Developing Tools for Quantum Characterization and Validation

Summary

Coherence is essential for quantum computation; yet it introduces a unique sensitivity to any imperfections in hardware design, control systems, and the operating environment. Overcoming these sensitivities requires a hierarchy of strategies, ranging from optimization of the hardware architecture to software solutions including quantum error correction. Randomized Benchmarking Protocols are an important family of tools (developed mostly here in Waterloo) that have become widely adopted to characterize and optimize the performance of one- and two-qubit quantum gates. Moving beyond the current state-of-the-art, we are developing and applying protocols that can characterize, optimize, validate, and certify the overall performance of a many-qubit architecture. We are also working to develop the diagnostics that will guide the design of multi-qubit quantum processors, for example, by clarifying how the quality of quantum control scales with the number of qubits. Ultimately, we expect that this work will sharpen our understanding of the required resources for quantum computation to outperform classical systems.