Decoherence in solid-state qubits

The interaction of solid-state qubits with environmental degrees of freedom strongly affects the qubit dynamics, and leads to decoherence. In quantum information processing with solid-state qubits, decoherence significantly limits the performances of such devices. Therefore, it is necessary to fully understand the mechanisms that lead to decoherence. In this review, we discuss how decoherence affects two of the most successful realizations of solid-state qubits, namely, spin qubits and superconducting qubits. In the former, the qubit is encoded in the spin 1/2 of the electron, and it is implemented by confining the electron spin in a semiconductor quantum dot. Superconducting devices show quantum behaviour at low temperatures, and the qubit is encoded in the two lowest energy levels of a superconducting circuit. The electron spin in a quantum dot has two main decoherence channels, a (Markovian) phonon-assisted relaxation channel, due to the presence of a spin–orbit interaction, and a (non-Markovian) spin bath constituted by the spins of the nuclei in the quantum dot that interact with the electron spin via the hyperfine interaction. In a superconducting qubit, decoherence takes place as a result of fluctuations in the control parameters, such as bias currents, applied flux and bias voltages, and via losses in the dissipative circuit elements.     

The dynamics of quantum correlation with two controlled qubits under classical dephasing environment

We discuss the quantum correlation dynamics of two qubits controlled through the application of π$\pi$-pulses under classical dephasing non-Markovian environment. It is shown that the quantum discord (QD) and one-norm geometric quantum discord (one-norm GQD) between the two qubits, which are prepared initially in the three-parameter-X$X$-type quantum states, depend strongly on non-Markovian properties and the time difference between adjacent pulses. The freezing time of discord and one-norm GQD can be lengthened for appropriate pulse separate time and pulse numbers. And the freezing time of one-norm GQD is longer slightly than QD for both Markovian and non-Markovian cases. What is more, we find that double sudden changes of one-norm GQD can appear only for some initial parameters when π$\pi$-pulses are applied.     

Charge-fluctuation-induced dephasing of exchange-coupled spin qubits

Exchange-coupled spin qubits in semiconductor nanostructures are shown to be vulnerable to dephasing caused by charge noise invariably present in the semiconductor environment. This decoherence of exchange gate by environmental charge fluctuations arises from the fundamental Coulombic nature of the Heisenberg coupling and presents a serious challenge to the scalability of the widely studied exchange gate solid state spin quantum computer architectures. We estimate dephasing times for coupled spin qubits in a wide range (from 1 ns up to >1 micros) depending on the exchange coupling strength and its sensitivity to charge fluctuations.     

Symplectic structure of quantum phase and stochastic simulation of qubits

Starting with the projective interpretation of the Hilbert space special stochastic representation of the wave function in Quantum Mechanics (QM), based on soliton realization of extended particles, is considered with the aim to model quantum states via classical computer. Entangled solitons construction having been earlier introduced in the nonlinear spinor field model for the calculation of the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) spin correlation for the spin-1/2 particles in the singlet state, the other example is now studied. The latter concerns the entangled envelope solitons in Kerr dielectric with cubic nonlinearity, where we use two-solitons configurations for modeling the entangled states of photons. Finally, the concept of stochastic qubits is used for quantum computing modeling.     

Active suppression of dephasing in Josephson-junction qubits

Simple majority code correcting k dephasing errors by encoding a qubit of information into 2k+1 physical qubits is studied quantitatively. We derive an equation for quasicontinuous evolution of the density matrix of encoded quantum information under the error correction procedure in the presence of correlated dephasing noise. A specific design of a Josephson-junction nanocircuit implementing this scheme is suggested.     

Correlations between quantum and stochastic systems with a dephasing coupling

Correlations between single qubit and classical environment are studied by means of the stochastic Liouville equation, where a dephasing coupling between them is assumed. When the dephasing of the qubit is characterized by the two-state-jump Markov process, the properties of the total, classical and quantum correlations are examined.     

Decoherence in Josephson qubits from dielectric loss

Dielectric loss from two-level states is shown to be a dominant decoherence source in superconducting quantum bits. Depending on the qubit design, dielectric loss from insulating materials or the tunnel junction can lead to short coherence times. We show that a variety of microwave and qubit measurements are well modeled by loss from resonant absorption of two-level defects. Our results demonstrate that this loss can be significantly reduced by using better dielectrics and fabricating junctions of small area . With a redesigned phase qubit employing low-loss dielectrics, the energy relaxation rate has been improved by a factor of 20, opening up the possibility of multiqubit gates and algorithms.     

Decoherence of qubits: results beyond Markovian approximation

In this paper the master equation method is used to calculate the relaxation and decoherence times of a qubit. The results are beyond Markovian approximation, where the noise spectrum is assumed to be wide-band, so that they are valid for not only the wide- but also the narrow-band noises, which may be the main decoherence source in solid-state qubits. Moreover, for some special cases, analytical results can be achieved, which are consistent with those derived by others.     

Decoherence in josephson phase qubits from junction resonators

Although Josephson junction qubits show great promise for quantum computing, the origin of dominant decoherence mechanisms remains unknown. Improving the operation of a Josephson junction based phase qubit has revealed microscopic two-level systems or resonators within the tunnel barrier that cause decoherence. We report spectroscopic data that show a level splitting characteristic of coupling between a two-state qubit and a two-level system. Furthermore, we show Rabi oscillations whose "coherence amplitude" is significantly degraded by the presence of these spurious microwave resonators. The discovery of these resonators impacts the future of Josephson qubits as well as existing Josephson technologies.     

在腔耦合的超导量子比特中实现几何量子信息处理

用量子空腔耦合的超导电荷比特器件被认为是实现量子信息处理的相当有希望的体系之一.如何在这种可集成的量子体系中实现高保真度的操作是量子信息处理领域的重要课题.文章介绍作者最近提出的在量子腔耦合的超导量子比特中用具有内禀容错功能的几何操作来实现普适量子逻辑门,产生多比特量子纠缠及实现量子纠错编码的一个可行方案.     

Topological quantum buses: coherent quantum information transfer between topological and conventional qubits

We propose computing bus devices that enable quantum information to be coherently transferred between topological and conventional qubits. We describe a concrete realization of such a topological quantum bus acting between a topological qubit in a Majorana wire network and a conventional semiconductor double quantum dot qubit. Specifically, this device measures the joint (fermion) parity of these two different qubits by using the Aharonov-Casher effect in conjunction with an ancilliary superconducting flux qubit that facilitates the measurement. Such a parity measurement, together with the ability to apply Hadamard gates to the two qubits, allows one to produce states in which the topological and conventional qubits are maximally entangled and to teleport quantum states between the topological and conventional quantum systems.     

Memory effects in quantum information transmission across a Hamiltonian dephasing channel

We study a dephasing channel with memory, modelled by a multimode environment of oscillators. Focusing on the case of two channel uses, we show that memory effects can enhance the amount of coherent quantum information transmitted down the channel. We also propose a coding-decoding scheme that takes advantage of memory to improve the fidelity of transmission.     

Decoherence and 1/f noise in Josephson qubits

We propose and study a model of dephasing due to an environment of bistable fluctuators. We apply our analysis to the decoherence of Josephson qubits, induced by background charges present in the substrate, which are also responsible for the 1/f noise. The discrete nature of the environment leads to a number of new features which are mostly pronounced for slowly moving charges. Far away from the degeneracy this model for the dephasing is solved exactly.     

Decoherence in quantum mechanics

We study decoherence in a simple quantum mechanical model using two approaches. Firstly, we follow the conventional approach to decoherence where one is interested in solving the reduced density matrix from the perturbative master equation. Secondly, we consider our novel correlator approach to decoherence where entropy is generated by neglecting observationally inaccessible correlators. We show that both methods can accurately predict decoherence time scales. However, the perturbative master equation generically suffers from instabilities which prevents us to reliably calculate the system’s total entropy increase. We also discuss the relevance of the results in our quantum mechanical model for interacting field theories.     

Decoherence of interacting qubits in contact with a common environment

Decoherence of interacting two qubits placed under the influence of a common environment is studied by means of the quantum master equation, where the two qubits interact with each other via the XY-coupling and the two-qubit system has the dephasing coupling with the environment. It is shown that when the asymmetry of the interaction between the two-qubit system and environment is not small, the qubit-qubit interaction significantly affects the dephasing of the two-qubit system. To examine such an interaction effect, the decay of two-qubit entanglement is calculated. It is found that the qubit-qubit interaction makes not only the decay of entanglement small but also the period of the oscillatory behaviour short.     

Decoherence by correlated noise and quantum error correction

We study the decoherence of a quantum computer in an environment which is inherently correlated in time and space. We first derive the nonunitary time evolution of the computer and environment in the presence of a stabilizer error correction code, providing a general way to quantify decoherence for a quantum computer. The general theory is then applied to the spin-boson model. Our results demonstrate that effects of long-range correlations can be systematically reduced by small changes in the error correction codes.     

Decoherence in superconducting quantum bits by phonon radiation

We discuss a fundamental limitation for the coherent operation of superconducting quantum bits originating from phonon radiation generated in the Josephson junctions of the device. The time dependent superconducting phase across the junction produces an electric field that couples to the underlying crystal lattice via the piezoelectric effect. We determine the radiation resistance of the junction due to phonon emission and derive substantial decoherence rates for the quantum bits, which are compatible with quality factors measured in recent experiments.     

基于SQUIDs和腔场相互作用传送量子信息的方案

本文提出了一个基于SQUIDs和腔场的大失谐相互作用传送量子信息的方案,此方案可以直接地、百分之百地实现量子信息的传送.该方案中腔场和SQUIDs系统之间没有量子信息的传递,腔场只是虚激发,这样对腔的品质因子的要求大大的降低了.同时也可以在SQUIDs之间建立传送量子信息的量子网络.     

基于SQUIDs和腔场相互作用传送量子信息的方案

本文提出了一个基于SQUIDs和腔场的大失谐相互作用传送量子信息的方案,此方案可以直接地、百分之百地实现量子信息的传送。该方案中腔场和SQUIDs系统之间没有量子信息的传递,腔场只是虚激发, 这样对腔的品质因子的要求大大的降低了。同时也可以在SQUIDs之间建立传送量子信息的量子网络。