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Chinese Physics B

Average fidelity estimation of twirled noisy quantum channel using unitary 2 t -design

Zhang Linxi, Changhua Zhu, Changxing Pei

Published Jan 1, 2019• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

We propose a method to estimate the average fidelity using the unitary 2 t -design of a twirled noisy channel, which is suitable for large-scale quantum circuits. Compared with the unitary 2-design in randomized benchmarking, the unitary 2 t -design for the twirling of noisy channels is more flexible in construction and can provide more information. In addition, we prove that the proposed method provides an efficient and reliable estimation of the average fidelity in benchmarking multistage quantum gates and estimating the weakly gate- and time-dependent noise. For time-dependent noise, we provide a scheme of moment superoperator to analyze the noise in different experiments. In particular, we give a lower bound on the average fidelity of a channel with imperfect implementation of benchmarking and state preparation and measurement errors (SPAM).

DOI
10.1088/1674-1056/28/1/010304

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We propose a method to estimate the average fidelity using the unitary 2 t -design of a twirled noisy channel, which is suitable for large-scale quantum circuits. Compared with the unitary 2-design in randomized benchmarking, the unitary 2 t -design for the twirling of noisy channels is more flexible in construction and can provide more information. In addition, we prove that the proposed method provides an efficient and reliable estimation of the average fidelity in benchmarking multistage quantum gates and estimating the weakly gate- and time-dependent noise. For time-dependent noise, we provide a scheme of moment superoperator to analyze the noise in different experiments. In particular, we give a lower bound on the average fidelity of a channel with imperfect implementation of benchmarking and state preparation and measurement errors (SPAM).
This paper proposes a general method to estimate the practical average fidelity error using an -approximate unitary 2 t -design. We then build a specific model of local random circuits to construct the -approximate unitary t -design under a tighter bound on the diamond norm of the corresponding error. For a twirled t -tensor product noisy channel constructed by local random circuits, we extend the estimation of average fidelity using approximate unitary 2 t -designs to an ( m + 1 ) -fold noise scenario. Compared to previous randomized benchmarking, the average fidelity estimated by the method of local random circuits requires less experiments but longer circuit lengths for large n quantum system.
Randomized benchmarking is a useful scheme for evaluation the average fidelity of a noisy quantum circuit. However, it is insensitive to the unitary error. Here, we propose a method of randomized benchmarking in which a unitary t-design is applied and by which the unitary error estimation can be converted to analysis of pseudo-randomness on a set of unitary operators. We give a bound on the number of randomized benchmarking sequences, when performing a unitary t-design on n-qubit d-dimensional system. By applying local random unitary operators, a decomposition of a unitary t-design, the bound is more practical than the previous bound for multi-qubit circuit. We also give a rigorous bound of a diamond norm between arbitrary and uniform distributions of a set of unitary operators to form an ε-approximate unitary t-design. It can be used to quantitatively analyze the corresponding average fidelity and errors in a large-scale quantum circuit.
Quantum gate benchmarking is unavoidably influenced by state preparation and measurement errors. Randomized benchmarking addresses this challenge by employing group twirling to regularize the noise channel, then provides a characterization of quantum channels that is robust to these errors through exponential fittings. In practice, local twirling gates are preferred due to their high fidelity and experimental feasibility. However, while existing RB methods leveraging local twirling gates are effective for benchmarking Clifford gates, they face fundamental challenges in benchmarking non-Clifford gates. In this work, we solve this problem by introducing the Pauli Transfer Character Benchmarking. This protocol estimates the Pauli transfer matrix elements for a quantum channel using only local Pauli operations. Building on this protocol, we develop a fidelity benchmarking method for non-Clifford gates UUU satisfying U2=IU^2=IU2=I. We validate the feasibility of our protocol through numerical simulations applied to Toffoli gates as a concrete example.
Noise mechanisms in quantum systems can be broadly characterized as either coherent (i.e., unitary) or incoherent. For a given fixed average error rate, coherent noise mechanisms will generally lead to a larger worst-case error than incoherent noise. We show that the coherence of a noise source can be quantified by the unitarity , which we relate to the average change in purity averaged over input pure states. We then show that the unitarity can be efficiently estimated using a protocol based on randomized benchmarking that is efficient and robust to state-preparation and measurement errors. We also show that the unitarity provides a lower bound on the optimal achievable gate infidelity under a given noisy process.
Abstract There is currently a significant need for robust and efficient methods for characterizing quantum devices. While there has been significant progress in this direction, there remains a crucial need to precisely determine the strength and type of errors on individual gate operations, in order to assess and improve control as well as reliably bound the total error in a quantum circuit given some partial information about the errors on the components. In this work, we first provide an optimal bound on the total fidelity of a circuit in terms of component fidelities, which can be efficiently experimentally estimated via randomized benchmarking (RB). We then derive a tighter bound that applies under additional information about the coherence of the error, namely, the unitarity, which can also be estimated via a related experimental protocol. This improved bound smoothly interpolates between the worst-case quadratic and best-case linear scaling for composite error channels. As an application we show how our analysis substantially improves the achievable precision on estimates of the infidelities of individual gates under interleaved RB, enabling greater precision for current experimental methods to assess and tune-up control over quantum gate operations.
In randomized benchmarking of quantum logical gates, partial twirling can be used for simpler implementation, better scaling, and higher accuracy and reliability. For instance, for two-qubit gates, single-qubit twirling is easier to realize than full averaging. We analyze such simplified, partial twirling and demonstrate that, unlike for the standard randomized benchmarking, the measured decay of fidelity is a linear combination of exponentials with different decay rates (3 for two qubits and single-bit twirling). The evolution with the sequence length is governed by an iteration matrix, whose spectrum gives the decay rates. For generic two-qubit gates one slowest exponential dominates and characterizes gate errors in three channels. Its decay rate is close, but different from that in the standard randomized benchmarking, and we find the leading correction. Using relations to the local invariants of two-qubit gates we identify all exceptional gates with several slow exponentials and analyze possibilities to extract their decay rates from the measured curves.