Academic Participants:
Jonathan Baugh, Alexandre Blais, Pawel Hawrylak, Raymond Laflamme, Adrian Lupascu, Michel Pioro-Ladrière, William Power, Andrew Sachrajda
Partners:
Bruker BioSpin, National Research Council, Communication Security Establishment.
Qubits can be realized in various media, including photons, quantum dots, atoms, and atomic nuclei. Quantum information processing approaches are also quite varied, from the standard method of producing one- and twoqubit gates, to cluster state approaches, or adiabatic quantum computation, or the robust and exotic approach of topological quantum computing. Some aspects of these alternative approaches, and also error correction, are studied in the ’quantum algorithms’ program; here the emphasis is on realizing the media for holding quantum information (atoms and nuclei), correcting errors, and addressing scalability issues.
We will construct a theory of scalability for generic systems and apply these theories specifically to quantum computing via magnetic resonance and quantum dots. This theory will be explored for alternative methods of quantum computation as well. We will also push ahead with quantum dot realizations of quantum information systems and demonstrate coherent coupling between quantum dots. Testing of quantum logic devices is important, and we develop an approach to quantum self-testing that can be used to characterize performance of gates.
This project will include the development of quantum (self-)testing. As physicists and engineers build quantum devices, eventually for commercial use, we will need techniques for benchmarking their quality and verifying their attributes. This testing of quantum apparatus is especially important for quantum cryptosystems. Mayers and Yao used the testing of quantum states to prove the security of a BB84 type quantum key exchange. Van Dam, Magniez, Santha and Mosca made important first steps towards a theory of self-testing quantum gates. The ‘self’ testing is important if you cannot a priori rely on the attributes of any apparatus, which is reasonable in many cryptographic settings.
This project will interact with project QC4 on verification and certification. Bruker BioSpin will be a close collaborator by providing in-kind contribution for redesign Timing Control Units and probe heads to adapt present ones for quantum information processing experiments. Feedback between academic partners and Bruker BioSpin will improve their line of product. The National Research Council will contribute the expertise of their researchers and the use of their world class experimental and theoretical facilities to design and fabricate quantum devices