The Toffoli gate is a three-qubit controlled-controlled-NOT gate, which plays a central role in quantum information processing and quantum computing. Recently, hybrid systems and hybrid quantum gates have attracted much attention. We propose an efficient scheme to implement a hybrid Toffoli gate with two nitrogen-vacancy center ensembles (NV ensembles) as the control qubits and a single superconducting flux qubit as the target qubit. This hybrid Toffoli gate is realized by employing two NV ensembles coupled to a superconducting qutrit. The hybrid Toffoli gate is constructed by a controlled-controlled-phase (CCPHASE) gate sandwiched between two Hadamard gates applied on the target qubit. Since the CCPHASE gate is realized using only a single-step operation and no conventional gate decomposition protocol is applied, the Toffoli-gate implementation is greatly simplified. Because the higher energy level of the flux qutrit is not populated, the decoherence of this level is greatly suppressed. In addition, our hybrid Toffoli gate can be used to generate a hybrid Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger entangled state of a flux qubit and two NV ensembles. Numerical simulations demonstrate that high-fidelity implementation of a hybrid Toffoli gate is feasible within current experimental technology. This proposal is universal and can be applied to accomplish the same task in a wide range of physical systems.
The Toffoli gate is a three-qubit controlled-controlled-NOT gate, which plays a central role in quantum information processing and quantum computing. Recently, hybrid systems and hybrid quantum gates have attracted much attention. We propose an efficient scheme to implement a hybrid Toffoli gate with two nitrogen-vacancy center ensembles (NV ensembles) as the control qubits and a single superconducting flux qubit as the target qubit. This hybrid Toffoli gate is realized by employing two NV ensembles coupled to a superconducting qutrit. The hybrid Toffoli gate is constructed by a controlled-controlled-phase (CCPHASE) gate sandwiched between two Hadamard gates applied on the target qubit. Since the CCPHASE gate is realized using only a single-step operation and no conventional gate decomposition protocol is applied, the Toffoli-gate implementation is greatly simplified. Because the higher energy level of the flux qutrit is not populated, the decoherence of this level is greatly suppressed. In addition, our hybrid Toffoli gate can be used to generate a hybrid Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger entangled state of a flux qubit and two NV ensembles. Numerical simulations demonstrate that high-fidelity implementation of a hybrid Toffoli gate is feasible within current experimental technology. This proposal is universal and can be applied to accomplish the same task in a wide range of physical systems.
Hybrid quantum gates have recently drawn considerable attention. They play significant roles in connecting quantum information processors with qubits of different encoding and have important applications in the transmission of quantum states between a quantum processor and a quantum memory. In this work, we propose a single-step implementation of a multitarget-qubit controlled-not gate with one superconducting (SC) qubit simultaneously controlling n target cat-state qubits. In this proposal, the gate is implemented with n microwave cavities coupled to a three-level SC qutrit. The two logic states of the control SC qubit are represented by the two lowest levels of the qutrit, while the two logic states of each target cat-state qubit are represented by two quasi-orthogonal cat states of a microwave cavity. This proposal operates essentially through the dispersive coupling of each cavity with the qutrit. The gate realization is quite simple because it requires only a single-step operation. There is no need of applying a classical pulse or performing a measurement. The gate operation time is independent of the number of target qubits, thus it does not increase as the number of target qubits increases. Moreover, because the third higher energy level of the qutrit is not occupied during the gate operation, decoherence from the qutrit is greatly suppressed. As an application of this hybrid multitarget-qubit gate, we further discuss the generation of a hybrid Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) entangled state of SC qubits and cat-state qubits. As an example, we numerically analyze the experimental feasibility of generating a hybrid GHZ state of one SC qubit and three cat-state qubits within present circuit QED technology. This proposal is quite general and can be extended to implement a hybrid controlled-not gate with one matter qubit (of different type) simultaneously controlling multiple target cat-state qubits in a wide range of physical systems, such as multiple microwave or optical cavities coupled to a three-level natural or artificial atom.
Hybrid qubits have recently drawn intense attention in quantum computing. We here propose a method to implement a universal controlled-phase gate of two hybrid qubits via two three-dimensional (3D) microwave cavities coupled to a superconducting flux qutrit. For the gate considered here, the control qubit is a microwave photonic qubit (particle-like qubit), whose two logic states are encoded by the vacuum state and the single-photon state of a cavity, while the target qubit is a cat-state qubit (wave-like qubit), whose two logic states are encoded by the two orthogonal cat states of the other cavity. During the gate operation, the qutrit remains in the ground state; therefore, decoherence from the qutrit is greatly suppressed. The gate realization is quite simple, because only a single basic operation is employed and neither classical pulse nor measurement is used. Our numerical simulations demonstrate that with current circuit quantum electrodynamics technology, this gate can be realized with a high fidelity. The generality of this proposal allows implementing the proposed gate in a wide range of physical systems, such as two 1D or 3D microwave or optical cavities coupled to a natural or artificial three-level atom. Finally, this proposal can be applied to create a novel entangled state between a particle-like photonic qubit and a wave-like cat-state qubit.
Compared to a qubit, a qutrit (a three-level or three-state quantum system) possesses a larger Hilbert space to process and store quantum information. On the other hand, large-scale qutrit-based hybrid quantum computing usually requires performing hybrid multi-qutrit quantum gates with diverse qutrits, different in their nature or in their encoding format. In this work, we consider two types of qutrits, i.e., superconducting (SC) qutrits and cat-state qutrits. We propose to implement a hybrid controlled-SUM gate with one SC qutrit simultaneously controlling multiple-target cat-state qutrits. The gate is implemented in a circuit-QED system, which is composed of an SC ququart and multiple microwave cavities. The SC ququart here refers to a four-level quantum system, with the three lowest levels forming a qutrit and an auxiliary higher energy level utilized for the coherent state manipulation. The gate implementation does not require applying a classical pulse. Because the auxiliary higher energy level of the SC ququart is only virtually excited during the gate operation, decoherence from this level is greatly suppressed. The gate is deterministic, as it requires no measurement of the cavity or SC ququart states. Moreover, the gate operational time is independent of the number of qutrits, thus it does not increase with the number of qutrits. As an application of this gate, we further discuss the generation of a hybrid maximally entangled state of one SC qutrit and multiple cat-state qutrits. We also numerically analyze the experimental feasibility of creating the hybrid entangled state of one SC qutrit and two cat-state qutrits in a circuit QED system. This proposal may be extended to accomplish the same task in other physical systems, such as a four-level artificial atom (e.g., a quantum dot, an NV center, a magnon, etc.) coupled to multiple optical or microwave cavities.
In a recent remarkable experiment [Sci. Adv. 2, e1501531 (2016)], a 3-qubit quantum Fredkin (i.e., controlled-SWAP) gate was demonstrated by using linear optics. Here we propose a simple experimental scheme by utilizing the dispersive interaction in superconducting quantum circuit to implement a hybrid Fredkin gate with a superconducting flux qubit as the control qubit and two separated quantum memories as the target qudits. The quantum memories considered here are prepared by the superconducting coplanar waveguide resonators or nitrogen-vacancy center ensembles. In particular, it is shown that this Fredkin gate can be realized using a single-step operation and more importantly, each target qudit can be in an arbitrary state with arbitrary degrees of freedom. Furthermore, we show that this experimental scheme has many potential applications in quantum computation and quantum information processing such as generating arbitrary entangled states (discrete-variable states or continuous-variable states) of the two memories, measuring the fidelity and the entanglement between the two memories. With state-of-the-art circuit QED technology, the numerical simulation is performed to demonstrate that two-memory NOON states, entangled coherent states, and entangled cat states can be efficiently synthesized.
With the local resonant interaction between a nitrogen-vacancy-center ensemble (NVE) and a superconducting coplanar resonator, and the single-qubit operation, we propose two protocols for the state transfer between two remote NVEs and for a fast controlled-phase (cphase) gate on these NVEs, respectively. This hybrid quantum system is composed of two distant NVEs coupled to separated high-Q transmission line resonators (TLRs), which are interconnected by a current-biased Josephson-junction superconducting phase qubit. The fidelity of our state-transfer protocol is about 99.63 within the operation time of 70.60 ns. The fidelity of our cphase gate is about 98.15 within the operation time of 93.87 ns. Furthermore, using the cphase gate, we construct a two-dimensional cluster state on NVEs in a $n\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}n$ square grid based on the hybrid quantum system for the one-way quantum computation. Our protocol may be more robust, compared with the one based on the superconducting resonators, due to the long coherence time of NVEs at room temperature.
Compared with a qubit, a qudit (i.e., a d-level or d-state quantum system) provides a larger Hilbert space to store and process information. On the other hand, qudit-based hybrid quantum computing usually requires performing hybrid quantum gates with qudits that are different in their nature or in their encoding format. In this work, we consider the qutrit case, i.e., the case for a qudit with d=3. We propose a simple method to realize a hybrid quantum controlled-sum gate with one superconducting (SC) qutrit and a cat-state qutrit. This gate plus single-qutrit gates form a universal set of ternary logic gates for quantum computing with qutrits. Our proposal is based on circuit QED and operates essentially by employing a SC ququart (a four-level quantum system) dispersively coupled to a microwave cavity. The gate implementation is quite simple because it only requires a single basic operation. Neither classical pulse nor measurement is needed. The auxiliary higher energy level of the SC ququart is virtually excited during the gate operation, thus decoherence from this level is greatly suppressed. As an application of this gate, we discuss the generation of a hybrid maximally entangled state of one SC qutrit and one cat-state qutrit. We further analyze the experimental feasibility of creating such a hybrid entangled state in circuit QED. This proposal is quite general and can be extended to accomplish the same task in a wide range of physical system, such as a four-level natural or artificial atom coupled to an optical or microwave cavity.