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Toward Realizable Quantum Computers

Michael E. Beverland

Published Jun 24, 2016• 4 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The work in this thesis splits naturally into two parts: (1) experimentally oriented work consisting of experimental proposals for systems that could be used to implement quantum information tasks with current technology, and (2) theoretical work focusing on universal fault-tolerant quantum computers which we hope can be scaled as experimental capabilities continue to move forward.

DOI
10.7907/z96m34sc

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The work in this thesis splits naturally into two parts: (1) experimentally oriented work consisting of experimental proposals for systems that could be used to implement quantum information tasks with current technology, and (2) theoretical work focusing on universal fault-tolerant quantum computers which we hope can be scaled as experimental capabilities continue to move forward.
The goal of this project was to understand what key interchangeable elements form a scalable, fault-tolerant quantum information systems architecture. The effort was a collaboration between computer science and physical sciences involving four groups: MIT, providing experimental quantum technology parameters and fundamental expertise in quantum information theory; UC Davis, devising fault-tolerant architecture designs and implementing numerical simulations; UC Berkeley, creating quantum cryptosystems and providing distributed applications; and U Washington, focusing on languages for quantum computation and an architectural simulator. Accomplishments of project include: design of several complete quantum architectures for large-scale, reliable quantum computers; implementation of a predictive design-tool to analyze system reliability given technology parameters and constraints; evaluation of requirements and performance of Shor's factoring algorithm on a complete benchmark quantum architecture design; and design of experimental realizations of experiments to identify crucial parameters for fault-tolerant quantum architectures.
Quantum computers promise to solve computational problems that are inaccessible to classical machines. The reliable execution of large-scale quantum algorithms requires robust operations in the presence of noise. Quantum error correction addresses this challenge by encoding quantum information redundantly across several physical qubits, such that errors can be detected and corrected during a computation. However, no single error-correcting code intrinsically supports an inherently robust, fault-tolerant implementation of all gates needed for universal quantum computing. Moreover, most modern approaches to both quantum error correction and the implementation of universal logical operations on encoded qubits rely on mid-circuit measurements and feed-forward control. These types of operations are technologically demanding, often slow, and prone to high error rates, and they limit the overall success probability of quantum algorithms. In this thesis, we develop fault-tolerant protocols and circuits for quantum error correction and universal logical computation, with an emphasis on implementations compatible with current hardware systems. We first focus on fault-tolerant quantum error correction on small codes. By comparing different protocols, we identify trade-offs between compact circuit constructions and their robustness to noise. We then assess their practical performance by comparing numerical simulations of noisy circuits with experimental data. Beyond the preservation of encoded information, we study how universal logic can be implemented in a fault-tolerant manner on encoded qubits. A central approach considered in this thesis is code switching, in which logical information is transferred between two distinct error-correcting codes that support complementary sets of inherently fault-tolerant logical gates. In combination, these codes give access to a complete universal fault-tolerant logical gate set. In this thesis, we determine conditions that allow us to construct fault-tolerant protocols for code switching. We adapt these protocols to the capabilities of current hardware, thereby enabling the first experimental realization of universal fault-tolerant logic by means of code switching. However, the overall performance of these schemes is limited by slow and noisy mid-circuit measurements. To address this bottleneck, we construct a suite of measurement-free fault-tolerant universal operations that do not require any measurements during the execution of an algorithm. In this framework, error correction and logical operations are implemented coherently as part of the quantum circuit, without mid-circuit measurements or in-sequence classical control. We introduce measurement-free code-switching schemes that can be scaled to arbitrary code distances through concatenation, and which thereby provide, in principle, arbitrarily strong error suppression. We further tailor our approach to the capabilities of current trapped-ion quantum processors. New circuit constructions support the first experimental implementation of a logical quantum algorithm without mid-circuit measurements, demonstrated through Grover's search on three encoded qubits. Together, the results of this thesis expand the toolbox for early fault-tolerant quantum computation. They show how protocols for quantum error correction and universal logical gates can be designed without mid-circuit measurements with realistic hardware constraints in mind, opening new pathways towards universal quantum logic.
Quantum computing sounds like something out of a science-fiction novel. If we can exert control over unimaginably small systems, then we can harness their quantum mechanical behavior as a computational resource. This resource allows for astounding computational feats, and a new perspective on information-theory as a whole. But there's a caveat. The events we have to control are so fast and so small that they can hardly be said to have occurred at all. For a long time after Feynman's proposal and even still, there are some who believe that the barriers to controlling such events are fundamental. While we have yet to find anything insurmountable, the road is so pockmarked with challenges both experimental and theoretical that it is often difficult to see the road at all. Only a marriage of both engineering and theory in concert can hope to find the way forward. Quantum error-correction, and more broadly quantum fault-tolerance, is an unfinished answer to this question. It concerns the scaling of these microscopic systems into macroscopic regimes which we can fully control, straddling practical and theoretical considerations in its design. We will explore and prove several results on the theory of quantum fault-tolerance, but which are guided by the ultimate goal of realizing a physical quantum computer. In this thesis, we demonstrate applications of locality and asymmetry to quantum fault-tolerance. We introduce novel code families which we use to probe the behavior of thresholds in quantum subsystem codes. We also demonstrate codes in this family that are well-suited to efficiently correct asymmetric noise models, and determine their parameters. Next we show that quantum error-correcting encodings are incommensurate with transversal implementations of universal classical-reversible computation. Along the way, we resolve an open question concerning almost information-theoretically secure quantum fully homomorphic encryption, showing that it is impossible. Finally, we augment a framework for transversally mapping between stabilizer subspace codes, and discuss prospects for fault-tolerance.