Efficient solid state memories for quantum cryptography

Long distance quantum cryptography requires quantum repeaters which use quantum memories. The latter are designed to store and retrieve photon quantum states on demand. Although quantum memories have been demonstrated in atomic vapors and ultra cold gases, a solid state alternative may better fulfill quantum memories requirements. Rare earth based crystals, which exhibit long coherence lifetimes, are actively studied for this purpose. Memory efficiency, i.e. the probability to retrieve a photon after storage, should be close to unity for practical applications. This can be achieved in highly doped crystals. Although Pr-Pr interactions could be detrimental in this case, we show that in a 3% Pr³⁺ doped La₂(WO₄)₃ crystal ground state hyperfine coherence lifetime is still close to that measured at low Pr concentration. Since the latter determines the memory storage time, this result suggests that highly doped crystals may be useful for efficient quantum memories.     

基于金刚石氮-空位色心自旋系综与超导量子电路混合系统的量子节点纠缠

量子纠缠是实现量子计算和量子通信的核心基础,本文提出了在金刚石氮-空位色心(NV centers)自旋系综与超导量子电路耦合的混合系统中实现两个分离量子节点之间纠缠的理论方案.在该混合系统中,把金刚石NV centers自旋系综和与之耦合的超导共面谐振器视为一个量子节点,两个量子节点之间通过一个空的超导共面谐振器连接.具有较长相干时间的NV centers自旋系综作为一个量子存储器,用于制备、存储和发送量子信息;易于外部操控的超导量子电路可执行量子逻辑门操作,快速调控量子信息.为了实现两个分离量子节点之间的纠缠,首先对系统的哈密顿量进行正则变换,将其等价为两个NV centers自旋系综与同一个超导共面谐振器之间的JC耦合;然后采用NV centers自旋-光子混合比特编码的方式,通过调节超导共面谐振器的谐振频率,精确控制体系演化时间,高保真度地实现了两个分离量子节点之间的量子纠缠.本方案还可以进一步扩展和集成,用于构建多节点纠缠的分布式量子网络.     

Two-band model as a quantum data bus for quantum state transfer

We study the dynamics of an electron spin state transfer along a half-filled two-band model(TBM).It is shown that this solvable and realistic medium has an energy gap between the ground and first-excited states in the half-filled case.By connecting two qubits to two sites of the TBM,the system can accomplish a high-fidelity and long-distance quantum state transfer(QST).Moreover,numerical simulations have been performed for a finite system.The results show that the numerical and analytical results of the effective coupling strength agree well with each other.Furthermore,the investigation shows that the reduced density matrix also has high fidelity beyond the range of perturbation.     

Recording quantum properties of light in a long-lived atomic spin state: towards quantum memory

We report an experiment on mapping a quantum state of light onto the ground state spin of an ensemble of Cs atoms with the lifetime of 2 ms. Recording of one of the two quadrature phase operators of light is demonstrated with vacuum and squeezed states of light. The sensitivity of the mapping procedure at the level of approximately 1 photon/sec per Hz is shown. The results pave the road towards complete (storing both quadrature phase observables) quantum memory for Gaussian states of light. The experiment also sheds new light on fundamental limits of sensitivity of the magneto-optical resonance method.     

Efficient quantum arithmetic operation circuits for quantum image processing

Efficient quantum circuits for arithmetic operations are vital for quantum algorithms. A fault-tolerant circuit is required for a robust quantum computing in the presence of noise. Quantum circuits based on Clifford+T gates are easily rendered faulttolerant. Therefore, reducing the T-depth and T-Count without increasing the qubit number represents vital optimization goals for quantum circuits. In this study, we propose the fault-tolerant implementations for TR and Peres gates with optimized T-depth and T-Count. Next, we design fault-tolerant circuits for quantum arithmetic operations using the TR and Peres gates. Then,we implement cyclic and complete translations of quantum images using quantum arithmetic operations, and the scalar matrix multiplication. Comparative analysis and simulation results reveal that the proposed arithmetic and image operations are efficient.For instance, cyclic translations of a quantum image produce 50% T-depth reduction relative to the previous best-known cyclic translation.     

发展固态量子信息与计算的实验研究

量子计算与量子信息是21世纪基础和应用科学研究的一大挑战.要实现实用意义上的量子信息和量子计算,必须解决量子比特系统的可拓展性问题.基于现代半导体技术的固态量子系统,其应用和最终产业化的可行性较高.然而,固态量子体系受周边环境的影响比较严重,控制其退相干,维持其量子状态的难度更高.实验固态量子计算的研究是个新的领域,尚无实用的技术和方法. 文章介绍了中国科学院物理研究所固态量子信息和计算实验室近几年来新开辟的自旋、冷原子、量子点(包括原子空位)、功能氧化物和关联体系等固态量子信息的新载体和同量子计算与量子信息相关的科学与技术难题的实验研究.     

发展固态量子信息与计算的实验研究

量子计算与量子信息是21世纪基础和应用科学研究的一大挑战. 要实现实用意义上的量子信息和量子计算,必须解决量子比特系统的可拓展性问题.基于现代半导体技术的固态量子系统,其应用和最终产业化的可行性较高. 然而,固态量子体系受周边环境的影响比较严重,控制其退相干,维持其量子状态的难度更高.实验固态量子计算的研究是个新的领域,尚无实用的技术和方法. 文章介绍了中国科学院物理研究所固态量子信息和计算实验室近几年来新开辟的自旋、 冷原子、 量子点(包括原子空位)、功能氧化物和关联体系等固态量子信息的新载体和同量子计算与量子信息相关的科学与技术难题的实验研究.     

Prospects for measurement‐based quantum computing with solid state spins

This article aims to review the developments, both theoretical and experimental, that have in the past decade laid the ground for a new approach to solid state quantum computing. Measurement‐based quantum computing (MBQC) requires neither direct interaction between qubits nor even what would be considered controlled generation of entanglement. Rather it can be achieved using entanglement that is generated probabilistically by the collapse of quantum states upon measurement. Single electronic spins in solids make suitable qubits for such an approach, offering long coherence times and well defined routes to optical measurement. We will review the theoretical basis of MBQC and experimental data for two frontrunner candidate qubits – nitrogen‐vacancy (NV) centres in diamond and semiconductor quantum dots – and discuss the prospects and challenges that lie ahead in realising MBQC in the solid state.     

Equivalence of ensembles in quantum lattice systems: States

The general analysis of the equivalence of ensembles in quantum lattice systems, which was undertaken in paper I of this series, is continued.The properties of equilibrium states are considered in a variational sense. It is then shown that there exists a canonical as well as a microcanonical variational formulation of equilibrium both of which are equivalent to the grandcanonical formulation.Equilibrium states are constructed both in the canonical and in the microcanonical formalism by means of suitable limiting procedures.It is shown, in particular, that the invariant equilibrium states for a given energy and density are those for which the maximum of the mean entropy is reached. The mean entropy thus obtained coincides with the microcanonical entropy.     

Atomic quantum zeno effect for ensembles and single systems

The so-called quantum Zeno effect is essentially a consequence of the projection postulate for ideal measurements. To test the effect, Itanoet al. have performed an experiment on an ensemble of atoms where rapidly repeated level measurements were realized by means of short laser pulses. Using dynamical considerations, we give an explanation why the projection postulate can be applied in good approximation to such measurements. Corrections to ideal measurements are determined explicitly. This is used to discuss how far the experiment of Itanoet al. can be considered as a test of the quantum Zeno effect. We also analyze a new possible experiment on a single atom where stochastic light and dark periods can be interpreted as manifestation of the quantum Zeno effect. We show that the measurement point of view gives a quick and intuitive understanding of experiments of the above type, although a finer analysis has to take the corrections into account.     

Direct measurement for general quantum states using parametric quantum circuits

In the field of quantum information,the acquisition of information for unknown quantum states is very important.When we only need to obtain specific elements of a state density matrix,the traditional quantum state tomography will become very complicated,because it requires a global quantum state reconstruction.Direct measurement of the quantum state allows us to obtain arbitrary specific matrix elements of the quantum state without state reconstruction,so direct measurement schemes have obtained...     

Doped carbon nanotubes as quantum memory devices

Based on the given analysis of the phonon spectrum of single-walled carbon nanotubes, it was suggested that tubes doped with foreign atoms be used as quantum memory devices. The longer decoherence time in such devices is accounted for by the suppression of phonon transition due to a gap observed in the phonon spectrum of carbon nanotubes.     

An impurity-induced gap system as a quantum data bus for quantum state transfer

We introduce a tight-binding chain with a single impurity to act as a quantum data bus for perfect quantum state transfer. Our proposal is based on the weak coupling limit of the two outermost quantum dots to the data bus, which is a gapped system induced by the impurity. By connecting two quantum dots to two sites of the data bus, the system can accomplish a high-fidelity and long-distance quantum state transfer. Numerical simulations for finite system show that the numerical and analytical results of the effective coupling strength agree well with each other. Moreover, we study the robustness of this quantum communication protocol in the presence of disorder in the couplings between the nearest-neighbor quantum dots. We find that the gap of the system plays an important role in robust quantum state transfer.     

Negative muons as solid state probes

Abstract

It is shown that the use of negative muons as solid state probes is complicated by the de-excitation scheme of muonic atoms. A comparison with some recent radiation damage experiments suggest that the μ^? atom (at least in silicon) is displaced to an interstitial position.     

Asymptotically optimal quantum circuits for d-level systems

Scalability of a quantum computation requires that the information be processed on multiple subsystems. However, it is unclear how the complexity of a quantum algorithm, quantified by the number of entangling gates, depends on the subsystem size. We examine the quantum circuit complexity for exactly universal computation on many d-level systems (qudits). Both a lower bound and a constructive upper bound on the number of two-qudit gates result, proving a sharp asymptotic of theta(d(2n)) gates. This closes the complexity question for all d-level systems (d finite). The optimal asymptotic applies to systems with locality constraints, e.g., nearest neighbor interactions.     

Low depth quantum circuits for Ising models

A scheme for measuring complex temperature partition functions of Ising models is introduced. Two applications of this scheme are presented. First, through appropriate Wick rotations, those amplitudes can be analytically continued to yield estimates for partition functions of Ising models. Bounds on the estimated error are provided through a central-limit theorem whose validity extends beyond the present context; it holds for example for estimations of the Jones polynomial. The kind of state preparations and measurements involved in this application can be made independent of the system size or the parameters of the system being simulated. Second, the scheme allows to accurately estimate non-trivial invariants of links. Another result concerns the computational power of estimations of partition functions for real temperature classical ferromagnetic Ising models. We provide conditions under which estimating such partition functions allows to reconstruct scattering amplitudes of quantum circuits, making the problem BQP-hard. We also show fidelity overlaps for ground states of quantum Hamiltonians, which serve as a witness to quantum phase transitions, can be estimated from classical Ising model partition functions. Finally, we discuss how accurate corner magnetisation measurements on thermal states of two-dimensional Ising models lead to fully polynomial random approximation schemes (FPRAS) for the partition function.     

Optimal quantum circuits for general phase estimation

We address the problem of estimating the phase phi given N copies of the phase-rotation gate uphi. We consider, for the first time, the optimization of the general case where the circuit consists of an arbitrary input state, followed by any arrangement of the N phase rotations interspersed with arbitrary quantum operations, and ending with a general measurement. Using the polynomial method, we show that, in all cases where the measure of quality of the estimate phi for phi depends only on the difference phi-phi, the optimal scheme has a very simple fixed form. This implies that an optimal general phase estimation procedure can be found by just optimizing the amplitudes of the initial state.