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arXiv:2310.16159 · Physical Review A

Robust shaped pulses for arrays of superconducting or semiconductor spin qubits with fixed Ising coupling

David W. Kanaar, J. P. Kestner

Published Mar 7, 2024• 0 citations
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Abstract

A major current challenge in solid-state quantum computing is to scale qubit arrays to a larger number of qubits. This is hampered by the complexity of the control wiring for the large number of independently tunable interqubit couplings within these arrays. One approach to simplifying the problem is to use a qubit array with fixed Ising (ZZ) interactions. When simultaneously driving a specific subset of qubits in such a system, the dynamics are confined to a set of commuting $\text{su}(2)$ subalgebras. Within these $\text{su}(2)\mathrm{s}$ we describe how to perform X-gates and $\frac{\ensuremath{\pi}}{2}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\text{ZZ}$ rotations robustly against either leakage, which is the main source of error in transmon qubits, or coupling fluctuations, which is the main source of infidelity in flux or semiconductor spin qubits. These gates together with virtual-$z$ gates form a universal set of gates for quantum computing. We construct this set of robust gates for two-edge, three-edge, and four-edge vertices, which compose all existing superconducting qubit and semiconductor spin qubit arrays.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.109.032605

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A major current challenge in solid-state quantum computing is to scale qubit arrays to a larger number of qubits. This is hampered by the complexity of the control wiring for the large number of independently tunable interqubit couplings within these arrays. One approach to simplifying the problem is to use a qubit array with fixed Ising (ZZ) interactions. When simultaneously driving a specific subset of qubits in such a system, the dynamics are confined to a set of commuting su(2)\text{su}(2)su(2) subalgebras. Within these su(2)s\text{su}(2)\mathrm{s}su(2)s we describe how to perform X-gates and \ensuremathπ2ZZ\frac{\ensuremath{\pi}}{2}\phantom{\rule{4pt}{0ex}}\text{ZZ}2\ensuremathπ​ZZ rotations robustly against either leakage, which is the main source of error in transmon qubits, or coupling fluctuations, which is the main source of infidelity in flux or semiconductor spin qubits. These gates together with virtual-zzz gates form a universal set of gates for quantum computing. We construct this set of robust gates for two-edge, three-edge, and four-edge vertices, which compose all existing superconducting qubit and semiconductor spin qubit arrays.
High-fidelity single- and two-qubit gates are essential building blocks for a fault-tolerant quantum computer. While there has been much progress in suppressing single-qubit gate errors in superconducting qubit systems, two-qubit gates still suffer from error rates that are orders of magnitude higher. One limiting factor is the residual ZZ-interaction, which originates from a coupling between computational states and higher-energy states. While this interaction is usually viewed as a nuisance, here we experimentally demonstrate that it can be exploited to produce a universal set of fast single- and two-qubit entangling gates in a coupled transmon qubit system. To implement arbitrary single-qubit rotations, we design a new protocol called the two-axis gate that is based on a three-part composite pulse. It rotates a single qubit independently of the state of the other qubit despite the strong ZZ-coupling. We achieve single-qubit gate fidelities as high as 99.1% from randomized benchmarking measurements. We then demonstrate both a CZ gate and a CNOT gate. Because the system has a strong ZZ-interaction, a CZ gate can be achieved by letting the system freely evolve for a gate time tg=53.8t_g=53.8tg​=53.8 ns. To design the CNOT gate, we utilize an analytical microwave pulse shape based on the SWIPHT protocol for realizing fast, low-leakage gates. We obtain fidelities of 94.6% and 97.8% for the CNOT and CZ gates respectively from quantum progress tomography.
A major challenge for scaling up superconducting quantum computers is unwanted couplings between qubits, which lead to always-on ZZ couplings that impact gate fidelities by shifting energy levels conditional on qubit states. To tackle this challenge, we introduce analytical and numerical techniques, including a diagrammatic perturbation theory and a state-assignment algorithm. Together, these tools enable us to explain the emergence of ZZ coupling in three linked pictures, where each picture tells us more about the underlying mechanisms creating the ZZ coupling. These pictures generalize previous efforts, which focused on specific setups and a single mechanism. The deeper understanding that we provide of the mechanisms behind the ZZ coupling facilitate finding parameter regions of weak and strong ZZ coupling. We showcase our techniques for a system consisting of two fixed-frequency transmon qubits connected by a flux-tunable transmon coupler. There, we find three types of parameter regions with zero or near-zero ZZ coupling, all of which are accessible with current technology. We furthermore find regions of strong ZZ coupling nearby, which may be used to implement adiabatic controlled-phase gates and quantum simulations. Our framework is applicable to many types of qubits and opens up for the design of large-scale quantum computers with improved gate fidelities.
In the companion paper (Part I), we developed an optimal-control framework to suppress intrinsic and decoherence-induced errors in controlled-Z (CZ) gates between directly coupled, frequency-tunable transmons. Here, we extend this framework to incorporate uncertainties in coupling strength, anharmonicities, and zero-flux qubit frequencies, enabling the design of high-fidelity gates robust against noise and parameter uncertainties. We classify these uncertainties by whether they perturb the off-diagonal coupling strengths or the diagonal detunings of the Hamiltonian, and we identify distinct suppression mechanisms for each class. Coupling errors are mitigated through dynamical decoupling induced by strong detuning modulation. For a 30-ns gate, this strategy reduces the coupling error to 6.21×10−76.21\times10^{-7}6.21×10−7 and tolerates coupling-strength uncertainties up to 2π×42π\times42π×4 MHz while keeping total gate infidelity below 10−310^{-3}10−3. Detuning errors are minimized near a symmetric-detuning operating point that balances the two dominant leakage-mediated interactions. A 24-ns gate operated near this point tolerates individual uncertainties of up to 2π×52π\times52π×5 MHz in each relevant diagonal parameter under the same infidelity threshold. We further optimize gate performance under realistic conditions where intrinsic errors, decoherence, and parameter uncertainties coexist across six representative stages of progressively improving hardware performance. The resulting stage-specific controls achieve lower infidelity and greater robustness. Together with the companion study (Part I), this framework offers a practical approach to balance speed, fidelity, and robustness while reducing the need for exhaustive characterization and frequent recalibration in large-scale superconducting quantum processors.
Abstract We propose a scheme for scalable and robust quantum computing on two-dimensional arrays of qubits with fixed longitudinal coupling. This opens the possibility for bypassing the device complexity associated with tunable couplers required in conventional quantum computing hardware. Our approach is based on driving a subarray of qubits such that the total multi-qubit Hamiltonian can be decomposed into a sum of commuting few-qubit blocks, and efficient optimisation of the unitary evolution within each block. The driving pulses are optimised to implement a target gate on the driven qubits, and at the same time identity gates on the neighbouring undriven qubits, cancelling any unwanted evolution due to the constant qubit-qubit interaction. We show that it is possible to realise a universal set of quantum gates with high fidelity on the basis blocks, and by shifting the driving pattern one can realise an arbitrary quantum circuit on the array. Allowing for imperfect Hamiltonian characterisation, we use robust optimal control to obtain fidelities around 99.99% despite 1% uncertainty in the qubit-qubit and drive-qubit couplings, and a detuning uncertainty at 0.1% of the qubit-qubit coupling strength. This robust feature is crucial for scaling up as parameter uncertainty is significant in large devices.
We show how robust and scalable quantum computing can be realized on an arbitrarily large two dimensional arrays of qubits with fixed longitudinal couplings despite significant uncertainty in all the qubit-qubit and drive-qubit coupling strengths. This opens the possibility for bypassing the fabrication complexity associated with tunable couplers required in conventional quantum computing hardware. Our approach is based on driving a chosen subarray of qubits such that the total multi-qubit Hamiltonian can be decomposed into a sum of commuting few-qubit blocks and on efficient optimization of the unitary evolution within each block. Robust optimal control is then employed to implement a universal set of quantum gates with fidelities around 99.99% despite 1% uncertainty in the Hamiltonian's parameters. This robust feature is crucial for scaling up as uncertainty in the properties of qubits is substantial in large devices.
Overcoming the issue of qubit-frequency fluctuations is essential to realize stable and practical quantum computing with solid-state qubits. Static ZZ interaction, which causes a frequency shift of a qubit depending on the state of neighboring qubits, is one of the major obstacles to integrating fixed-frequency transmon qubits. Here we propose and experimentally demonstrate ZZ-interaction-free single-qubit-gate operations on a superconducting transmon qubit by utilizing a semi-analytically optimized pulse based on a perturbative analysis. The gate is designed to be robust against slow qubit-frequency fluctuations. The robustness of the optimized gate spans a few MHz, which is sufficient for suppressing the adverse effects of the ZZ interaction. Our result paves the way for an efficient approach to overcoming the issue of ZZ interaction without any additional hardware overhead.