Summary
The scalability of quantum processors is limited by current error rates for single-qubit gates. By encoding more than a single bit of information within a single ion, multi-level “qudits” offer a promising method of increasing the information density within a quantum processor, and therefore minimizing the number of gates and associated error rates. In this project we seek to improve the capabilities of trapped ion quantum processors, implementing all of the basic tools required to perform quantum information processing with multi-level qudits. To-date there have been few experimental efforts directed towards this area and many of the basic operations – such as reliably distinguishing among all possible basis states in a single-shot measurement or performing deterministic entangling gates – have not yet been demonstrated. In this project, we will design and construct a laser system that will be used to perform coherent operations, and to implement and characterize high-fidelity single-qudit gates. These will form some of the world’s first laboratory demonstrations of quantum computing with multi-level qudits. Because our approach will allow more information to be encoded with fewer qudits, and folds some of the complexity of a given algorithm into the non-entangling operations, there is reason to believe that the use of multi-level qudits could bring dramatic improvements to the scalability of quantum processors.
Related Content
Folk Understanding of Quantum Physics
Summary It is often said that quantum concepts are counterintuitive. However, quantum concepts may not be equally counterintuitive to people from all cultural backgrounds. As cultural psychologists have discovered, culture fundamentally shapes the way people make sense of the world. In particular, the last few decades of research have documented cultural differences in appreciation of […]
March 24, 2021
Building Blocks for Quantum Neuromorphic Computing: Superconducting Quantum Memcapacitors
Quantum neuromorphic computing (QNC) is a novel method that combines quantum computing with brain-inspired neuromorphic computing. Neuromorphic computing performs computations using a complex ensemble of artificial neurons and synapses (i.e., electrical circuits) to emulate the human brain. QNC may lead to a quantum advantage by realizing these components with quantum memory elements, or memelements, which […]
June 12, 2023
Quantum Computational Resources in the Presence of Symmetry
Summary Fault-tolerance is essential to the performance of quantum technologies, but known schemes are extremely resource intensive. Thus, improving existing schemes or inventing new schemes is of central importance. This joint project is based on the realization that fault-tolerance schemes make use of symmetries in fundamental ways, and that studying the problem of fault tolerance […]
March 13, 2019
Combined momentum- and real-space photoelectric probes of dimensionality-tuned Weyl semimetals
Summary The library of two-dimensional (2D) materials has recently grown to include topological insulators and semimetals. Their incorporation in special device geometries may lead to novel quantum electronics with enhanced functionalities. Weyl semimetals, in particular, offer the most robust form of topological protection. Recent results from our group indicate that Weyl nodes should be […]
March 12, 2019