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arXiv:quant-ph/0305060 · Physical Review A

Quantum computing with an inhomogeneously broadened ensemble of ions: Suppression of errors from detuning variations by specially adapted pulses and coherent population trapping

Ingela Roos, Klaus Mølmer

Published Feb 26, 2004• 107 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

The proposal for quantum computing with rare-earth-metal-ion qubits in inorganic crystals makes use of the inhomogeneous broadening of optical transitions in the ions to associate individual qubits with ions responding to radiation in selected frequency channels. We show that a class of Gaussian composite pulses and complex sech pulses provide accurate qubit $\ensuremath{\pi}$ rotations, which are at the same time channel selective on a 5 MHz frequency scale and tolerant to $\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.5\mathrm{MHz}$ deviations of the transition frequency of ions within a single channel. Rotations in qubit space of arbitrary angles and phases are produced by sequences of $\ensuremath{\pi}$ pulses between the excited state of the ions and coherent superpositions of the qubit states.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.69.022321

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arXiv:1001.1664•Physica Scripta•Dec 1, 2009•24 citations
The proposal for quantum computing with rare-earth-metal-ion qubits in inorganic crystals makes use of the inhomogeneous broadening of optical transitions in the ions to associate individual qubits with ions responding to radiation in selected frequency channels. We show that a class of Gaussian composite pulses and complex sech pulses provide accurate qubit \ensuremathπ\ensuremath{\pi}\ensuremathπ rotations, which are at the same time channel selective on a 5 MHz frequency scale and tolerant to \ifmmode±\else\textpm\fi0.5MHz\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.5\mathrm{MHz}\ifmmode±\else\textpm\fi0.5MHz deviations of the transition frequency of ions within a single channel. Rotations in qubit space of arbitrary angles and phases are produced by sequences of \ensuremathπ\ensuremath{\pi}\ensuremathπ pulses between the excited state of the ions and coherent superpositions of the qubit states.
The main aim of this work, was to lay the foundations for the experimental realisation of a quantum mechanical controlled NOT gate in rare-earth-metal-ion-doped crystals. Small amounts of rare-earth elements, added during the growth of some inorganic crystals, will become substituted into the crystal lattice as trivalent ions. The trivalent rare-earth-metal ions between cerium, with atomic number 58, and ytterbium, with atomic number 70, have a partly filled 4f shell, which does not extend spatially outside the full 5s and 5p shells. The 4f vacancies make electronic inner shell transitions possible between spectroscopic 4f terms. Some of these optical transitions have coherence times of the order of milliseconds, when the crystals are cooled down to ~ 4 K. There are several reasons for these extraordinary coherence times, which are approximately 8 orders of magnitude greater than those typical for electronic transitions in solids. The most important one is the cage-like shield which the outer 5s and 5p shells provide for the 4f electrons. Furthermore, since these ions are naturally trapped inside the crystal lattice there is no Doppler broadening of the line-width. The coherence properties of these optical transitions is one of the features that makes these materials attractive for use as a solid-state platform for quantum computing, using these ions as qubits. Another appealing characteristic is the fact that different ions have different optical resonance frequencies, which means that ions belonging to different qubits, which only have nm separation, can still be addressed separately by using different laser frequencies. Since the inter-ion spacing is so small, it is possible to make two ions interact strongly, although they are well shielded, through a permanent dipole-dipole interaction. This interaction can be turned on and off by switching between two different ways of encoding the qubit, a most useful feature. When the qubit is represented as a superposition between two ground state hyperfine levels, the interaction is turned off. The interaction is turned on selectively by transferring this superposition to the optical transition with a pi-pulse, for the specific ions that are to interact. This thesis describes how peaks of ions, absorbing on a single transition, residing in spectral pits with no other ions, have been isolated. It is shown how these ions can be coherently transferred between hyperfine levels via the optically excited state, how the interaction between such peaks of ions representing qubits can be turned on and off, and how subgroups of ions with strong interaction can be distilled out. All the work described here has been performed using the ensemble approach. The ensemble approach will, however, be difficult to scale up to large numbers of qubits. A method employing a single ion in each qubit, using a specialised ion for readout, has therefore also been proposed. The rare-earth-metal-ion-based quantum computing experiments require a laser with coherence properties which at least match those of the material. To this end a frequency stabilisation system was developed for a dye laser. This system uses a transient spectral hole in a rare-earth-metal-ion-doped crystal, of the same kind that is used in the experiments, as frequency reference, and is to the authors knowledge the first demonstration of locking a dye laser to a spectral hole. This system provides a line-width of 1 kHz on a 10 microseconds timescale and a frequency drift below 1 kHz/s.
We present a scheme for quantum computing in rare-earth-ion doped inorganic crystals. We use two of the ground state hyperfine levels as the qubit states, with different qubits absorbing light at different frequencies within an inhomogeneously broadened optical transition. Interaction between different qubits is accomplished using the change in permanent dipole moment that is induced at the optical excitation of the ions. The two most important aspects of the scheme have been accomplished experimentally: The isolation of a single qubit in a pure state and interaction between ions absorbing at different frequencies.
In optically controlled quantum computers it may be favorable to address different qubits using light with different frequencies, since the optical diffraction does not then limit the distance between qubits. Using qubits that are close to each other enables qubit-qubit interactions and gate operations that are strong and fast in comparison to qubit-environment interactions and decoherence rates. However, as qubits are addressed in frequency space, great care has to be taken when designing the laser pulses, so that they perform the desired operation on one qubit, without affecting other qubits. Complex hyperbolic secant pulses have theoretically been shown to be excellent for such frequency-addressed quantum computing [I. Roos and K. Molmer, Phys. Rev. A 69, 022321 (2004)]---e.g., for use in quantum computers based on optical interactions in rare-earth-metal-ion-doped crystals. The optical transition lines of the rare-earth-metal-ions are inhomogeneously broadened and therefore the frequency of the excitation pulses can be used to selectively address qubit ions that are spatially separated by a distance much less than a wavelength. Here, frequency-selective transfer of qubit ions between qubit states using complex hyperbolic secant pulses is experimentally demonstrated. Transfer efficiencies better than 90% were obtained. Using the complex hyperbolic secant pulses it was also possible to create two groups of ions, absorbing at specific frequencies, where 85% of the ions at one of the frequencies was shifted out of resonance with the field when ions in the other frequency group were excited. This procedure of selecting interacting ions, called qubit distillation, was carried out in preparation for two-qubit gate operations in the rare-earth-metal-ion-doped crystals. The techniques for frequency-selective state-to-state transfer developed here may be also useful also for other quantum optics and quantum information experiments in these long-coherence-time solid-state systems.
Implementing high-fidelity controlled two-qubit gates in dipole-dipole interacting systems, such as rare-earth-ion crystals, in hindered by spectral inhomogeneity and weak coupling. Existing method often rely on detuned pulses, making them susceptible to frequency errors and AC Stark shifts. We propose a robust resonant scheme for arbitrary controlled two-qubit gates that utilizes asymmetric excitation and pulse engineering to achieve decoupled, parallel qubit control. Simulations on rare-earth-ion ensemble qubits demonstrate gate fidelities exceeding 99% within a 170 kHz detuning range with off-resonant excitation below 0.2%. This approach offers a robust, scalable route for quantum computing in spectrally crowded systems.
An overview of current status and prospects of the development of quantum computer hardware based on inorganic crystals doped with rare-earth ions are presented. Major parts of the experimental work in this area have been done in two places, Canberra, Australia and Lund, Sweden, and the present description follows more closely the Lund work. Techniques will be described that include optimal filtering of the initially inhomogeneously broadened profile down to well separated and narrow ensembles, as well as the use of advanced pulse-shaping in order to achieve robust arbitrary single-qubit operations with fidelities above 90%, as characterized by quantum state tomography. It is expected that full scalability of these systems will require the ability to determine the state of single rare-earth ions. It has been proposed that this can be done using special readout ions doped into the crystal and an update is given on the work to find and characterize such ions. Finally, a few aspects on possibilities for remote entanglement of ions in separate rare-earth-ion-doped crystals are considered.