Programmable unitary photonic devices are emerging as promising tools to implement unitary transformation for quantum information processing, machine learning, and optical communication. These devices typically use a rectangular mesh of Mach-Zehnder interferometers, which has a clear mathematical structure and can be configured deterministically. However, this mesh architecture is sensitive to fabrication errors, and the correction techniques are still under investigation. In contrast, the multiplane light-conversion (MPLC) architecture is more robust against fabrication errors, but a deterministic method for configuring the converter has not yet been developed due to its complex mathematical structure. In this work, we propose a fast iterative configuration method for MPLC, following the mathematical review of the matrix distance and proposal of an alternative norm. We show through numerical simulations that adding a few redundant layers significantly improves the convergence of the MPLC architecture, making it a practical and attractive option. We also consider the effects of finite resolution and cross-talk in phase shifters in our simulations. In addition, we propose a phase-insensitive distance suited for applications using only intensity detections. Our method demonstrates orders of magnitude better accuracy and a 20-fold speedup compared to previous approaches.

High-fidelity entangling gates are essential for quantum computation. Currently, most approaches to designing such gates are based either on simple, analytical pulse waveforms or on ones obtained from numerical optimization techniques. In both cases, it is typically not possible to obtain a global understanding of the space of waveforms that generate a target gate operation, which can make it challenging to identify globally time-optimal waveforms that respect amplitude and bandwidth constraints. Here, we show that in the case of weakly coupled qubits, it is possible to find all pulses that implement a target entangling gate in near-minimal time. We do this by mapping quantum evolution onto geometric space curves. We derive the minimal conditions these curves must satisfy in order to guarantee a gate with a desired entangling power is implemented. Pulse waveforms are extracted from the curvatures of these curves. We illustrate our method by designing fast, cnot-equivalent entangling gates for silicon quantum dot spin qubits with fidelities exceeding 99 %. We show that fidelities can be further improved while maintaining low bandwidth requirements by using geometrically derived pulses as initial guesses in numerical optimization routines.

Nonadiabatic geometric quantum computation (NGQC) has attracted a lot of attention for noise-resilient quantum control. However, previous implementations of NGQC require long evolution paths that make them more vulnerable to incoherent errors than their dynamical counterparts. In this work, we experimentally realize a universal short-path nonadiabatic geometric gate set (SP NGQC) with a 2-times shorter evolution path on a superconducting quantum processor. Characterizing with both quantum process tomography and randomized benchmarking methods, we report an average single-qubit gate fidelity of $99.86\mathrm{\%}$ and a two-qubit gate fidelity of $97.9\mathrm{\%}$. Additionally, we demonstrate superior robustness of single-qubit SP NGQC gate to Rabi frequency error in some certain parameter space by comparing their performance to those of the dynamical gates and the former NGQC gates.

Frequency interface, namely, converting the colors of photons while retaining their other features, is indispensable for numerous applications ranging from up-conversion imaging to the multimode quantum network. However, limited by the nonuniform nonlinear frequency-conversion efficiency, constructing the frequency interface for high-dimensional spatial modes is still challenging. Here, to break this fundamental barrier, we construct a high-dimensional (HD) orbital-angular-momentum (OAM) frequency interface via conducting sum-frequency generation between HD OAM states to be converted and a radial structured pump. Specifically, by replacing the conventional Gaussian pump with an optimized coherent superposition of HD Laguerre-Gaussian radial modes (i.e., its azimuthal number is zero), we experimentally achieve the OAM frequency interface in nine dimensions with a record fidelity up to 90.38 %. Additionally, by increasing the number of radial modes, our scheme can be flexibly extended to higher dimension. Such a high-dimensional frequency interface could find potential applications in the high-capacity free-space optical communication and would also pave the way for constructing high-dimensional quantum networks.

We address the scaling-up problem for superconducting quantum circuits by using lumped-element resonators based on an alternative fabrication method of aluminum-aluminum oxide-aluminum (Al-${\mathrm{AlO}}_x$-Al) parallel-plate capacitors. The size of the resonators is only $0.04{\mathrm{mm}}^2$, which is more than one order smaller than the typical size of coplanar resonators ($1{\mathrm{mm}}^2$). The fabrication method we develop easily fits into the standard superconducting qubit fabrication process. We obtain capacitance per area $14\mathrm{fF}/\text{μ}{\mathrm{m}}^2$ and the internal quality factor $1\times {10}^3$–$8\times {10}^3$ at the single-photon level. Our results show that such devices based on Al-${\mathrm{AlO}}_x$-Al capacitors could be further applied to the qubit readout scheme, including resonators, filters, amplifiers, as well as microwave metamaterials and innovative types of qubits, such as $0-\pi$ qubit.

Alternatively to the full reconstruction of an unknown quantum process, the so-called selective and efficient quantum process tomography (SEQPT) allows estimating, individually and up to the required accuracy, a given element of the matrix that describes such an operation with a polynomial amount of resources. The implementation of this protocol has been carried out with success to characterize the evolution of a quantum system that is well described by a trace-preserving quantum map. Here, we deal with a more general type of quantum process that does not preserve the trace of the input quantum state, which naturally arises in the presence of imperfect devices and system-environment interactions, in the context of quantum information science or quantum dynamics control. In that case, we show with the aid of a priori information on the losses structure of the quantum channel that the SEQPT reconstruction can be adapted to reconstruct the non-trace-preserving map. We explicitly describe how to implement the reconstruction in an arbitrary Hilbert space of finite dimension $d$. The method is experimentally verified on a superconducting quantum processor provided by IBM Quantum services, by estimating several non-trace-preserving quantum processes in dimensions up to $d=6$. Our results show that it is possible to efficiently reconstruct non-trace-preserving processes, with high precision, and with significantly higher fidelity than when the process is assumed to be trace preserving.

We extend the theory for a Josephson-junction traveling-wave parametric amplifier (TWPA) operating in the three-wave-mixing regime and we propose a scheme for achieving high gain. The continuous three-mode model [P.K. Tien, J. Appl. Phys. 29, 1347 (1958)] is, on one hand, extended to describe a discrete chain of Josephson junctions at high frequencies close to the spectral cutoff where there is no up-conversion. On the other hand, we also develop a continuous multimode theory for the small frequency limit where the frequency dispersion is close to linear. We find that in both cases the gain is significantly reduced compared to the prediction by the continuous three-mode model as the result of increasingly strong dispersion at the high frequencies and generation of up-converted modes at the small frequencies. The developed theory is in quantitative agreement with simulations of the full solution of the dynamical equations. To recover the high gain, we propose to engineer a chain with dispersive features to form a two-band frequency spectrum and to place the pump frequency within the upper band close to the spectral cutoff. We prove that there exists a sweet spot, where the signal and the pump are phase matched, while the up-conversion is inhibited. This results in a high gain, which grows exponentially with the length of the TWPA.

Tunability of an artificial quantum system is crucial to its capability to process quantum information. However, tunability usually poses significant demand on the design and fabrication of a device. In this work, we demonstrate that Floquet engineering based on longitudinal driving provides distinct possibilities in enhancing the tunability of a quantum system without needing additional resources. In particular, we study a multilevel model based on gate-defined double quantum dots, where coherent interference occurs when the system is driven longitudinally. We develop an effective model to describe the driven dynamics of this multilevel system, and show that it is highly tunable via the driving field. We then illustrate the versatility and rich physics of a driven multilevel system by exploring phenomena such as driving modulation of resonances, adiabatic state transfer, and dark state. In the context of qubit control, we propose noise-resistant quantum gates based on adiabatic passage. The theoretical consideration we present here is rather general, and is in principle valid for other multilevel quantum systems.

Ensembles of nitrogen-vacancy centers (NVCs) in diamond can be employed for sensitive magnetometry. In this work, we present a fiber-coupled NVC magnetometer with an unshielded sensitivity of $(30\pm 10)\mathrm{pT}/\sqrt{\mathrm{Hz}}$ in a (10–500)-Hz frequency range. This sensitivity is enabled by a relatively high green-to-red photon conversion efficiency, the use of a [100] bias-field alignment, microwave and lock-in amplifier (LIA) parameter optimization, as well as a balanced hyperfine-excitation scheme. Furthermore, a silicon carbide ($\mathrm{SiC}$) heat spreader is used for microwave delivery, alongside low-strain 1-${\mathrm{mm}}^3{}^{12}$$\mathrm{C}$ diamonds, one of which is placed in a second magnetically insensitive fluorescence-collecting sensor head for common-mode noise cancellation. The magnetometer is capable of detecting signals from sources such as a vacuum pump up to 2 m away, with some orientation dependence but no complete dead zones, demonstrating its potential for use in remote-sensing applications.

The von Neumann and quantum Rényi entropies characterize fundamental properties of quantum systems and lead to many theoretical and practical applications. Quantum algorithms using a purified quantum query model can speed up quantum entropy estimation, while little is known about the complexity of using identical copies of the quantum state. This paper presents quantum entropy estimation algorithms with a cost of copies scaling polynomially in the rank of the state. In contrast to current methods that depend on the dimension of the system, our methods could provide exponential resource savings in the scenario of low-rank states. Furthermore, we show how to construct quantum circuits using primitive single-qubit or two-qubit gates efficiently and thus provide practical methods for estimating quantum entropies of quantum systems. We also conduct simulation experiments to show the effectiveness and noise robustness of our algorithms.

The rapid progress of hole spin qubits in group IV semiconductors has been driven by their potential for scalability. This is due to the compatibility with industrial manufacturing standards, as well as the ease of operation and addressability via all-electric drives. However, owing to a strong spin-orbit interaction, these systems present variability and anisotropy in key qubit control parameters such as the Landé $g$-factor, requiring careful characterization for reliable qubit operation. Here, we experimentally investigate a hole double quantum dot in silicon by carrying out spin readout with gate-based reflectometry. We show that characteristic features in the reflected phase signal arising from magnetospectroscopy convey information on site-dependent $g$-factors in the two dots. Using analytical modeling, we extract the physical parameters of our system and, through numerical calculations, we extend the results to point to the prospect of conveniently extracting information about the local $g$-factors from reflectometry measurements.

Hybrid quantum classical optimization using near-term quantum technology is an emerging direction for exploring quantum advantage in high-dimensional systems. However, precise characterization of all experimental parameters is often impractical and challenging. A viable approach is to use algorithms that rely entirely on black-box inference rather than analytical gradients. Here, we combine randomized perturbation gradient estimation with adaptive momentum gradient updates and propose AdamSPSA and AdamRSGF algorithms. We prove the asymptotic convergence of the proposed algorithms in a convex setting and benchmark them against other gradient-based black-box optimization algorithms on nonconvex quantum optimal control tasks. Our results indicate that these algorithms accelerate the optimization rate, lower the optimization loss, and efficiently tune up high-fidelity Hann-window single-qubit gates from trivial initial conditions with up to 80 variables for a transmon qubit.

Single-flux-quantum (SFQ) digital circuitry has great potential in building a scalable control system of superconducting qubits. In this work, we describe a practical SFQ-based two-qubit gate for transmon qubits. The controlled-$Z$ (CZ) gate is activated by near-resonant SFQ-pulse trains near the target transition involving the second excited state. Numerical simulations show that the fidelity of a SFQ-activated CZ gate in excess of 99.9% is achievable within 100-ns gate time. We evaluate the CZ gate error caused by leakage and SFQ-pulse width. Combined with the proposed feasible expansion methods, this work is a supplement to the scalable and integratable superconducting-qubit control system based on SFQ digital logic.

Erbium-doped solids are prime candidates for quantum memories in optical quantum networks given their telecom-compatible photon emission. An electron spin of erbium with millisecond coherence time is desirable for generating remote entanglement between adjacent quantum network nodes. Here we report GHz-range electron-spin transitions of ${}^{167}{\mathrm{Er}}^{3+}$ in a yttrium oxide (${\mathrm{Y}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3$) matrix with coherence times that are consistently longer than a millisecond. By polarizing paramagnetic impurity spins we achieve a spin $T_2$ up to 1.46 ms, and up to 7.1 ms after dynamical decoupling. These coherence lifetimes are among the longest found for erbium in crystalline matrices despite the presence of host nuclear spins. We further enhance the coherence time beyond conventional dynamical decoupling, using customized sequences to simultaneously mitigate spectral diffusion and dipolar interactions. Our study not only establishes ${}^{167}{\mathrm{Er}}^{3+}$: ${\mathrm{Y}}_2{\mathrm{O}}_3$ as a significant quantum memory platform but also provides a guideline for engineering long-lived erbium spins in a variety of host materials for quantum technologies.

The coexistence of quantum and classical signals over the same optical fiber with minimal degradation of the transmitted quantum information is critical for operating large-scale quantum networks over the existing communications infrastructure. Here, we systematically characterize the quantum channel that results from simultaneously distributing approximate single-photon polarization-encoded qubits and classical light of varying intensities through fiber-optic channels of up to 15 km. Using spectrally resolved quantum process tomography with a Bayesian reconstruction method that we develop, we estimate the full quantum channel from experimental photon counting data, both with and without classical background. Furthermore, although we find the exact channel description to be a weak function of the pump polarization, we nevertheless show that the coexistent fiber-based quantum channel has high process fidelity with an ideal depolarizing channel when the noise is dominated by Raman scattering. These results provide a basis for the future development of quantum repeater designs and quantum error-correcting codes for real-world channels and inform models used in the analysis and simulation of quantum networks.

Information reconciliation significantly impacts the performance of the practical continuous-variable quantum key distribution (CV QKD) system. Fixed-rate error-correction codes limit the potential applications of the CV QKD because they lead to reduced reconciliation efficiency when the signal-to-noise ratio of the quantum channel changes, further deteriorating the system’s performance. Therefore, we propose a rate-adaptive polar-coding-based reconciliation scheme for practical CV QKD systems with the time-variant quantum channel. Experimental results verify that the proposed scheme can successfully extract secret keys within the range of signal-to-noise ratios from $-0.5$ to $-4.5$ dB, and the minimum frame-error rate can be less than ${10}^{-3}$. Moreover, the proposed scheme can promote the application of the CV QKD system in a realistic environment.

Measurement-device-independent quantum key distribution (MDI QKD) is a promising method for remote key sharing that can eliminate all detector side-channel attacks. However, current security proofs often overlook the potential information leakages from the legitimate users’ devices. In a quantum version of Trojan-horse attack (THA), a malicious eavesdropper can inject bright light into the sources of a MDI QKD system and then analyze the back-reflected light to obtain their setting choices, thereby compromising the final security. Here, we derive the finite-key security bounds of decoy-state MDI QKD in the presence of THA, which significantly outperform previous analyses in terms of the secret-key rate and transmission distance. Specifically, we analyze a symmetric three-intensity decoy-state MDI QKD protocol and an efficient four-intensity decoy-state MDI QKD protocol. Our results represent a fundamental step in guaranteeing the implementation security of quantum communication systems.