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arXiv:quant-ph/0511153 · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE

Paramagnetic materials and practical algorithmic cooling for NMR quantum computing

Jose M. Fernandez, Tal Mor, Yossi Weinstein

Published Aug 5, 2003• 1 citation
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Algorithmic cooling is a method devised by Boykin, Mor Rowchodhury, Vatan and Vrijen (PNAS Mar '02) for initializing NMR systems in general and NMR quantum computers in particular. The algorithm recursively employs two steps. The first is an adiabatic entropy compression of the computation qubits of the system. The second step is an isothermal heat transfer from the system to the environment through a set of reset qubits that reach thermal relaxation rapidly. To allow experimental algorithmic cooling, the thermalization time of the reset qubits must be much shorter than the thermalization time of the computation qubits. We investigated the effect of the paramagnetic material Chromium Acetylacetonate on the thermalization times of computation qubits (carbons) and reset qubit (hydrogen). We report here the accomplishment of an improved ratio of the thermalization times from T1(H)/T1(C) of approximately 5 to around 15. The magnetic ions from the Chromium Acetylacetonate interact with the reset qubit reducing their thermalization time, while their effect on the less exposed computation qubits is found to be weaker. An experimental demonstrating of non adiabatic cooling by thermalization and magnetic ion is currently performed by our group based on these results.

DOI
10.1117/12.485841

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Algorithmic cooling is a novel technique to generate ensembles of highly polarized spins, which could significantly improve the signal strength in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. It combines reversible (entropy-preserving) manipulations and irreversible controlled interactions with the environment, using simple quantum computing techniques to increase spin polarization far beyond the Shannon entropy-conservation bound. Notably, thermalization is beneficially employed as an integral part of the cooling scheme, contrary to its ordinary destructive implications. We report the first cooling experiments bypassing Shannon's entropy-conservation bound, performed on a standard liquid-state NMR spectrometer. We believe that this experimental success could pave the way for the first near-future application of quantum computing devices.

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Algorithmic cooling is a method devised by Boykin, Mor Rowchodhury, Vatan and Vrijen (PNAS Mar '02) for initializing NMR systems in general and NMR quantum computers in particular. The algorithm recursively employs two steps. The first is an adiabatic entropy compression of the computation qubits of the system. The second step is an isothermal heat transfer from the system to the environment through a set of reset qubits that reach thermal relaxation rapidly. To allow experimental algorithmic cooling, the thermalization time of the reset qubits must be much shorter than the thermalization time of the computation qubits. We investigated the effect of the paramagnetic material Chromium Acetylacetonate on the thermalization times of computation qubits (carbons) and reset qubit (hydrogen). We report here the accomplishment of an improved ratio of the thermalization times from T1(H)/T1(C) of approximately 5 to around 15. The magnetic ions from the Chromium Acetylacetonate interact with the reset qubit reducing their thermalization time, while their effect on the less exposed computation qubits is found to be weaker. An experimental demonstrating of non adiabatic cooling by thermalization and magnetic ion is currently performed by our group based on these results.
Algorithmic cooling is a method that uses novel data compression techniques and simple quantum computing devices to improve NMR spectroscopy, and to offer scalable NMR quantum computers. The algorithm recursively employs two steps. A reversible entropy compression of computation quantum-bits (qubits) of the system and an irreversible heat transfer from the system to the environment through a set of reset qubits that reach thermal relaxation rapidly. Is it possible to experimentally demonstrate algorithmic cooling using existing technology? To allow experimental algorithmic cooling, the thermalization time of the reset qubits must be much shorter than the thermalization time of the computation qubits. However, such high thermalization-times ratios have yet to be reported. We investigate here the effect of a paramagnetic salt on the thermalization-times ratio of computation qubits (carbons) and a reset qubit (hydrogen). We show that the thermalization-times ratio is improved by approximately three-fold. Based on this result, an experimental demonstration of algorithmic cooling by thermalization and magnetic ions has been performed by the authors and collaborators.
Algorithmic cooling (AC) is a method to purify quantum systems, such as ensembles of nuclear spins, or cold atoms in an optical lattice. When applied to spins, AC produces ensembles of highly polarized spins, which enhance the signal strength in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). According to this cooling approach, spin-half nuclei in a constant magnetic field are considered as bits, or more precisely, quantum bits, in a known probability distribution. Algorithmic steps on these bits are then translated into specially designed NMR pulse sequences using common NMR quantum computation tools. The algorithmicalgorithmicalgorithmic cooling of spins is achieved by alternately combining reversible, entropy-preserving manipulations (borrowed from data compression algorithms) with selectiveselectiveselective resetresetreset, the transfer of entropy from selected spins to the environment. In theory, applying algorithmic cooling to sufficiently large spin systems may produce polarizations far beyond the limits due to conservation of Shannon entropy. Here, only selective reset steps are performed, hence we prefer to call this process "heat-bath" cooling, rather than algorithmic cooling. We experimentally implement here two consecutive steps of selective reset that transfer entropy from two selected spins to the environment. We performed such cooling experiments with commercially-available labeled molecules, on standard liquid-state NMR spectrometers. Our experiments yielded polarizations that bypassbypassbypass Shannon′sShannon'sShannon′s entropyentropyentropy-conservationconservationconservation boundboundbound, so that the entire spin-system was cooled. This paper was initially submitted in 2005, first to Science and then to PNAS, and includes additional results from subsequent years (e.g. for resubmission in 2007). The Postscriptum includes more details.
Algorithmic cooling (AC) is a method to purify quantum systems, such as ensembles of nuclear spins, or cold atoms in an optical lattice. When applied to spins, AC produces ensembles of highly polarized spins, which enhance the signal strength in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). According to this cooling approach, spin-half nuclei in a constant magnetic field are considered as bits, or more precisely quantum bits, in a known probability distribution. Algorithmic steps on these bits are then translated into specially designed NMR pulse sequences using common NMR quantum computation tools. The algorithmic cooling of spins is achieved by alternately combining reversible, entropy-preserving manipulations (borrowed from data compression algorithms) with selective reset , the transfer of entropy from selected spins to the environment. In theory, applying algorithmic cooling to sufficiently large spin systems may produce polarizations far beyond the limits due to conservation of Shannon entropy. Here, only selective reset steps are performed, hence we prefer to call this process “heat-bath” cooling, rather than algorithmic cooling. We experimentally implemented two consecutive steps of selective reset, thus transferring entropy from two selected spins to the environment. We performed such cooling experiments, with commercially available labeled molecules, on standard liquid-state NMR spectrometers. We report in particular on our original experiment, unpublished until now except on the arXiv (quant-ph/0511156) in 2005, which was, to the best of our knowledge, the world’s first experiment that yielded polarizations results that bypassed Shannon’s entropy-conservation bound , so that the entire spin-system was cooled.
Algorithmic cooling is a method that employs thermalization to increase qubit purification level; namely, it reduces the qubit system's entropy. We utilized gradient ascent pulse engineering, an optimal control algorithm, to implement algorithmic cooling in liquid-state nuclear magnetic resonance. Various cooling algorithms were applied onto the three qubits of 13C2^{13}\mathrm{C}_{2}13C2​-trichloroethylene, cooling the system beyond Shannon's entropy bound in several different ways. In particular, in one experiment a carbon qubit was cooled by a factor of 4.61. This work is a step towards potentially integrating tools of NMR quantum computing into in vivo magnetic-resonance spectroscopy.
We present here algorithmic cooling (via polarization heat bath)-a powerful method for obtaining a large number of highly polarized spins in liquid nuclear-spin systems at finite temperature. Given that spin-half states represent (quantum) bits, algorithmic cooling cleans dirty bits beyond the Shannon's bound on data compression, by using a set of rapidly thermal-relaxing bits. Such auxiliary bits could be implemented by using spins that rapidly get into thermal equilibrium with the environment, e.g., electron spins. Interestingly, the interaction with the environment, usually a most undesired interaction, is used here to our benefit, allowing a cooling mechanism. Cooling spins to a very low temperature without cooling the environment could lead to a breakthrough in NMR experiments, and our "spin-refrigerating" method suggests that this is possible. The scaling of NMR ensemble computers is currently one of the main obstacles to building larger-scale quantum computing devices, and our spin-refrigerating method suggests that this problem can be resolved.
Algorithmic cooling is a novel technique to generate ensembles of highly polarized spins, which could significantly improve the signal strength in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. It combines reversible (entropy-preserving) manipulations and irreversible controlled interactions with the environment, using simple quantum computing techniques to increase spin polarization far beyond the Shannon entropy-conservation bound. Notably, thermalization is beneficially employed as an integral part of the cooling scheme, contrary to its ordinary destructive implications. We report the first cooling experiments bypassing Shannon's entropy-conservation bound, performed on a standard liquid-state NMR spectrometer. We believe that this experimental success could pave the way for the first near-future application of quantum computing devices.