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Nature Physics

Efficient implementation of arbitrary two-qubit gates using unified control

Zhen Chen, Weiyang Liu, Yanjun Ma, Weijie Sun, Ruixia Wang, He Wang, Huikai Xu, Guangming Xue, Haisheng Yan, Zhen Yang, Jiayu Ding, Yang Gao, Feiyu Li, Yujia Zhang, Zikang Zhang, Yirong Jin, Haifeng Yu, Jianxin Chen, Fei Yan

Published Aug 15, 2025• 18 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The set of quantum logic gates that can be easily implemented is fundamental to the performance of quantum computers, as it governs the accuracy of basic quantum operations and dictates the complexity of implementing quantum algorithms. Traditional approaches to extending gate sets often require operating devices outside the ideal parameter regimes used to realize qubits, leading to increased control complexity while offering only a limited set of gates. Here we experimentally demonstrate a unified and versatile gate scheme capable of generating arbitrary two-qubit gates using only an exchange interaction and qubit driving on a superconducting quantum processor. We achieve high fidelities averaging 99.38% across a wide range of commonly used two-qubit unitaries, enabling precise multipartite entangled state preparation. Furthermore, we successfully produce a B gate, which efficiently synthesizes the entire family of two-qubit gates. Our results establish that fully exploiting the capabilities of the exchange interaction can yield a comprehensive and highly accurate gate set. With maximum expressivity, optimal gate time, demonstrated high fidelity and easy adaption to other quantum platforms, our unified control scheme offers the prospect of improved performance in quantum hardware and algorithm development. The efficiency of a quantum computer depends on which basic operations it can implement. Now a scheme that can implement any two-qubit logic gate has been demonstrated on a superconducting architecture.

DOI
10.1038/s41567-025-02990-x

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The set of quantum logic gates that can be easily implemented is fundamental to the performance of quantum computers, as it governs the accuracy of basic quantum operations and dictates the complexity of implementing quantum algorithms. Traditional approaches to extending gate sets often require operating devices outside the ideal parameter regimes used to realize qubits, leading to increased control complexity while offering only a limited set of gates. Here we experimentally demonstrate a unified and versatile gate scheme capable of generating arbitrary two-qubit gates using only an exchange interaction and qubit driving on a superconducting quantum processor. We achieve high fidelities averaging 99.38% across a wide range of commonly used two-qubit unitaries, enabling precise multipartite entangled state preparation. Furthermore, we successfully produce a B gate, which efficiently synthesizes the entire family of two-qubit gates. Our results establish that fully exploiting the capabilities of the exchange interaction can yield a comprehensive and highly accurate gate set. With maximum expressivity, optimal gate time, demonstrated high fidelity and easy adaption to other quantum platforms, our unified control scheme offers the prospect of improved performance in quantum hardware and algorithm development. The efficiency of a quantum computer depends on which basic operations it can implement. Now a scheme that can implement any two-qubit logic gate has been demonstrated on a superconducting architecture.
The native gate set is fundamental to the performance of quantum devices, as it governs the accuracy of basic quantum operations and dictates the complexity of implementing quantum algorithms. Traditional approaches to extending gate sets often require accessing multiple transitions within an extended Hilbert space, leading to increased control complexity while offering only a limited set of gates. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a unified and highly versatile gate scheme capable of natively generating arbitrary two-qubit gates using only exchange interaction and qubit driving on a superconducting quantum processor, achieving maximum expressivity. Using a state-of-the-art transmon-coupler-transmon architecture, we achieve high fidelities averaging 99.37±0.07%99.37 \pm 0.07\%99.37±0.07% across a wide range of commonly used two-qubit unitaries. This outstanding performance, combined with reduced complexity, enables precise multipartite entangled state preparation, as demonstrated. To further enhance its applicability, we also show the high-fidelity realization of the unique B gate, which efficiently synthesizes the entire family of two-qubit gates. Our results highlight that fully exploiting the capabilities of a single interaction can yield a comprehensive and highly accurate gate set. With maximum expressivity, gate-time optimality, demonstrated high fidelity, and easy adaptability to other quantum platforms, our unified control scheme paves the way for optimal performance in quantum devices, offering exciting prospects for advancing quantum hardware and algorithm development.
Quantum algorithms on near-term quantum processors are typically executed using shallow quantum circuits composed of one- and two-qubit gates. However, as circuit depth and gate number increase, gate imperfections and qubit decoherence begin to dominate, limiting algorithmic complexity. An alternative approach is to explore gates involving more than two qubits. In previous work (X. Wu et al., Physical Review X 14, 041030 (2024)), we demonstrated a new superconducting qubit architecture with user-selectable two-qubit interactions via a reconfigurable router, used to connect pairs of qubits. Here, we leverage this novel architecture to realize programmable and efficient multi-qubit operations involving more than two qubits, resulting in faster preparation of multi-qubit entangled states with good fidelities. We also successfully apply model-free reinforcement learning to perform multi-qubit gates, including training a two-qubit controlled-Z gate as well as three-qubit controlled-SWAP and controlled-controlled-phase (Fredkin and Toffoli) gates. Higher nnnth-order gates may also be feasible, using our high-connectivity router design. This could provide a more efficient and higher-fidelity implementation of complex quantum algorithms and a more practical approach to quantum computation.
Abstract While all quantum algorithms can be expressed in terms of single-qubit and two-qubit gates, more expressive gate sets can help reduce the algorithmic depth. This is important in the presence of gate errors, especially those due to decoherence. Using superconducting qubits, we have implemented a three-qubit gate by simultaneously applying two-qubit operations, thereby realizing a three-body interaction. This method straightforwardly extends to other quantum hardware architectures, requires only a firmware upgrade to implement, and is faster than its constituent two-qubit gates. The three-qubit gate represents an entire family of operations, creating flexibility in the quantum-circuit compilation. We demonstrate a process fidelity of 97.90%, which is near the coherence limit of our device. We then generate two classes of entangled states, the Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger and Dicke states, by applying the new gate only once; in comparison, decompositions into the standard gate set would have a two-qubit gate depth of two and three, respectively. Finally, we combine characterization methods and analyze the experimental and statistical errors in the fidelity of the gates and of the target states.
Advanced simulations and calculations on quantum computers require high-fidelity implementations of quantum operations. The universal gateset approach builds complex unitaries from a small set of primitive gates, often resulting in a long gate sequence, which is typically a leading factor in the total accumulated error. Compiling a complex unitary for processors with higher-dimensional logical elements, such as qutrits, exacerbates the accumulated error per unitary, since an even longer gate sequence is required. Optimal control methods promise time- and resource-efficient compact gate sequences and, therefore, higher fidelity. These methods generate pulses that can directly implement any complex unitary on a quantum device. In this work, we demonstrate that any arbitrary qubit and qutrit gate can be realized with high fidelity, which can significantly reduce the length of a gate sequence. We generate and test pulses for a large set of randomly selected arbitrary unitaries on several quantum processing units (QPUs): the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Quantum Device and Integration Testbed's (QuDIT's) standard QPU and three of Rigetti's QPUs: Ankaa-2, Ankaa-9Q-1, and Aspen-M-3. On the QuDIT platform's standard QPU, the average fidelity of random qutrit gates is $97.9\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.5\mathrm{%}$ measured with conventional QPT and $98.8\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.6\mathrm{%}$ from QPT with gate folding. Rigetti's Ankaa-2 achieves random qubit gates with an average fidelity of $98.4\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.5\mathrm{%}$ (conventional QPT) and $99.7\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.1\mathrm{%}$ (QPT with gate folding). On Ankaa-9Q-1 and Aspen-M-3, the average fidelities with conventional qubit QPT measurements were higher than 99% (see Appendix). We show that optimal control gates are robust to drift for at least 3 h and that the same calibration parameters can be used for all implemented gates. Our work promises that the calibration overheads for optimal control gates can be made small enough to enable efficient quantum circuits based on this technique.
The design and architecture of a quantum instruction set are paramount to the performance of a quantum computer. This work introduces a gate scheme for qubits with XX + YY coupling that directly and efficiently realizes any two-qubit gate up to single-qubit gates. First, this scheme enables high-fidelity execution of quantum operations, especially when decoherence is the primary error source. Second, since the scheme spans the entire SU(4) group of two-qubit gates, we can use it to attain the optimal two-qubit gate count for algorithm implementation. These two advantages in synergy give rise to a quantum Complex yet Reduced Instruction Set Computer (CRISC). Though the gate scheme is compact, it supports a comprehensive array of quantum operations. This may seem paradoxical but is realizable due to the fundamental differences between quantum and classical computer architectures.
Quantum computing holds great promise for both scientific discovery and commercial applications. Superconducting quantum systems have become one of the leading architectures for large-scale quantum computing. Towards realizing practical quantum computing, improving two-qubit gate fidelity is a crucial task. It is relevant for both near-term pre-fault-tolerant quantum computers and future fault-tolerant quantum computers. This dissertation aims to provide a comprehensive study of two-qubit gates in superconducting systems. The major focus is on improving gate fidelity via using different drive schemes and coupler designs. The dissertation contains two primary original contributions. First, a novel method for implementing continuous fSim gates is proposed and analyzed in detail. The fSim gate set is a family of gates that combines iiiSWAP gate and CPHASE gate into one gate with variable rotation angles and conditional phase. This gate set is particularly interesting for quantum simulation of fermionic systems. Second, a theoretical framework for multi-mode couplers is developed. A multi-mode coupler design is proposed to enable fully localized decoupling among qubits and independent control of qubit-qubit interactions in different excitation subspaces. An example of two qubits coupled by a two-mode coupler is studied in detail. Building on the fSim gate theory and multi-mode coupler design, several future research directions are outlined. Pulse-level algorithms for simulating electronic systems are discussed as a key application of fSim gates. A three-mode coupler architecture is further introduced. In addition, the importance of incorporating open-system dynamics for accurate modeling of coupler behavior and gate performance is emphasized. Finally, a unified framework for modeling superconducting quantum processors is proposed, providing a systematic way to compare gate fidelities across theoretical approaches and ultimately guide improvements in quantum hardware performance.