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Rotations on the Bloch Sphere

Ian Glendinning

May 20, 2010

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Ian Glendinning 1 May 20, 2010
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Outline

The Bloch Sphere

The Density Operator
Rotation Operators
Rotation about the z Axis
Rotation about an Arbitrary Axis
Arbitrary Unitary Operator
Future Topics

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The Bloch Sphere

An arbitrary single qubit state can be written:

|i = ei cos |0i + ei sin |1i
2 2
where , and are real numbers. The numbers 0 and
0 2 define a point on a unit three-dimensional sphere. This is
the Bloch sphere. Qubit states with arbitrary values of are all
represented by the same point on the Bloch sphere because the factor
of ei has no observable effects, and we can therefore choose to write:
i
|i = cos |0i + e sin |1i
2 2

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The Bloch Sphere

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The Density Operator

In order to relate unitary operations on a qubit state |i to rotations

on the Bloch sphere it turns out to be convenient to use the
corresponding density operator , defined as:

= |ih| = |i h|

where
h| = |i
so
cos 2
= |i h| = cos 2 ei sin 2
ei sin 2

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The Density Operator

By the definition of the outer product

cos2 2 ei cos 2 sin 2
=
ei cos 2 sin 2 sin2 2

and using standard trigonometric identities

1 1 + cos cos sin i sin sin
=
2 cos sin + i sin sin 1 cos

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The Density Operator

then grouping terms in the basis {I, X, Y, Z}, where

0 1 0 i 1 0
X= , Y = , Z=
1 0 i 0 0 1

are the Pauli matrices, we have

1
= (I + X cos sin + Y sin sin + Z cos )
2
1
= (I + ~r ~ )
2
where I is the identity matrix, ~ is the 3-element vector of Pauli
Matrices (X, Y, Z), and ~r is the unit Bloch vector
~r = (rx , ry , rz ) = (cos sin , sin sin , cos )
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Unitary Evolution of the Density Operator

Quantum circuits consist of combinations of quantum gates, each

corresponding to a unitary operation on a qubit state. That is:

|i 7 U |i

where U is a unitary operator (matrix), i.e. U U = U U = I, so,

recalling that the density operator |ih| = |i (|i) , it evolves as

|ih| 7 (U |i) (U |i)

7 (U |i) (h|U )
7 U |ih|U

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Rotation Operators

The Pauli X, Y and Z matrices are so-called because when they are
exponentiated, they give rise to the rotation operators, which rotate
the Bloch vector ~r about the x, y and z axes, by a given angle :

Rx () ei 2 X

Ry () ei 2 Y

Rz () ei 2 Z

Now, if operator A satisfies A2 = I, it can be shown that

eiA = cos()I + i sin()A

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Rotation Operators

And since the Pauli matrices satisfy X 2 = Y 2 = Z 2 = I, the rotation

operators can be expanded as:


cos i sin
Rx () ei 2 X = cos I i sin X = 2 2
2 2 i sin 2 cos 2


cos sin
Ry () ei 2 Y = cos I i sin Y = 2 2
2 2 sin 2 cos 2

i/2
e 0
Rz () e i 2 Z
= cos I i sin Z =
2 2 0 ei/2

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Rotation about the z Axis

We can check that these operators do what theyre supposed to by

considering their action on the state . For example, Rz () evolves
to:

0 = Rz ()Rz ()
1
= Rz () (I + ~r ~ ) Rz ()
2
1
= Rz () (I + rx X + ry Y + rz Z) Rz ()
2
It is easily verified that Rz () is unitary, so Rz ()Rz () = I, and

0 1
= (I + rx Rz ()XRz () + ry Rz ()Y Rz () + rz Rz ()ZRz () )
2

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Rotation about the z Axis

Now expand


Rz ()XRz () = cos I i sin Z X cos I + i sin Z
2 2 2 2

= cos2 X + i sin cos XZ i sin cos ZX
2 2 2 2 2

+ sin2 ZXZ
2
To evaluate this expression we use the algebra of the Pauli matrices.

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Algebra of the Pauli Matrices

The algebra of the Pauli matrices can be summarised by the equation:

X 2 = Y 2 = Z 2 = iXY Z = I

All the products of pairs of Pauli matrices can be calculated from the
above equation.

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Algebra of the Pauli Matrices

For example:

I = iXY Z
(I)Z = (iXY Z)Z
Z = iXY
(Z)Y = (iXY )Y
ZY = iX
(ZY )X = (iX)X
ZY X = iI
Z(ZY X) = Z(iI)
YX = iZ
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Algebra of the Pauli Matrices

The products of pairs of Pauli matrices are:

XY = Y X = iZ
Y Z = ZY = iX
ZX = XZ = iY

which can be summarised as

X
i j = ij I + i ijk k
k

where 1 = X, 2 = Y and 3 = Z. Notice that non-identical Pauli

matrices anticommute, i.e. i j = j i if i 6= j.

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Rotation about the z Axis

We can now write

2
Rz ()XRz () = cos X + i sin cos XZ i sin cos ZX
2 2 2 2 2
2
+ sin ZXZ
2

= cos2 X + sin cos Y + sin cos Y sin2 X
2 2 2 2 2 2


= cos2 sin2 X + 2 sin cos Y
2 2 2 2
= cos X + sin Y

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Rotation about the z Axis

Similarly we can show that

Rz ()Y Rz () = cos Y sin X

Rz ()ZRz () = Z

So we can now rewrite

1
0 = (I + rx Rz ()XRz () + ry Rz ()Y Rz () + rz Rz ()ZRz () )
2
1
= (I + rx (cos X + sin Y ) + ry (cos Y sin X) + rz Z)
2
1
= (I + (rx cos ry sin )X + (rx sin + ry cos )Y + rz Z)
2

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Rotation about the z Axis

and recalling that we can write

1
0 = (I + ~r0 ~ )
2
1
= (I + rx0 X + ry0 Y + rz0 Z)
2
we can see that

rx0 = rx cos ry sin

ry0 = rx sin + ry cos
rz0 = rz

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Rotation about the z Axis

so the Bloch vector of the new state is

cos sin 0

~r0 =
sin cos 0
~r
0 0 1

and the matrix is the usual 3D-rotation matrix for a rotation about
the z axis by and angle of , as required. We can similarly show that
Rx () and Ry () perform rotations of the Bloch vector about the x
and y axes by an angle .

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Rotation About an Arbitrary Axis

We can use the rotation operators about the y and z axes to

construct the operator for rotation by and angle about an arbitrary
axis n, since we can decompose it as:

Rn () = Rz ()Ry ()Rz ()Ry ()Rz ()

= Rz ()Ry ()Rz ()Ry () Rz ()

Taking the rotations one by one, Rz () first rotates n into the x-z
plane, Ry () then rotates it into the z axis, Rz () performs the
desired rotation about n, and Ry () and Rz () rotate n back to its
original orientation.

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Rotation About an Arbitrary Axis

Working from the inside out, we can rewrite

Rn () = Rz ()Ry ()Rz ()Ry () Rz ()

h i
= Rz ()Ry () cos I i sin Z Ry () Rz ()
2 2
And using the Pauli matrix algebra as earlier, we can show that

Ry ()ZRy () = cos Z + sin X

and Ry ()Ry () = I, so
h i
Rn () = Rz () cos I i sin (cos Z + sin X) Rz ()
2 2

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Rotation About an Arbitrary Axis

h i
Rn () = Rz () cos I i sin (cos Z + sin X) Rz ()
2 2
and using Rz ()ZRz () = Z and Rz ()XRz () = cos X + sin Y
we obtain

Rn () = cos I i sin (cos Z + sin [cos X + sin Y ])
2 2

= cos I i sin (sin cos X + sin sin Y + cos Z)
2 2

= cos I i sin (nx X + ny Y + nz Z)
2 2

= cos I i sin n ~
2 2

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Rotation About an Arbitrary Axis

We can rewrite this result as an operator exponential, because

(n ~ )2 = (nx X + ny Y + nz Z)(nx X + ny Y + nz Z)
= n2x X 2 + nx ny XY + nx nz XZ +
ny nx Y X + n2y Y 2 + ny nz Y Z +
nz nx ZX + nz ny ZY + n2z Z 2
= (n2x + n2y + n2z ) I
= I

since n is a unit vector, so we can use A = n ~ in the identity

eiA = cos()I + i sin()A

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Rotation About an Arbitrary Axis

and we can write

Rn () = cos
I i sin n ~
2 2

= exp(i n ~ )
2
which is our final result for the operator to transform a state such
that its Bloch vector ~r is rotated about the n axis by an angle , i.e.

0 = Rn ()Rn ()

or equivalently
| 0 i = Rn ()|i

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Arbitrary Unitary Operator

Since Rn () can rotate a Bloch vector into any other Bloch vector,
which includes all possible qubit states up to a global phase factor,
an arbitrary single qubit unitary operator can be written in the form:
U = exp(i)Rn ()
for some real numbers and and a real three-dimensional unit
vector n. For example, consider = /2, = , and n = ( 12 , 0, 12 )
1
U = exp(i/2) cos I i sin (X + Z)
2 2 2

1 1 1
=
2 1 1

which is the Hadamard gate H.

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Future Topics

Generalisation of the Bloch sphere to mixed states

Generalizations to more qubits

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Ian Glendinning 26 May 20, 2010