A feedback loop consists of three dynamical systems: an observer, a controller, and the system to be manipulated. Because of back-action in quantum systems, quantum controllers can act. as quantum observers and vice-versa. We demonstrate that under very general conditions, a single quantum bit can serve as both a full controller and full observer of a quantum system for a feedback loop. By similar techniques, we show that a qubit can be harnessed to serve as a quantum communication channel between two systems, and that multiple systems call be connected together to create all efficient universal quantum computer. We propose experimental realizations of our approach, and explore the implications for controllability, observability, and quantum information processing.
A feedback loop consists of three dynamical systems: an observer, a controller, and the system to be manipulated. Because of back-action in quantum systems, quantum controllers can act. as quantum observers and vice-versa. We demonstrate that under very general conditions, a single quantum bit can serve as both a full controller and full observer of a quantum system for a feedback loop. By similar techniques, we show that a qubit can be harnessed to serve as a quantum communication channel between two systems, and that multiple systems call be connected together to create all efficient universal quantum computer. We propose experimental realizations of our approach, and explore the implications for controllability, observability, and quantum information processing.
To observe or control a quantum system, one must interact with it via an interface. This article exhibits simple universal quantum interfaces---quantum input/output ports consisting of a single two-state system or quantum bit that interacts with the system to be observed or controlled. It is shown that under very general conditions the ability to observe and control the quantum bit on its own implies the ability to observe and control the system itself. The interface can also be used as a quantum communication channel, and multiple quantum systems can be connected by interfaces to become an efficient universal quantum computer. Experimental realizations are proposed, and implications for controllability, observability, and quantum information processing are explored.
In the conventional picture of quantum feedback control, sensors perform measurements on the system, a classical controller processes the results of the measurements, and actuators supply semiclassical potentials to alter the behavior of the quantum system. In this picture, the sensors tend to destroy coherence in the process of making measurements, and although the controller can use the actuators to act coherently on the quantum system, it is processing and feeding back classical information. This paper proposes an alternative method for quantum feedback control, in which the sensors, controller, and actuators are quantum systems that interact coherently with the system to be controlled. In this picture, the controller gets, processes, and feeds back quantum information. Controllers that operate using such quantum feedback loops can perform tasks such as entanglement transfer that are not possible using classical feedback. Necessary and sufficient conditions are presented for Hamiltonian quantum systems to be controllable and observable using both classical and quantum feedback.
A quantum computer is similar to an ordinary computer, except that instead of bits it uses two-level quantum systems (qubits), and the usual logical operations on bits are replaced with noiseless quantum dynamics in the form of unitary gates or Hamiltonian interactions. Many sets of resources that are universal for quantum computation (that is, capable of implementing any quantum computation) have been found, but general conditions for universality are still only partially understood. Improving our understanding of these conditions contributes to two broad goals. On the one hand, understanding what class of physical systems is suitable for quantum computation allows us choose the systems that are most easily controlled or built in the laboratory. On the other hand, identifying the unifying characteristics of such a class provides insight into the fundamental physics responsible for the much greater computational power of quantum computers. The original results presented in this thesis are a contribution to our understanding of the physical requirements for universal quantum computation. These results lead to the identification of a new, large class of universal dynamics. More specifically, the main problem that is addressed is the following: consider a physical system that is made up of a finite number of qubits that are subject to a natural, fixed interaction described by a two-body Hamiltonian. Suppose we have the ability to control the system only by applying fast one-qubit operations. Under what conditions is this system capable of universal quantum computation? The first original result of the thesis is to prove that universal quantum computation is possible under these conditions given the single extra constraint that the Hamiltonian must entangle, or connect, all of the qubits. In other words, since a two-body Hamiltonian is expressible as a sum of coupling terms each of which acts nontrivially on a pair of qubits, consider the graph whose vertices correspond to qubits and whose edges connect qubits that are coupled by a term in the Hamiltonian. Then this Hamiltonian, together with fast one-qubit unitaries, is universal for quantum computation precisely when the corresponding graph is connected. This result suggests many potential generalizations, three of which are explored in this thesis. The first generalization is to show that the same result holds for a two-body Hamiltonian that acts on D-dimensional quantum systems (qudits), given fast one-qudit unitaries. A second extension is to the case of a many-body Hamiltonian, that is, a Hamiltonian that has coupling terms that act on more than two qubits. Again, we find that under mild restrictions, such Hamiltonians are universal provided they are connected and that arbitrary one-qubit unitaries are available. We also discover and explore some surprising structure in many-body Hamiltonians that is associated with the parity of the couplings. A third related problem that is addressed is the question of what two-qubit unitaries are universal for quantum computation. This problem was originally solved by J.-L. and R. Brylinski [BB02], who gave a technical proof of the universality of any two-qudit gate that is not the swap gate or a product of one-qudit unitaries, given one-qudit unitaries as a free resource. We develop an elementary and constructive proof for the case of qubits, and prove that our construction is very close to optimal in the number of uses of the two-qubit gate. Given a qualitative understanding of what dynamical resources are universal for quantum computation, it is natural to consider developing a quantitative measure of the usefulness of quantum dynamics for quantum information processing. This is done in the final chapter of the thesis, in which the beginnings of a quantitative theory of quantum dynamics are developed.
The advance of experimental techniques in circuit quantum electrodynamics over last decadehas made it possible to monitor the evolution of qubits under continuous measurements in\nreal time . This kind of measurements, as compared to the discrete ones, provides a stream\nof information for feedback to alter the system's quantum dynamics continuously in a desired\nmanner, thus allowing broader possibilities. We obtain the information at a cost, the backaction on the states. However, the back-action turns out not to be just something disturbing \nand harmful to the control but instead can be harnessed, together with the control, to steer the system to our targets. \nThis thesis discusses one such application, namely to use measurements to create entanglement from remote qubits under locally optimal control. It is illustrated that by carefully designing symmetric measurement and feedback operators, we can construct efficient Markovian or non-Markovian protocols which generate N-qubit W,\ngeneral Dicke and Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states with high fidelity above 94% up to\nN = 100. In some cases, the fidelity even approaches unity. Following that, we describe how\nto take advantages of the continuous stream of information to protect the unitary dynamics of\na quantum system subject to noises. We develop a practical protocol for continuous operation\nof a quantum error correcting code for protection of coherent evolution due to an encoded\nHamiltonian against environmental errors, using the three qubit bit-flip code and bit-flip\nerrors as a canonical example. We demonstrate, for both quantum memory and adiabatic\nHamiltonians, that the protocol, once optimized, can significantly reduce logical errors with\na performance which is close to the theoretical limit of the bit-flip code's capability. In the\nadiabatic Hamiltonian case, we also propose some novel correction operators instead of the\nconventional ones to further reduce the logical errors.
In the conventional picture of quantum feedback control, sensors make measurements on a quantum system, a classical controller processes the results of the measurements, and semi-classical actuators act back on the system to alter its behavior. Quantum measurements are well known to yield probabilistic results and to introduce unavoidable disturbances in the system measured. Accordingly, quantum feedback is traditionally considered to be both probabilistic and destructive. This paper proposes and provides an experimental demonstration of an alternative method for quantum feedback control, in which sensors, controller, and actuators are themselves quantum systems that interact coherently with the system to be controlled. The resulting feedback loop preserves quantum coherence. Such coherent quantum feedback control is deterministic, non-destructive, and can be used to perform actions such as transferring quantum entanglement that are not possible using conventional feedback control of quantum systems. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Synthesizing an effective identity evolution in a target system subjected to unwanted unitary or nonunitary dynamics is a fundamental task for both quantum control and quantum information processing applications. Here, we investigate how single-bit, discrete-time feedback capabilities may be exploited to enact or to enhance quantum procedures for effectively suppressing unwanted dynamics in a finite-dimensional open quantum system. An explicit characterization of the joint unitary propagators correctable by a single-bit feedback strategy for arbitrary evolution time is obtained. For a two-dimensional target system, we show how by appropriately combining quantum feedback with dynamical decoupling methods, concatenated feedback-decoupling schemes may be built, which can operate under relaxed control assumptions and can outperform purely closed-loop and open-loop protocols.