Southwest Quantum Information and Technology

Native and Trotter errors during intermediate-depth quantum simulations on a small, highly accurate quantum processor

Presenting Author: Kevin Kuper, University of Arizona
Contributing Author(s): Nathan Lysne, Pablo Poggi, Ivan Deutsch, Poul Jessen

Noisy, intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices are improving rapidly but remain far short of the requirements for fault tolerant computation. In the meantime, much of the effort in the field is focused on the development of analog quantum simulators that operate without error correction. We are currently exploring the capabilities and limitations of such devices, using as our test bed a small, highly accurate quantum (SHAQ) processor based on the combined electron-nuclear spin of a single Cs-133 atom in the electronic ground state. The Cs-atom based SHAQ Processor is controlled with rf and µw magnetic fields, is fully programmable in its accessible 16-dimensional Hilbert space, and provides for direct measurement of the fidelity of the evolving quantum state, as well as more conventional quantum simulation of the time evolution of observables such as magnetization. We have used this SHAQ processor to study the impact of both native and Trotter errors on such simulations, finding that “macroscopic” properties (magnetization) are quantitatively less sensitive to errors, compared to “microscopic” properties such as quantum state fidelities and survival properties. Lastly, we find that the balance between native and Trotter errors leads to an optimal point of operation where their joint effects are minimized.

(Session 9a : Sunday from 3:45pm - 4:15pm)