results are enabled by precise wavefront control of the addressing optical beams while utilizing a single ion as a quantum sensor of optical aberrations. Our work demonstrates the feasibility of in-situ state reset and measurement operations, building towards enhancements in the speed and capabilities of quantum processors, such as in simulating measurement-driven quantum phases and realizing quantum error correction.
Protecting qubits from accidental measurements is essential for controlled quantum operations, especially during state-destroying measurements or resets on adjacent qubits, in protocols like quantum error correction. Current methods to preserve atomic qubits against such disturbances waste coherence time, extra qubits, and introduce additional errors. We demonstrate the feasibility of in-situ state-reset and state-measurement of trapped ions, achieving >99.9% fidelity in preserving an 'asset' ion-qubit while a neighboring 'process' qubit is reset, and >99.6% preservation fidelity while applying a detection beam for 11 μs on the same neighbor at a distance of 6 μm. This is achieved through precise wavefront control of addressing optical beams and using a single ion as both a quantum sensor for optical aberrations and an intensity probe with >50 dB dynamic range. Our demonstrations advance quantum processors, enhancing speed and capabilities for tasks like quantum simulations of dissipation and measurement-driven phases, and implementing error correction.
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Quantum-enhanced measurements hold the promise to improve high-precision sensing ranging from the definition of time standards to the determination of fundamental constants of nature. However, quantum sensors lose their sensitivity in the presence of noise. To protect them, the use of quantum error-correcting codes has been proposed. Trapped ions are an excellent technological platform for both quantum sensing and quantum error correction. Here we present a quantum error correction scheme that harnesses dissipation to stabilize a trapped-ion qubit. In our approach, always-on couplings to an engineered environment protect the qubit against spin-flips or phase-flips. Our dissipative error correction scheme operates in a continuous manner without the need to perform measurements or feedback operations. We show that the resulting enhanced coherence time translates into a significantly enhanced precision for quantum measurements. Our work constitutes a stepping stone towards the paradigm of self-correcting quantum information processing.
Abstract Quantum-enhanced measurements hold the promise to improve high-precision sensing ranging from the definition of time standards to the determination of fundamental constants of nature. However, quantum sensors lose their sensitivity in the presence of noise. To protect them, the use of quantum error-correcting codes has been proposed. Trapped ions are an excellent technological platform for both quantum sensing and quantum error correction. Here we present a quantum error correction scheme that harnesses dissipation to stabilize a trapped-ion qubit. In our approach, always-on couplings to an engineered environment protect the qubit against spin-flips or phase-flips. Our dissipative error correction scheme operates in a continuous manner without the need to perform measurements or feedback operations. We show that the resulting enhanced coherence time translates into a significantly enhanced precision for quantum measurements. Our work constitutes a stepping stone towards the paradigm of self-correcting quantum information processing.
A vital requirement for a quantum computer is the ability to locally address, with high fidelity, any of its qubits without affecting their neighbors. We propose an addressing method using composite sequences of laser pulses that dramatically reduces the addressing error in a lattice of closely spaced atoms or ions and at the same time significantly enhances the robustness of qubit manipulations. To this end, we design novel (to our knowledge) high-fidelity composite pulses for the most important single-qubit operations. In principle, this method allows one to beat the diffraction limit, for only atoms situated in a small spatial region around the center of the laser beam are excited, well within the laser beam waist.
This thesis describes experimental demonstrations of high-fidelity readout of trapped ion quantum bits ("qubits") for quantum information processing. We present direct single-shot measurement of an "optical" qubit stored in a single calcium-40 ion by the process of resonance fluorescence with a fidelity of 99.991(1)% (surpassing the level necessary for fault-tolerant quantum computation). A time-resolved maximum likelihood method is used to discriminate efficiently between the two qubit states based on photon-counting information, even in the presence of qubit decay from one state to the other. It also screens out errors due to cosmic ray events in the detector, a phenomenon investigated in this work. An adaptive method allows the 99.99% level to be reached in 145us average detection time. The readout fidelity is asymmetric: 99.9998% is possible for the "bright" qubit state, while retaining 99.98% for the "dark" state. This asymmetry could be exploited in quantum error correction (by encoding the "no-error" syndrome of the ancilla qubits in the "bright" state), as could the likelihood values computed (which quantify confidence in the measurement outcome). We then extend the work to parallel readout of a four-ion string using a CCD camera and achieve the same 99.99% net fidelity, limited by qubit decay in the 400us exposure time. The behaviour of the camera is characterised by fitting experimental data with a model. The additional readout error due to cross-talk between ion images on the CCD is measured in an experiment designed to remove the effect of qubit decay; a spatial maximum likelihood technique is used to reduce this error to only 0.2(1)x10^{-4} per qubit, despite the presence of ~4% optical cross-talk between neighbouring qubits. Studies of the cross-talk indicate that the readout method would scale with negligible loss of fidelity to parallel readout of ~10,000 qubits with a readout time of ~3us per qubit. Monte-Carlo simulations of the readout process are presented for comparison with experimental data; these are also used to explore the parameter space associated with fluorescence detection and to optimise experimental and analysis parameters. Applications of the analysis methods to readout of other atomic and solid-state qubits are discussed.