We implemented a control system for ultracold atom experiments. The system includes hardware modules that generate synchronized experiment signals of different kinds, and a protocol to communicate with all the modules. We also implemented software that can automatically generate experiment sequences from declarative tables of parameters with variations. Both the hardware and the software are open-source for adaptation and customization in other experiment platforms.
We implemented a control system for ultracold atom experiments. The system includes hardware modules that generate synchronized experiment signals of different kinds, and a protocol to communicate with all the modules. We also implemented software that can automatically generate experiment sequences from declarative tables of parameters with variations. Both the hardware and the software are open-source for adaptation and customization in other experiment platforms.
Modern experiments with fundamental quantum systems - like ultracold atoms, trapped ions, and single photons - are managed by a control system formed by a number of input/output electronic channels governed by a computer. In hybrid quantum systems, where two or more quantum systems are combined and made to interact, establishing an efficient control system is particularly challenging due to the higher complexity, especially when each single quantum system is characterized by a different time scale. Here we present a new control apparatus specifically designed to efficiently manage hybrid quantum systems. The apparatus is formed by a network of fast communicating Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), the action of which is administrated by a software. Both hardware and software share the same tree-like structure, which ensures a full scalability of the control apparatus. In the hardware, a master board acts on a number of slave boards, each of which is equipped with an FPGA that locally drives analog and digital input/output channels and radiofrequency outputs up to 400 MHz. The software is designed to be a general platform for managing both commercial and home-made instruments in a user-friendly and intuitive graphical user interface. The architecture ensures that complex control protocols can be carried out, such as performing of concurrent commands loops by acting on different channels, the generation of multi-variable error functions, and the implementation of self-optimization procedures. Although designed for managing experiments with hybrid quantum systems, in particular with atom-ion mixtures, this control apparatus can in principle be used in any experiment in atomic, molecular, and optical physics.
Advanced physics experiments require computer control systems to coordinate the apparatus on time scales from hours to nanoseconds. In this thesis I present a new software system, the labscript suite, for controlling modern ultracold atom experiments. Labscript prepares experiments from Python code and a list of parameters, generating instructions for heterogeneous hardware: pulse sequencers, analog input/output, and radio-frequency synthesis devices, which in turn execute the experiment in strict real time. Other software components automate scheduling of long-running experimental sequences, and the analysis of results. The labscript suite rapidly creates sophisticated experiments, flexibly analyses results, and archives the data.
Quantum computers require software to control the states of the qubits. As the actions on qubits grow in complexity with circuit execution, calibration, and benchmarking, the complexity of the control software grows in tandem. Spin-qubit quantum computers are at a stage where experimentalists need low-level access for tuning and calibration, and quantum algorithm researchers want high-level circuit-level access. In this article, we present the software design of SpinControl. SpinControl integrates three architectural metrics: 1) customizability, to allow prototyping devices and measurement protocols, is achieved by separating data and behaviour; 2) modularity and extensibility are achieved by separating functionalities into different components; and 3) robustness, to reliably execute quantum circuits on many qubits, is achieved by CI pipelines and input validation. SpinControl allows different types of measurements while customizing the instruments used, the pulse or circuit program executed, and the data processing. It allows building standardized experiments from measurement and analysis building blocks and executing these for calibration in a custom and conditional order. SpinControl implements these functionalities alongside robust configuration and data management, a connection to the cloud, and calibration scheduling. Pulse and circuit compilation, virtual gate matrices, as well as spin-qubit-specific GUIs integrated by SpinControl, make heavy use of software packages developed by Delft University of Technology: pulse lib, core-tools (both open source), and QConstruct
We report on the development of a modular platform for programmable quantum simulation with atomic quantum gases. The platform is centered around exchangeable optical modules with versatile functionalities. The performance of each module is disentangled from all others, enabling individual validation and maintenance of its outputs. The relative spatial positioning of the modules with respect to the position of the atomic sample is set by a global reference frame. In this way, the platform simplifies reconfiguration and upgrading of existing setups and accelerates the design of new machines in a time- and cost-efficient manner. Furthermore, it facilitates collaborations between different experimental groups. This standardized hardware design framework, which we call Heidelberg Quantum Architecture, paves the way towards a new generation of on-demand and highly adaptable quantum simulation experiments.
Real-time control software and hardware is essential for operating quantum computers. In particular, the software plays a crucial role in bridging the gap between quantum programs and the quantum system. Unfortunately, current control software is often optimized for a specific system at the cost of flexibility and portability. We propose a systematic design strategy for modular real-time quantum control software and demonstrate that modular control software can reduce the execution time overhead of kernels by 63.3% on average while not increasing the binary size. Our analysis shows that modular control software for two distinctly different systems can share between 49.8% and 91.0% of covered code statements. To demonstrate the modularity and portability of our software architecture, we run a portable randomized benchmarking experiment on two different ion-trap quantum systems.
In this paper, we present description and characteristics of a compact control system for the transportable optical lattice clocks. The hardware of this system is based on the STM32 microcontroller and the software with a graphical interface implemented by the Python software language. The control system has more than twenty digital outputs, ten analog outputs and the ability to connect the additional modules. This system provides the generation of the digital signals with a time resolution of 10 μs with a high synchronization accuracy when the digital-to-analog converter operates simultaneously with digital signals. We compared our custom the microcontroller-based system with the commercial Real-Time National Instruments system, which is often used in experiments with ultracold atoms. Experiments have shown that using both systems allows to cool 87Sr atoms to a temperature of ∼14 μK. This is enough to load the atoms into an optical lattice and to perform the clock transition spectroscopy.