Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

EPJ Quantum Technology

Efficient quantum state estimation with low-rank matrix completion

Shehbaz Tariq, Ahmad Farooq, Junaid ur Rehman, Trung Q. Duong, Hyundong Shin

Published Aug 5, 2024• 3 citations
Publisher

Abstract

This paper introduces a novel and efficient technique for quantum state estimation, coined as low-rank matrix-completion quantum state tomography for characterizing pure quantum states, as it requires only non-entangling bases and $2n + 1$ local Pauli operators. This significantly reduces the complexity of the process and increases the accuracy of the state estimation, as it eliminates the need for the entangling bases, which are experimentally difficult to implement on quantum devices. The required minimal post-processing, improved accuracy and efficacy of this matrix-completion-based method make it an ideal benchmarking tool for investigating the properties of quantum systems, enabling researchers to verify the accuracy of quantum devices, characterize their performance, and explore the underlying physics of quantum phenomena. Our numerical results demonstrate that this method outperforms contemporary techniques in its ability to accurately reconstruct multi-qubit quantum states on real quantum devices, making it an invaluable contribution to the field of quantum state characterization and an essential step toward the reliable deployment of intermediate- and large-scale quantum devices.

DOI
10.1140/epjqt/s40507-024-00261-x

Related papers

Matrix-Completion Quantum State Tomography

Ahmad Farooq, Junaid ur Rehman, Hyundong Shin

The deployment of intermediate- and large-scale quantum devices necessitates the development of efficient full state tomographical techniques for quantum benchmarks. Here, we introduce a matrix filling-based method for tomography of pure quantum states, called the matrix-completion quantum state tomography. This method requires only 2n + 1 local Pauli operators and minimal post-processing for n-qubit states. Numerical results show that our method is highly efficient on superconducting real quantum devices and achieves better fidelity estimates of multiqubit quantum states as compared to contemporary pure state tomography methods. These desirable features of the matrix-completion quantum state tomography protocol make it suitable for the benchmarking of intermediate- and large-scale quantum devices dealing mainly with pure quantum states.

arXiv:2111.11071•Nov 22, 2021•1 citation

Multi-qubit State Tomography with Few Pauli Measurements

Xudan Chai, Teng Ma, Qihao Guo +3 more

In quantum information transformation and quantum computation, the most critical issues are security and accuracy. These features, therefore, stimulate research on quantum state characterization. A characterization tool, Quantum state tomography, reconstructs the density matrix of an unknown quantum state. Theoretically, reconstructing an unknown state using this method can be arbitrarily accurate. However, this is less practical owing to the huge burden of measurements and data processing for large numbers of qubits. Even comprising an efficient estimator and a precise algorithm, an optimal tomographic framework can also be overburdened owing to the exponential growth of the measurements. Moreover, the consequential postprocessing of huge amounts of data challenges the capacity of computers. Thus, it is crucial to build an efficient framework that requires fewer measurements but yields an expected accuracy. To this end, we built a tomography schema by which only a few Pauli measurements enable an accurate tomographic reconstruction. Subsequently, this schema was verified as efficient and accurate through numerical simulations on the tomography of multi-qubit quantum states. Furthermore, this schema was proven to be robust through numerical simulations on a noisy superconducting qubit system. Therefore, the tomography schema paves an alternatively effective way to reconstruct the density matrix of a quantum state owing to its efficiency and accuracy, which are essential for quantum state tomography.

arXiv:2305.19873•May 31, 2023•0 citations

Quantum State Tomography via Compressed Sensing

David Gross, Yi-Kai Liu, Steven T. Flammia +2 more

We establish methods for quantum state tomography based on compressed sensing. These methods are specialized for quantum states that are fairly pure, and they offer a significant performance improvement on large quantum systems. In particular, they are able to reconstruct an unknown density matrix of dimension d and rank r using O(rdlog²d) measurement settings, compared to standard methods that require d² settings. Our methods have several features that make them amenable to experimental implementation: they require only simple Pauli measurements, use fast convex optimization, are stable against noise, and can be applied to states that are only approximately low rank. The acquired data can be used to certify that the state is indeed close to pure, so no a priori assumptions are needed.

arXiv:0909.3304•Physical Review Letters•Oct 4, 2010•1,097 citations

Quantum tomography via compressed sensing: error bounds, sample complexity and efficient estimators

Steven T. Flammia, David Gross, Yi-Kai Liu +1 more

Intuitively, if a density operator has small rank, then it should be easier to estimate from experimental data, since in this case only a few eigenvectors need to be learned. We prove two complementary results that confirm this intuition. Firstly, we show that a low-rank density matrix can be estimated using fewer copies of the state, i.e. the sample complexity of tomography decreases with the rank. Secondly, we show that unknown low-rank states can be reconstructed from an incomplete set of measurements, using techniques from compressed sensing and matrix completion. These techniques use simple Pauli measurements, and their output can be certified without making any assumptions about the unknown state. In this paper, we present a new theoretical analysis of compressed tomography, based on the restricted isometry property for low-rank matrices. Using these tools, we obtain near-optimal error bounds for the realistic situation where the data contain noise due to finite statistics, and the density matrix is full-rank with decaying eigenvalues. We also obtain upper bounds on the sample complexity of compressed tomography, and almost-matching lower bounds on the sample complexity of any procedure using adaptive sequences of Pauli measurements. Using numerical simulations, we compare the performance of two compressed sensing estimators—the matrix Dantzig selector and the matrix Lasso—with standard maximum-likelihood estimation (MLE). We find that, given comparable experimental resources, the compressed sensing estimators consistently produce higher fidelity state reconstructions than MLE. In addition, the use of an incomplete set of measurements leads to faster classical processing with no loss of accuracy. Finally, we show how to certify the accuracy of a low-rank estimate using direct fidelity estimation, and describe a method for compressed quantum process tomography that works for processes with small Kraus rank and requires only Pauli eigenstate preparations and Pauli measurements.

arXiv:1205.2300•New Journal of Physics•Sep 27, 2012•356 citations

Multiqubit State Tomography with Only a Few Pauli Measurements

Xudan Chai, Teng Ma, Qihao Guo +3 more

In quantum information transformation and quantum computation, the most critical issues are security and accuracy. These features, therefore, stimulate research on quantum state characterization. A characterization tool, quantum state tomography, reconstructs the density matrix of an unknown quantum state. Theoretically, reconstructing an unknown state using this method can be arbitrarily accurate. However, this is not so practical owing to the huge burden of measurements and data processing for large numbers of qubits. Even comprising an efficient estimator and a precise algorithm, an optimal tomographic framework can also be overburdened owing to the exponential growth of the measurements. Moreover, the consequential postprocessing of huge amounts of data challenges the capacity of computers. Thus, it is crucial to build an efficient framework that requires fewer measurements but yields an expected accuracy. To this end, we built a tomography schema by which only a few Pauli measurements enable an accurate tomographic reconstruction. Subsequently, this schema was verified as efficient and accurate through numerical simulations on the tomography of multiqubit quantum states. Furthermore, it was proven to be robust through numerical simulations on a noisy superconducting qubit system. Therefore, the tomography schema paves an alternative effective way to reconstruct the density matrix of a quantum state owing to its efficiency and accuracy, which are essential for quantum state tomography.

Physical Review Applied•Sep 18, 2023•2 citations

Rank-Adaptive Matrix-Free Atomic Quantum State Tomography

Amirhossein Taherpour, Alireza Sadeghi, Georgios B. Giannakis

Quantum state tomography estimates an unknown density operator from measurement data. Dense reconstruction however, can be impractical for many-qubit systems because the Hilbert-space dimension grows exponentially. This contribution develops a rank-adaptive matrix-free approach to low-rank quantum state tomography based on rank-one atomic coordinates. The density operator is represented as a convex combination of pure-state atoms, which preserves positivity and unit trace while avoiding dense density, measurement, and gradient matrices. The resultant algorithm combines atom updates, simplex-constrained coefficient reweighting, and periodic spectral refactorization using only predicted probability vectors, atom vectors, and descriptor-level measurement actions. These computations decompose across measurement outcomes, and admit a master--worker implementation with the measurements partitioned across workers. A rank penalty adapts the representation size during optimization. Provable feasibility, prediction consistency, monotone descent of the penalized objective, and an exact spectral proximal characterization of the refactorization step are established. Simulations with Pauli measurements show favorable accuracy--runtime--memory tradeoffs relative to competing alternatives.

quant-pharXiv:2607.19577•Jul 23, 2026•0 citations
This paper introduces a novel and efficient technique for quantum state estimation, coined as low-rank matrix-completion quantum state tomography for characterizing pure quantum states, as it requires only non-entangling bases and 2n+12n + 12n+1 local Pauli operators. This significantly reduces the complexity of the process and increases the accuracy of the state estimation, as it eliminates the need for the entangling bases, which are experimentally difficult to implement on quantum devices. The required minimal post-processing, improved accuracy and efficacy of this matrix-completion-based method make it an ideal benchmarking tool for investigating the properties of quantum systems, enabling researchers to verify the accuracy of quantum devices, characterize their performance, and explore the underlying physics of quantum phenomena. Our numerical results demonstrate that this method outperforms contemporary techniques in its ability to accurately reconstruct multi-qubit quantum states on real quantum devices, making it an invaluable contribution to the field of quantum state characterization and an essential step toward the reliable deployment of intermediate- and large-scale quantum devices.
The deployment of intermediate- and large-scale quantum devices necessitates the development of efficient full state tomographical techniques for quantum benchmarks. Here, we introduce a matrix filling-based method for tomography of pure quantum states, called the matrix-completion quantum state tomography. This method requires only 2n + 1 local Pauli operators and minimal post-processing for n-qubit states. Numerical results show that our method is highly efficient on superconducting real quantum devices and achieves better fidelity estimates of multiqubit quantum states as compared to contemporary pure state tomography methods. These desirable features of the matrix-completion quantum state tomography protocol make it suitable for the benchmarking of intermediate- and large-scale quantum devices dealing mainly with pure quantum states.
In quantum information transformation and quantum computation, the most critical issues are security and accuracy. These features, therefore, stimulate research on quantum state characterization. A characterization tool, Quantum state tomography, reconstructs the density matrix of an unknown quantum state. Theoretically, reconstructing an unknown state using this method can be arbitrarily accurate. However, this is less practical owing to the huge burden of measurements and data processing for large numbers of qubits. Even comprising an efficient estimator and a precise algorithm, an optimal tomographic framework can also be overburdened owing to the exponential growth of the measurements. Moreover, the consequential postprocessing of huge amounts of data challenges the capacity of computers. Thus, it is crucial to build an efficient framework that requires fewer measurements but yields an expected accuracy. To this end, we built a tomography schema by which only a few Pauli measurements enable an accurate tomographic reconstruction. Subsequently, this schema was verified as efficient and accurate through numerical simulations on the tomography of multi-qubit quantum states. Furthermore, this schema was proven to be robust through numerical simulations on a noisy superconducting qubit system. Therefore, the tomography schema paves an alternatively effective way to reconstruct the density matrix of a quantum state owing to its efficiency and accuracy, which are essential for quantum state tomography.
We establish methods for quantum state tomography based on compressed sensing. These methods are specialized for quantum states that are fairly pure, and they offer a significant performance improvement on large quantum systems. In particular, they are able to reconstruct an unknown density matrix of dimension d and rank r using O(rdlog²d) measurement settings, compared to standard methods that require d² settings. Our methods have several features that make them amenable to experimental implementation: they require only simple Pauli measurements, use fast convex optimization, are stable against noise, and can be applied to states that are only approximately low rank. The acquired data can be used to certify that the state is indeed close to pure, so no a priori assumptions are needed.
Intuitively, if a density operator has small rank, then it should be easier to estimate from experimental data, since in this case only a few eigenvectors need to be learned. We prove two complementary results that confirm this intuition. Firstly, we show that a low-rank density matrix can be estimated using fewer copies of the state, i.e. the sample complexity of tomography decreases with the rank. Secondly, we show that unknown low-rank states can be reconstructed from an incomplete set of measurements, using techniques from compressed sensing and matrix completion. These techniques use simple Pauli measurements, and their output can be certified without making any assumptions about the unknown state. In this paper, we present a new theoretical analysis of compressed tomography, based on the restricted isometry property for low-rank matrices. Using these tools, we obtain near-optimal error bounds for the realistic situation where the data contain noise due to finite statistics, and the density matrix is full-rank with decaying eigenvalues. We also obtain upper bounds on the sample complexity of compressed tomography, and almost-matching lower bounds on the sample complexity of any procedure using adaptive sequences of Pauli measurements. Using numerical simulations, we compare the performance of two compressed sensing estimators—the matrix Dantzig selector and the matrix Lasso—with standard maximum-likelihood estimation (MLE). We find that, given comparable experimental resources, the compressed sensing estimators consistently produce higher fidelity state reconstructions than MLE. In addition, the use of an incomplete set of measurements leads to faster classical processing with no loss of accuracy. Finally, we show how to certify the accuracy of a low-rank estimate using direct fidelity estimation, and describe a method for compressed quantum process tomography that works for processes with small Kraus rank and requires only Pauli eigenstate preparations and Pauli measurements.
In quantum information transformation and quantum computation, the most critical issues are security and accuracy. These features, therefore, stimulate research on quantum state characterization. A characterization tool, quantum state tomography, reconstructs the density matrix of an unknown quantum state. Theoretically, reconstructing an unknown state using this method can be arbitrarily accurate. However, this is not so practical owing to the huge burden of measurements and data processing for large numbers of qubits. Even comprising an efficient estimator and a precise algorithm, an optimal tomographic framework can also be overburdened owing to the exponential growth of the measurements. Moreover, the consequential postprocessing of huge amounts of data challenges the capacity of computers. Thus, it is crucial to build an efficient framework that requires fewer measurements but yields an expected accuracy. To this end, we built a tomography schema by which only a few Pauli measurements enable an accurate tomographic reconstruction. Subsequently, this schema was verified as efficient and accurate through numerical simulations on the tomography of multiqubit quantum states. Furthermore, it was proven to be robust through numerical simulations on a noisy superconducting qubit system. Therefore, the tomography schema paves an alternative effective way to reconstruct the density matrix of a quantum state owing to its efficiency and accuracy, which are essential for quantum state tomography.
Quantum state tomography estimates an unknown density operator from measurement data. Dense reconstruction however, can be impractical for many-qubit systems because the Hilbert-space dimension grows exponentially. This contribution develops a rank-adaptive matrix-free approach to low-rank quantum state tomography based on rank-one atomic coordinates. The density operator is represented as a convex combination of pure-state atoms, which preserves positivity and unit trace while avoiding dense density, measurement, and gradient matrices. The resultant algorithm combines atom updates, simplex-constrained coefficient reweighting, and periodic spectral refactorization using only predicted probability vectors, atom vectors, and descriptor-level measurement actions. These computations decompose across measurement outcomes, and admit a master--worker implementation with the measurements partitioned across workers. A rank penalty adapts the representation size during optimization. Provable feasibility, prediction consistency, monotone descent of the penalized objective, and an exact spectral proximal characterization of the refactorization step are established. Simulations with Pauli measurements show favorable accuracy--runtime--memory tradeoffs relative to competing alternatives.