Time Optimal Control of Quantum Gate Generation

Harvey Shows*, Sushovit Adhikari, Xiaoting Wang, J. P. Dowling

Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University
Introduction
In the most recent decades and in those to come, Quantum information processing (QIP) offers a revolutionary rise in basic yet integral technology fields. Communication, cryptography, high-performance computing, and complex-system simulations are among the many classical
systems due for a quantum mechanical upgrade. In paving the way for these applications, large quantum systems have to be steered with great precision. Similar to classical computation, logic gates form the backbone in QIP. Unlike classical computation, however, quantum bits of
information (qubits) utilize the quantum mechanical superposition principle. While this principle constitutes one of the primary advantages in QIP, it also presents a challenge. The difficulty arises when a qubit inevitably interacts with its surrounding thermal bath and undergoes
decoherence, losing its information. Mitigating decoherence effects remains one of the core issue in quantum computing. Quantum gates need to be generated in a time optimal way such that they operate on a given qubit before a decay in its quantum state can fully occur. The
less time it takes to generate a desired target quantum gate, the less noise the system suffers from. The steering of a quantum system is a task comparable to numerical optimal control to turn the time course of pulses (i.e. piecewise constant control amplitudes) into an optimized
shape. Control theory, which provides a systematic study of the dynamics of a system, helps us in doing that. In our research, single qubit systems are studied.

Methodology

The Hamiltonian matrix (()) contains our control functions and is the means by
which the path to the target gate is time minimized.

+
Where, is a proportionality constant with no set theoretical value.

() = 1 () + 2
where,

0
=
1

1
,
0

1
=
0

Fi

While the Hamiltonian holds a constant value for a particular interval, the fidelity is
continuous. This is to be expected, as the unitary time transformation of a state vector
is not instantaneously changing from one quantum state to another.

In our research, we began the optimization process by creating a random unitary

gate. The goal was to evolve this initial gate into a predetermined target gate
through a time optimal path. Our desired gate in every optimization thus far has
been the Hadamard gate, which equates to 180 rotation about the axis ( + )/ 2
on the Bloch sphere [3]. For scaling purposes, is taken to be 1. Since there exists
an inverse proportionality between the control function magnitude and its
respective time interval, a constraint must be set on the field magnitude. We can
achieve this effect by using a weighted sum optimization given by:

Quantum gates operate on the state of a qubit. The path from the initial state to the
desired state is a unitary time evolution. A time dependent Hamiltonian generates the
unitary transformation of the quantum states [1]. The differential equation below
arises directly from the Schrdinger equation; derived from this is the unitary operator
().

Results Cont.

Results

Because we cannot have an infinitely large field, the weighted sum expression above
allows us to minimize the total time () and keep our control functions bounded.

0
1

The unitary Pauli-X and Pauli-Z gates ( and ) allow a generated quantum gate to
orient a given qubit to any state in unitary space. The Hamiltonians control
functions (1 and 2 ) are the optimizing agents and drive the transformation.

Fig. 3: The data in this graph contains the fidelity values for the transformed gate in Fig. 2
(note the time scales). It is interesting to see that the quickest path is not always the most
direct.

Fig. 1: The Bloch sphere (right) offers an intuitive

visual representation for spin particles (e.g. an
electron). Every point on the surface of the sphere
corresponds to a pure state (a position vector in
-
unitary space) [2]. Applying the unitary operator
maps the spin of the electron from an initial pure
state () to a target pure state. The degree of rotation

about the Bloch sphere is contingent on the

magnitude and duration of the control fields acting
on the Pauli gates in the Hamiltonian.

Conclusion
Conclusion

As can be seen, generating the appropriate logic gates used in QIP employs an array
of control techniques. Optimizing the unitary time evolution of single qubit systems
is necessary to avoid quantum decoherence effects and, in turn, bring quantum
computing to fruition. My future research will involve simulating control on multiqubit systems, which utilizes the quantum entanglement principle. Time will reveal
the change QIP can bring to the scientific community and the world. In the mean
time, theory and experimentation take us ever closer.

The unitary transformation process necessary in evolving a quantum system must

ensure that the final gate is in fact congruent with the desired gate. While each
transformation over a discrete time interval may or may not bring the transformed
gate nearer to the properties of the desired gate, the final transformation must
achieve absolute congruency. In measuring this congruency between two gates, we
use a mathematical concept called the fidelity. For a single-qubit system the fidelity
is defined as:
= | /2|

References
[1] NMR Techniques for Quantum Control and Computation, arXiv:quant-ph/0404064,
accessed 7/24/15
[2] The Bloch Sphere, comp.uark.edu/~jgeabana/blochapps/bloch.html, accessed 7/25/15

Fig. 2: In the trial above, each control function is applied simultaneously over a discrete time
interval. The intervals have not been constrained to a fixed value allowing for a better
optimization. In this trial = 1011 (with units of 1/).

The fidelity uses trace norms to represent how close a pair of matrices are to each
other; it has a maximum value of 1 and a minimum of 0. A fidelity of 1 tells us that
our transformed gate is the same as our desired gate . As a result, maximizing
the fidelity is equally as important as minimizing the total evolution time.

This piecewise control Hamiltonian is appropriately known in control theory as bangbang control [4]. Physically, each pulse (bang) is a constant field applied to the qubit
until the next interval, which explains the abrupt change to the pair of amplitudes.

Simulating quantum systems quickly becomes a massive computational load,

particularly for n-qubit systems. Thus, time efficient processing becomes increasingly
important in our optimizations. For this reason, we have chosen to use C++ in our
research over more user-friendly, yet comparatively slower languages (e.g. MATLAB).

It is important to note that, as can be seen in the next figure, the path to the
maximum fidelity need not be monotonic. Steering the unitary transformation to the
desired state in the shortest time may require the gate evolution to come very close
to the target, move away, only to finally arrive at its destination.

[3] Williams, Colin. "Quantum Gates." Exploration in Quantum Computing. Springer London,
2011. 74.
[4] Bang-Bang control of a qubit coupled to a quantum critical spin bath, arXiv:0802.2859,
accessed 7/26/15

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program for funding my

Summer REU.

Special thanks to J.P. Dowling, Sharon Besson, and Frank Neubrander

for making my research experience possible.

*Email: hshows2@lsu.edu