Demonstration of Density Matrix Exponentiation Using a Superconducting Quantum Processor

• Quantum computers hold the potential to outperform classical supercomputers at certain tasks. To implement algorithms on a quantum computer, programmers use conventional computers and hardware to create a set of classical control signals that implement a desired quantum algorithm. However, feeding the quantum information forward requires an inefficient conversion: extraction of quantum information, conversion to classical control signals, and reinjection of those signals into the system to implement quantum operations. Here, we demonstrate a more natively quantum strategy to programming quantum computers. Our approach uses the density matrix exponentiation (DME) protocol, a general technique for using a quantum state to enact a quantum operation. It can be thought of as a subroutine with which programmers can turn multiple copies of a quantum state into instructions for next steps in a quantum algorithm.We implement DME using two qubits in a superconducting quantum processor. Our implementation relies on a high-fidelity two-qubit gate and a novel technique called quantum measurement emulation to approximately reset a known quantum state. These developments enable us to demonstrate the DME protocol for the first time on a small-scale quantum processor and benchmark its performance.While DME was originally proposed in the context of a specific quantum machine-learning algorithm, it may also represent a fundamentally different approach to quantum programming. It allows the possibility of encoding quantum algorithms directly into quantum states and executing those algorithms on other quantum states, enabling a new class of efficient quantum algorithms.

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Data- och informationsvetenskap -- Datorteknik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Computer and Information Sciences -- Computer Engineering (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Data- och informationsvetenskap -- Datavetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Computer and Information Sciences -- Computer Sciences (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Elektroteknik och elektronik -- Datorsystem (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Electrical Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Information Engineering -- Computer Systems (hsv//eng)

Keyword

DME protocol

Quantum computers

quantum measurement emulation

Publication and Content Type

art (subject category)

ref (subject category)