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Bulletin of the American Physical Society

Non-Gaussian Noise Spectroscopy with a Superconducting Qubit

Youngkyu Sung, Félix Beaudoin, Leigh Norris, Fei Yan, David K. Kim, Jack Y. Qiu, Uwe von Lüpke, Jonilyn Yoder, Terry P. Orlando, Lorenza Viola, Simon Gustavsson, William D. Oliver

Published Jan 1, 2018• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

Most quantum control and quantum error-correction protocols assume that the noise causing decoherence is described by Gaussian statistics. However, the Gaussianity assumption breaks down when the quantum system is strongly coupled to a sparse environment or has a non-linear response to external degrees of freedom. Here, we experimentally validate an open-loop quantum control protocol that reconstructs the higher-order spectrum of a non-Gaussian dephasing process using a superconducting qubit as a noise spectrometer. This experimental demonstration of non-Gaussian noise spectroscopy protocol represents a major step towards the goal of demonstrating a complete noise spectral characterization of quantum devices.

Related papers

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Accurate characterization of the noise influencing a quantum system of interest has far-reaching implications across quantum science, ranging from microscopic modeling of decoherence dynamics to noise-optimized quantum control. While the assumption that noise obeys Gaussian statistics is commonly employed, noise is generically non-Gaussian in nature. In particular, the Gaussian approximation breaks down whenever a qubit is strongly coupled to discrete noise sources or has a non-linear response to the environmental degrees of freedom. Thus, in order to both scrutinize the applicability of the Gaussian assumption and capture distinctive non-Gaussian signatures, a tool for characterizing non-Gaussian noise is essential. Here, we experimentally validate a quantum control protocol which, in addition to the spectrum, reconstructs the leading higher-order spectrum of engineered non-Gaussian dephasing noise using a superconducting qubit as a sensor. This first experimental demonstration of non-Gaussian noise spectroscopy represents a major step toward demonstrating a complete spectral estimation toolbox for quantum devices.

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Noise that exhibits significant temporal and spatial correlations across multiple qubits can be especially harmful to both fault-tolerant quantum computation and quantum-enhanced metrology.However, a complete spectral characterization of the noise environment of even a two-qubit system has not been reported thus far.We propose and experimentally demonstrate a protocol for two-qubit dephasing noise spectroscopy based on continuous-control modulation.By combining ideas from spin-locking relaxometry with a statistically motivated robust estimation approach, our protocol allows for the simultaneous reconstruction of all the single-qubit and two-qubit cross-correlation spectra, including access to their distinctive nonclassical features.Only single-qubit control manipulations and state-tomography measurements are employed, with no need for entangled-state preparation or readout of two-qubit observables.While our experimental demonstration uses two superconducting qubits coupled to a shared, colored engineered noise source, our methodology is portable to a variety of dephasing-dominated qubit architectures.By pushing quantum noise spectroscopy beyond the single-qubit setting, our work heralds the characterization of spatiotemporal correlations in both engineered and naturally occurring noise environments.

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arXiv:1609.01792•Physical Review A•Feb 23, 2017•116 citations
Most quantum control and quantum error-correction
protocols assume that the noise causing decoherence is described by
Gaussian statistics. However, the Gaussianity assumption breaks
down when the quantum system is strongly coupled to a sparse
environment or has a non-linear response to external degrees of
freedom. Here, we experimentally validate an open-loop quantum
control protocol that reconstructs the higher-order spectrum of a
non-Gaussian dephasing process using a superconducting qubit as a
noise spectrometer. This experimental demonstration of non-Gaussian
noise spectroscopy protocol represents a major step towards the
goal of demonstrating a complete noise spectral characterization of
quantum devices.
Accurate characterization of the noise influencing a quantum system of interest has far-reaching implications across quantum science, ranging from microscopic modeling of decoherence dynamics to noise-optimized quantum control. While the assumption that noise obeys Gaussian statistics is commonly employed, noise is generically non-Gaussian in nature. In particular, the Gaussian approximation breaks down whenever a qubit is strongly coupled to discrete noise sources or has a non-linear response to the environmental degrees of freedom. Thus, in order to both scrutinize the applicability of the Gaussian assumption and capture distinctive non-Gaussian signatures, a tool for characterizing non-Gaussian noise is essential. Here, we experimentally validate a quantum control protocol which, in addition to the spectrum, reconstructs the leading higher-order spectrum of engineered non-Gaussian dephasing noise using a superconducting qubit as a sensor. This first experimental demonstration of non-Gaussian noise spectroscopy represents a major step toward demonstrating a complete spectral estimation toolbox for quantum devices.
We introduce open-loop quantum control protocols for characterizing the spectral properties of non-Gaussian noise, applicable to both classical and quantum dephasing environments. By engineering a multidimensional frequency comb via repetition of suitably designed pulse sequences, the desired high-order spectra may be related to observable properties of the qubit probe. We prove that access to a high time resolution is key to achieving spectral reconstruction over an extended bandwidth, overcoming the limitations of existing schemes. Non-Gaussian spectroscopy is demonstrated for a classical noise model describing quadratic dephasing at an optimal point, as well as a quantum spin-boson model out of equilibrium. In both cases, we obtain spectral reconstructions that accurately predict the qubit dynamics in the non-Gaussian regime.
Noise that exhibits significant temporal and spatial correlations across multiple qubits can be especially harmful to both fault-tolerant quantum computation and quantum-enhanced metrology.However, a complete spectral characterization of the noise environment of even a two-qubit system has not been reported thus far.We propose and experimentally demonstrate a protocol for two-qubit dephasing noise spectroscopy based on continuous-control modulation.By combining ideas from spin-locking relaxometry with a statistically motivated robust estimation approach, our protocol allows for the simultaneous reconstruction of all the single-qubit and two-qubit cross-correlation spectra, including access to their distinctive nonclassical features.Only single-qubit control manipulations and state-tomography measurements are employed, with no need for entangled-state preparation or readout of two-qubit observables.While our experimental demonstration uses two superconducting qubits coupled to a shared, colored engineered noise source, our methodology is portable to a variety of dephasing-dominated qubit architectures.By pushing quantum noise spectroscopy beyond the single-qubit setting, our work heralds the characterization of spatiotemporal correlations in both engineered and naturally occurring noise environments.
Spatiotemporally correlated errors are widespread in quantum devices and are particularly adversarial to error correcting schemes. To characterize these errors, we propose and validate a nonparametric quantum noise spectroscopy (QNS) protocol to estimate both spectra and static errors associated with spatiotemporally correlated dephasing noise and fluctuating quantum crosstalk on two qubits. Our scheme reconstructs the real and imaginary components of the two-qubit cross-spectrum by using fixed total time pulse sequences and single qubit and joint two-qubit measurements to separately resolve spatially correlated noise processes. We benchmark our protocol by reconstructing the spectra of spatiotemporally correlated noise processes engineered via the Schrödinger Wave Autoregressive Moving Average technique, emulating dephasing errors. Furthermore, we show that the protocol can outperform existing comb-based QNS protocols. Our results demonstrate the utility of our protocol in characterizing spatiotemporally correlated noise and quantum crosstalk in a multi-qubit device for potential use in noise-adapted control or error protection schemes.
Using a qubit to probe non-Gaussian noise environments is theoretically studied in the context of classical random telegraph processes. Protocols for control pulses are developed to effectively scan higher noise correlations, offering valuable information on the charge environment of the qubit. Specifically, the noise power spectrum and trispectrum are reconstructed simultaneously for a wide range of qubit-fluctuator coupling strengths, demonstrating the method's robustness. These protocols are readily testable in various qubit systems with well-developed quantum control, including quantum dot spins, superconducting qubits, and nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond.
We introduce multipulse quantum noise spectroscopy protocols for spectral estimation of the noise affecting multiple qubits coupled to Gaussian dephasing environments including both classical and quantum sources. Our protocols are capable of reconstructing all the noise auto- and cross-correlation spectra entering the multiqubit dynamics, providing access, in particular, to the asymmetric spectra associated with nonclassical environments. Our result relies on (i) an exact analytic solution for the reduced multiqubit dynamics that holds in the presence of an arbitrary Gaussian environment and dephasing-preserving control; (ii) the use of specific timing symmetries, which allow for a frequency comb to be engineered for all filter functions of interest, and for the spectra to be related to experimentally accessible observables. We show that quantum spectra have distinctive dynamical signatures, which we explore in two paradigmatic open-system models describing spin and charge qubits coupled to bosonic environments. Complete noise spectroscopy is demonstrated numerically in a realistic setting consisting of two-exciton qubits coupled to a phonon bath. The estimated spectra allow us to accurately predict the exciton dynamics as well as extract the temperature and spectral density of the quantum environment.