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ESAIM Control Optimisation and Calculus of Variations

A fixed point algorithm for improving fidelity of quantum gates

Paulo Sérgio Pereira da Silva, Pierre Rouchon, Hector Bessa Silveira

Published Aug 25, 2020• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

This work considers the problem of quantum gate generation for controllable quantum systems with drift. It is assumed that an approximate solution called seed is pre-computed by some known algorithm. This work presents a method, called Fixed-Point Algorithm (FPA) that is able to improve arbitrarily the fidelity of the given seed. When the infidelity of the seed is small enough and the approximate solution is attractive in the context of a tracking control problem (that is verified with probability one, in some sense), the Banach Fixed-Point Theorem allows to prove the exponential convergence of the FPA. Even when the FPA does not converge, several iterated applications of the FPA may produce the desired fidelity. The FPA produces only small corrections in the control pulses and preserves the original bandwidth of the seed. The computational effort of each step of the FPA corresponds to the one of the numerical integration of a stabilized closed loop system. A piecewise-constant and a smooth numerical implementations are developed. Several numerical experiments with a N-qubit system illustrates the effectiveness of the method in several different applications including the conversion of piecewise-constant control pulses into smooth ones and the reduction of their bandwidth.

DOI
10.1051/cocv/2020057

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This work considers the problem of quantum gate generation for controllable quantum systems with drift. It is assumed that an approximate solution called seed is pre-computed by some known algorithm. This work presents a method, called Fixed-Point Algorithm (FPA) that is able to improve arbitrarily the fidelity of the given seed. When the infidelity of the seed is small enough and the approximate solution is attractive in the context of a tracking control problem (that is verified with probability one, in some sense), the Banach Fixed-Point Theorem allows to prove the exponential convergence of the FPA. Even when the FPA does not converge, several iterated applications of the FPA may produce the desired fidelity. The FPA produces only small corrections in the control pulses and preserves the original bandwidth of the seed. The computational effort of each step of the FPA corresponds to the one of the numerical integration of a stabilized closed loop system. A piecewise-constant and a smooth numerical implementations are developed. Several numerical experiments with a N-qubit system illustrates the effectiveness of the method in several different applications including the conversion of piecewise-constant control pulses into smooth ones and the reduction of their bandwidth.
This paper considers right-invariant and controllable quantum systems with m inputs u = (u1,… , um) and state X(t) evolving on the unitary Lie group U(n). The ε-steering problem is introduced and solved for systems with drift: given any initial condition X0 at the initial time instant t0 ≥ 0, any goal state Xgoal∈ U(n) and ε > 0, find a control law such that dist(X(t0+t‾),Xgoal)≤ϵ, where t‾>0 is big enough and dist(X1, X2) is a convenient right-invariant notion of distance between two elements X1, X2 ∈ U(n). The purpose is to approximately generate arbitrary quantum gates corresponding to Xgoal. This is achieved by solving a tracking problem for a special kind of reference trajectories W‾: [t0, ∞) → U(n), which are here called c-universal reference trajectories. It is shown that, for this special kind of trajectories, the tracking problem can be solved up to an error ε for any reference trajectory X‾(t)=W‾(t)R which is a right-translation of W‾(t), at least when dist(X(t0),X‾(t0)) is finite. Furthermore, it is shown that dist(X(t),X‾(t)) converges uniformly exponentially to zero in the sense that the rate of convergence is independent of t0, R and X0. The approach considered here for showing such convergence is a generalisation of the results of a previous paper of the authors, which is mainly based on the central ideas of Jurdjevic and Quinn and Coron's return method. Taking a right-translation R such that X‾(t0+t‾)=Xgoal, one may solve the ε-steering problem by solving the tracking problem for the reference trajectory X‾(t), at least when dist(X(t0),X‾(t0))≤c. When dist(X(t0),X‾(t0))≥c, it is shown that the ε-steering problem can be globally solved in a two-iteration procedure. The underlying algorithmic complexity to get the steering control is essentially equivalent to the numerical integration of the Cauchy problem governing X(t). A numerical example considering a Toffoli quantum gate on U(8) for a chain of three coupled qubits that are controlled only locally is presented.
This paper considers right-invariant and controllable driftless quantum systems with state X(t) evolving on the unitary group U(n) and m inputs u = (u1, …, um). The T-sampling stabilisation problem is introduced and solved: given any initial condition X0 and any goal state , find a control law u = u(X, t) such that for the closed-loop system. The purpose is to generate arbitrary quantum gates corresponding to . This is achieved by the tracking of T-periodic reference trajectories of the quantum system that pass by using the framework of Coron’s return method. The T-periodic reference trajectories are generated by applying controls that are a sum of a finite number M of harmonics of sin (2πt/T), whose amplitudes are parameterised by a vector a. The main result establishes that, for M big enough, X(jT) exponentially converges towards for almost all fixed a, with explicit and completely constructive control laws. This paper also establishes a stochastic version of this deterministic control law. The key idea is to randomly choose a different parameter vector of control amplitudes a = aj at each t = jT, and keeping it fixed for t ∈ [jT, (j + 1)T). It is shown in the paper that X(jT) exponentially converges towards almost surely. Simulation results have indicated that the convergence speed of X(jT) may be significantly improved with such stochastic technique. This is illustrated in the generation of the C–NOT quantum logic gate on U(4).
This paper considers right-invariant and controllable driftless quantum systems with state X(t) evolving on the unitary group U(n) and m inputs. The T-sampling stabilization problem is introduced and solved: given any initial condition X(0) any goal state Xg find a feedback law such that X(jT) converges to Xg as the integer j tends to infinity. The purpose is to generate arbitrary quantum gates corresponding to Xg. This is achieved by the tracking of T-periodic reference trajectories that pass by Xg using the framework of Coron's Return Method. The T-periodic reference trajectories are generated by applying open-loop controls that are a sum of a finite number M of odd T-periodic function whose amplitudes are parameterized by a vector. The main result establishes that, for M big enough, X(jT) exponentially converges towards Xg for almost all fixed amplitude vectors, with explicit and completely constructive control laws. This paper also establishes a stochastic version of this deterministic control law. The key idea is to randomly choose a different amplitude vector at each sampling time jT, and keeping it fixed until the next sampling time (j+1)T. It is also shown that X(jT) exponentially converges towards Xg almost surely. Simulation results have indicated that the convergence speed may be significantly improved with such stochastic technique. This is illustrated in the generation of the C--NOT quantum logic gate on U(4).
A new approach called Reference Input Generation Algorithm (RIGA) is introduced for quantum gate generation. Let X¯ℓ−1(t) be the trajectory that is obtained in step ℓ−1, with X¯ℓ−1(t)=I. In step ℓ, X¯ℓ−1 is right-translated in order to displace X¯ℓ−1(Tf) to Xgoal. The translated trajectory is used as a reference for a Lyapunov-based tracking control law, generating X¯ℓ(T), and so on. A proof of the exponential convergence of X¯ℓ−1(Tf) to zero is provided for Tf large enough. Two examples present numerical experiments regarding N coupled qubits. The first example considers N = 3 with a known minimum time T∗. It presents excellent results for Tf=T∗. The second example is a benchmark for the comparison between RIGA and GRAPE, considering a Hadamard gate for the systems with N = 2, 3, …, 10 qubits. The runtime of RIGA could be improved, and GRAPE was implemented in a faster CPU. However, RIGA presents results that are similar to GRAPE, with faster runtime in some cases, showing that the RIGA is indeed a promising algorithm.
The efficient implementation of quantum computing is contingent upon high-fidelity quantum operations. Nevertheless, the fidelity of these operations is constrained by the precision of quantum system evolution control. The optimization of quantum control pulses is essential for improving the manipulation accuracy of superconducting qubits. Traditional optimization methods, including gradient descent and the gradient ascent pulse engineering algorithm, frequently encounter challenges such as slow convergence and susceptibility to local optima in pulse optimization problems. This study introduces an adaptive open-loop optimization algorithm based on the adaptive moment estimation (Adam) optimizer, capitalizing on the benefits of momentum and adaptive learning rate adjustments inherent in Adam. We conduct experimental analysis on the algorithm’s hyperparameters to achieve optimal solutions with a higher fidelity range at a faster convergence speed, effectively improving the fidelity and optimization efficiency of quantum gate operations. Through numerical simulations on the QuTiP platform, we validate the excellent performance of the Adam algorithm in quantum gate optimization. In optimizing the X and SWAP gates, its fidelity improved by 0.03% and 0.0016%, respectively, compared to the GRAPE algorithm. Compared to the CRAB method, the initial convergence speed of the Adam method increased fivefold, enabling it to achieve the target fidelity more rapidly. Future research will investigate closed-loop optimization strategies, utilizing feedback derived from the fidelity results of actual quantum computers to further augment quantum control performance
Quantum-system characterization techniques represent the front line in the identification and mitigation of noise in quantum computing but can be expensive in terms of quantum resources and time to repeatedly employ. Another challenging aspect is that the parameters governing the performance of various operations tend to drift over time and monitoring these is hence a difficult task. One of the most promising characterization techniques, gate-set tomography (GST), provides a self-consistent estimate of the completely positive trace-preserving (CPTP) maps for a complete set of gates, as well as preparation and measurement operators. We develop a method for performance optimization seeded by tomography (POST), which couples the power of GST with a classical optimization routine to achieve a consistent gate improvement in just a short number of steps within a given calibration cycle. By construction, the POST procedure finds the best available gate operation given the hardware and is therefore robust to the effects of drift. Further, in comparison to other quantum error-mitigation techniques, it builds upon a one-time application of GST. To demonstrate the performance of this method on a real quantum computer, we map out the operations of six qubit pairs on the superconducting ibmq_poughkeepsie quantum device. Under the restriction of logical-only control, we monitor the performance of the POST approach on a chosen controlled-not (cnot) gate over a period of six weeks. In this time, we achieve a consistent improvement in gate fidelity, averaging a fidelity increase of 21.1% as measured by randomized benchmarking. The POST approach should find wide applicability as it is hardware agnostic and can be applied at the upper logical level or at a deeper pulse-control level.