In NMR-based quantum computing, it is known that the controlled-NOT gate can be implemented by applying a low-power, monochromatic radio-frequency field to one peak of a doublet in a weakly-coupled two-spin system. This is known in NMR spectroscopy as Pound-Overhauser double resonance. The ``transition'' Hamiltonian that has been associated with this procedure is however only an approximation, which ignores off-resonance effects and does not correctly predict the associated phase factors. In this paper, the exact effective Hamiltonian for evolution of the spins' state in a rotating frame is derived, both under irradiation of a single peak (on-transition) as well as between the peaks of the doublet (on-resonance). The accuracy of these effective Hamiltonians is validated by comparing the observable product operator components of the density matrix obtained by simulation to those obtained by fitting the corresponding experiments. It is further shown how both the on-transition and on-resonance fields can be used to implement the controlled-NOT gate exactly up to conditional phases, and analytic expressions for these phases are derived. In Appendices, the on-resonance Hamiltonian is analytically diagonalized, and proofs are given that, in the weak-coupling approximation, off-resonance effects can be neglected whenever the radio-frequency field power is small compared to the difference in resonance frequencies of the two spins.
In NMR-based quantum computing, it is known that the controlled-NOT gate can be implemented by applying a low-power, monochromatic radio-frequency field to one peak of a doublet in a weakly-coupled two-spin system. This is known in NMR spectroscopy as Pound-Overhauser double resonance. The ``transition'' Hamiltonian that has been associated with this procedure is however only an approximation, which ignores off-resonance effects and does not correctly predict the associated phase factors. In this paper, the exact effective Hamiltonian for evolution of the spins' state in a rotating frame is derived, both under irradiation of a single peak (on-transition) as well as between the peaks of the doublet (on-resonance). The accuracy of these effective Hamiltonians is validated by comparing the observable product operator components of the density matrix obtained by simulation to those obtained by fitting the corresponding experiments. It is further shown how both the on-transition and on-resonance fields can be used to implement the controlled-NOT gate exactly up to conditional phases, and analytic expressions for these phases are derived. In Appendices, the on-resonance Hamiltonian is analytically diagonalized, and proofs are given that, in the weak-coupling approximation, off-resonance effects can be neglected whenever the radio-frequency field power is small compared to the difference in resonance frequencies of the two spins.
An operator formalism is presented which conveniently treats the interaction of a spin-1 nucleus with a weak radio frequency field. The Hamiltonian in the rotating frame is ℋ=−Δω Iz−ω1Ix+(1/3) ωQ[3 I2z−I (I+1)], where Δω is the resonance offset (Δω=ω0−ω), ω1 is the intensity of the rf field, and ωQ is the quadrupolar splitting. Nine fictitious spin−1/2 operators, Ip,i where p=x,y,z and i=1,2,3, are defined where p refers to the transition between two of the levels and i the Cartesian component. The operators, which are the generators of the group SU (3), satisfy spin-1/2 commutation relations [Ip,j, Ip,k]=i Ip,l, where j,k,l=1,2,3 or cyclic permutation. Thus each p defines a three-dimensional space termed p space. For irradiation near one of the quadrupolar satellites, for example, Δω=ωQ+δω with δω, ω1≪ωQ, it is shown that the effective Hamiltonian can be written ℋ?−δωIx,3−√2 ω1Ix,1, i.e., a fictitious spin-1/2 Hamiltonian in x space with effective magnetogyric ratio γ along the 3 (resonance offset) axis and √2 γ along the 1 (rf field) axis. For irradiation near the center we can effect double quantum transitions between m=±1. The formalism allows us to write the effective operators for these transitions. For example, if we take Δω=δω again with δω, ω1≪ωQ we find the effective double quantum (DQ) Hamiltonian H?−2 δω Iz,1−(ω21/ωQ) Iz,3. Thus the z space is referred to as the double quantum frame with effective magnetogyric ratio 2γ along the 1 (resonance offset) axis and (ω1/ωQ) γ along the 3 (rf field) axis. The limiting expressions are compared with exact calculations for arbitrary ω1 done by high speed computer. The theory is applied to various cases of irradiation including our previously reported technique of Fourier transform double quantum NMR. Various pulse sequences for preparing, storing, and maintaining the evolution of double quantum coherence are analyzed for single crystal and polycrystalline samples. Finally, the effects of rf phase on the double quantum phase are presented briefly, and the possibility of double quantum spin locking is analyzed.
A relationship between the phase factor of a quantum gate, the layout of energy levels of its effective Hamiltonian, and the implementation time of the gate is demonstrated. By an example of the direct and inverse quantum Fourier transforms (QFT) gates for a qutrit represented by a quadrupole nucleus with spin I = 1, as well as for a system of two qubits ( I = 1/2), effective Hamiltonians and minimum implementation times corresponding to different global phases are obtained. Implementation schemes are proposed for these Hamiltonians by the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technique with the use of sequences of radio-frequency (RF) pulses separated by intervals of free evolution. Analytic results for the minimum times of gates are in agreement with the results obtained by numerical optimization methods. The phase considered is divided into dynamic and geometric parts.
In many quantum platforms, single-qubit gates are applied using a linear drive resonant with the qubit transition frequency, which is often theoretically described within the rotating-wave approximation (RWA). However, for fast gates on low-frequency qubits, the RWA may not hold and we need to consider the contribution from counterrotating terms to the qubit dynamics. The inclusion of counterrotating terms into the theoretical description gives rise to two challenges. First, it becomes challenging to analytically calculate the time evolution as the Hamiltonian is no longer self-commuting. Moreover, the time evolution now depends on the carrier phase such that, in general, every operation in a sequence of gates is different. In this work, we derive and verify a correction to the drive pulses that minimizes the effect of these counterrotating terms in a two-level system. We then derive a second correction term that arises from noncomputational levels for a strongly anharmonic system. We experimentally implement these correction terms on a fluxonium superconducting qubit, which is an example of a strongly anharmonic, low-frequency qubit for which the RWA may not hold, and demonstrate how fast, high-fidelity single-qubit gates can be achieved without the need for additional hardware and calibration complexities.
We first introduce an alternative way to study the insensitive nuclei enhanced by polarization and distortionless enhancement by polarization transfer NMR experiments with the product operator descriptions for weakly coupled IS (I = 1/2, S = 1/2) spin systems as a quantum controlled not gate and a not gate, respectively.In this framework we apply the density matrix operators obtained from the analytical descriptions of the mentioned pulse sequences by using product operator formalism step by step on the NMR spin product states represented in Dirac's notation.
Standard CMOS circuits are expected to be no longer able to satisfy nowadays demand for higher performances and lower power consumption. This commits to look for new solutions. Quantum computation, whose fundamental quantity of information is the qubit, is a thoroughly new way of thinking to electronics. There are at least two main reasons for which quantum computing is expected to broaden computation horizons. First, specific algorithms can be engineered, manipulating the probability amplitudes of different states, to exploit the quantum superposition principle and achieve high parallelism. Second, it is expected to be spontaneously suitable to simulate complex quantum physical systems, as large molecules. Quantum computing requires the cooperation of several scientific fields. The leading idea has been to highlight the operations and algorithms a quantum computer must be able to perform and, then, to propose a hardware solution, providing the rigorous physical treatment mandatory for a deep understanding and for an appropriate modelling, something which is hard to find in nowadays literature. Thus, the first chapters address the quantum algorithms, focusing on Grover's search algorithm and deriving, from fundamentals, the corresponding circuit. The latter is then described in Quantum Assembly (QASM), which can be seen as the quantum equivalent of VHDL, and simulated on IBM Q Experience. The following chapters deal with a possible physical implementation of quantum processors: the encoding of qubits on nuclear spins in diamagnetic molecules. When a static magnetic field is applied to a spin-1/2 nucleus, two well-defined energy eigenstates arise, as a result of the Zeeman effect. Each of them can be associated with a qubit eigenstate. Thanks to nuclear magnetic resonance principles, the probability with which one of the two eigenstates is measured can be handled by the superposition of a radio frequency field at the resonance frequency of the nucleus. This can be interpreted as a rotation of the spin, and so of the qubit, about the RF field and enables the execution of single qubit quantum gates, since they are simple rotations of the state vector. The two-qubit CNOT gate is obtained through the interaction of spins via J-coupling. Considering that these gates constitute a universal set, every quantum algorithm can theoretically be run on an NMR processor. Different nuclei have different resonant frequencies, but the addressing of a specific spin can be achieved also in homonuclear molecules, since the resonant frequency depends also on the nuclear environment (nuclear shielding). While unwanted J-couplings can be removed thanks to refocusing, spin decoherence and relaxation phenomena force an upper limit to the allowed timescale. A main advantage of NMR is that this timescale is long, even at room temperature. Conversely, scalability is still an issue. A simple heteronuclear MATLAB model, based on the relations derived from first principles in the thesis, is proposed to prove the feasibility of NMR quantum processors. The input technological parameters, as chemical shielding and J-coupling, can be computed resorting on ORCA, or obtained from experimental data. The model, able to run a universal set of quantum gates and simple algorithms, can be useful to find an optimal operating point as a compromise between molecule physical properties and the quantities which can be controlled by nowadays NMR instrumentation.
It is shown theoretically that by the use of two radio-frequency fields of the same resonance frequency but with the different phases and directions the degeneracy of the energy spectrum of a spin system with I = 3/2 is removed. This leads to four non-degenerate spin states which can be used as a platform for quantum computing. The feasibility of quantum computing based on a pure (without DC magnetic fields) nuclear quadrupole resonance technique is investigated in detail. Various quantum logic gates can be constructed by using different excitation techniques allowing different manipulations with the spin system states. Three realizations of quantum logic gates are considered: the application of an additional magnetic field with the resonance frequency, the amplitude modulation of one of the applied RF fields by the resonance frequency field, and the level-crossing method. It is shown that the probabilities of the resonance transitions depend on the method of excitation and on the direction of the excitation field. Feasibility of quantum computing is demonstrated with the examples of constructing a controlled-NOT logic gate using the resonance excitation technique and SWAP and NOT2 logic gates using the level-crossing method.