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IEEE Micro

Extending the Frontier of Quantum Computers With Qutrits

Pranav Gokhale, Jonathan M. Baker, Casey Duckering, Frederic T. Chong, Natalie C. Brown, Kenneth R. Brown

Published Apr 16, 2020• 35 citations
Publisher

Abstract

We advocate for a fundamentally different way to perform quantum computation by using three-level qutrits instead of qubits. In particular, we substantially reduce the resource requirements of quantum computations by exploiting a third state for temporary variables (ancilla) in quantum circuits. Past work with qutrits has demonstrated only constant factor improvements, owing to the log2(3) binary-to-ternary compression factor. We present a novel technique using qutrits to achieve a logarithmic runtime decomposition of the Generalized Toffoli gate using no ancilla---an exponential improvement over the best qubit-only equivalent. Our approach features a 70x improvement in total two-qudit gate count over the qubit-only decomposition. This results in improvements for important algorithms for arithmetic and QRAM. Simulation results under realistic noise models indicate over 90% mean reliability (fidelity) for our circuit, versus under 30% for the qubit-only baseline. These results suggest that qutrits offer a promising path toward extending the frontier of quantum computers.

DOI
10.1109/mm.2020.2985976

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We advocate for a fundamentally different way to perform quantum computation by using three-level qutrits instead of qubits. In particular, we substantially reduce the resource requirements of quantum computations by exploiting a third state for temporary variables (ancilla) in quantum circuits. Past work with qutrits has demonstrated only constant factor improvements, owing to the log2(3) binary-to-ternary compression factor. We present a novel technique using qutrits to achieve a logarithmic runtime decomposition of the Generalized Toffoli gate using no ancilla---an exponential improvement over the best qubit-only equivalent. Our approach features a 70x improvement in total two-qudit gate count over the qubit-only decomposition. This results in improvements for important algorithms for arithmetic and QRAM. Simulation results under realistic noise models indicate over 90% mean reliability (fidelity) for our circuit, versus under 30% for the qubit-only baseline. These results suggest that qutrits offer a promising path toward extending the frontier of quantum computers.
Quantum computation is traditionally expressed in terms of quantum bits, or qubits. In this work, we instead consider three-level qutrits. Past work with qutrits has demonstrated only constant factor improvements, owing to the log2(3) binary-to-ternary compression factor. We present a novel technique using qutrits to achieve a logarithmic depth (runtime) decomposition of the Generalized Toffoli gate using no ancilla-a significant improvement over linear depth for the best qubit-only equivalent. Our circuit construction also features a 70x improvement in two-qudit gate count over the qubit-only equivalent decomposition. This results in circuit cost reductions for important algorithms like quantum neurons and Grover search. We develop an open-source circuit simulator for qutrits, along with realistic near-term noise models which account for the cost of operating qutrits. Simulation results for these noise models indicate over 90% mean reliability (fidelity) for our circuit construction, versus under 30% for the qubit-only baseline. These results suggest that qutrits offer a promising path towards scaling quantum computation.
Quantum computation is traditionally expressed in terms of quantum bits, or qubits. In this work, we instead consider three-level qu trits . Past work with qutrits has demonstrated only constant factor improvements, owing to the log 2 (3) binary-to-ternary compression factor. We present a novel technique, intermediate qutrits, to achieve sublinear depth decompositions of the Generalized Toffoli and other arithmetic circuits using no additional ancilla—a significant improvement over linear depth for the best qubit-only equivalents. For example, our Generalized Toffoli construction features a 70× improvement in two-qudit gate count over a qubit-only decomposition. This results in circuit cost reductions for important algorithms like quantum neurons, Grover search, and even Shor’s algorithm. Using a previously developed simulator with near-term noise models, we demonstrate for these models over 90% mean reliability (fidelity) for the Toffoli construction, versus under 30% for the qubit-only baseline. For our other constructions, such as the Incrementer, the A + B adder and the +K adder, we demonstrate the power of intermediate qutrits in producing asymptotic depth improvements with no additional ancilla. Together, these results suggest qutrits offer a promising path toward scaling quantum computation.
The progress in building quantum computers to execute quantum algorithms has recently been remarkable. Grover's search algorithm in a binary quantum system provides a considerable speed-up over the classical paradigm. It can be extended to a ddd-ary (qudit) quantum system also for utilizing the advantage of larger state space, which helps to reduce the runtime of the algorithm as compared to the traditional binary quantum systems. In a qudit quantum system, an nnn-qudit Toffoli gate plays a significant role in the accurate implementation of Grover's algorithm. In this article, a generalized nnn-qudit Toffoli gate is realized using higher-dimensional qudits to attain a logarithmic depth decomposition without ancilla qudit. The circuit for Grover's algorithm has then been designed for any ddd-ary quantum system, where $d\ensuremath{\ge}2$, with the proposed nnn-qudit Toffoli gate to obtain optimized depth compared to earlier approaches. The technique for decomposing an nnn-qudit Toffoli gate requires access to two immediately higher-energy levels, making the design susceptible to errors. Nevertheless, we show that the percentage decrease in the probability of error is significant with both gate count and circuit depth reduced as compared to that in state-of-the-art works.
Efficient Synthesis of Multi-Controlled Toffoli Gates with Ternary Clifford+P9+P_9+P9​ Gates
Temporary occupation of qutrit levels can reduce the width and depth required for binary circuit logic in quantum computing. We introduce an efficient intermediate-qutrit decomposition of multi-controlled Toffoli gates with binary-subspace inputs and outputs. For balanced control widths n=2h−1n=2^h-1n=2h−1, the proposed decomposition is evaluated hierarchically through a tree, allowing independent subtree computations to proceed in parallel and reducing the depth from linear to logarithmic. The balanced low-depth construction requires 6n+36n+36n+3 logical P9P_9P9​ injections and n−34\frac{n-3}{4}4n−3​ clean ancillary qutrits. It matches the direct P9P_9P9​ count of a recursively extended Clifford+P9P_9P9​ baseline derived from the state-of-the-art work while using asymptotically one-quarter as many clean ancillas and replacing linear depth with logarithmic depth. For arbitrary control widths, a sequential extension preserves the 6n+36n+36n+3 P9P_9P9​ count but has depth O(log⁡m+n−m)O(\log m+n-m)O(logm+n−m) for a balanced core m=2h−1≤nm=2^h-1\leq nm=2h−1≤n, which is linear in the worst case over nnn. By reducing the resource overhead of a widely used reversible primitive, the proposed decomposition provides a practical building block for the design and compilation of more resource-efficient quantum algorithms in the fault-tolerant regime.
As the development of Quantum computers becomes reality, the implementation of quantum algorithms is accelerating in a great pace. Grover's algorithm in a binary quantum system is one such quantum algorithm which solves search problems with numeric speed-ups than the conventional classical computers. Further, Grover's algorithm is extended to a ddd-ary quantum system for utilizing the advantage of larger state space. In qudit or ddd-ary quantum system n-qudit Toffoli gate plays a significant role in the accurate implementation of Grover's algorithm. In this paper, a generalized nnn-qudit Toffoli gate has been realized using qudits to attain a logarithmic depth decomposition without ancilla qudit. Further, the circuit for Grover's algorithm has been designed for any d-ary quantum system, where d >= 2, with the proposed nnn-qudit Toffoli gate so as to get optimized depth as compared to state-of-the-art approaches. This technique for decomposing an n-qudit Toffoli gate requires access to higher energy levels, making the design susceptible to leakage error. Therefore, the performance of this decomposition for the unitary and erasure models of leakage noise has been studied as well.
Many quantum algorithms make use of ancilla, additional qubits used to store temporary information during computation, to reduce the total execution time. Quantum computers will be resource-constrained for years to come so reducing ancilla requirements is crucial. In this work, we give a method to generate ancilia out of idle qubits by placing some in higher-value states, called qudits. We show how to take a circuit with many O(n) ancilla and design an ancilla-free circuit with the same asymptotic depth. Using this, we give a circuit construction for an in-place adder and a constant adder both with O(log n) depth using temporary qudits and no ancilla.