Quantum Error Correction: Theory and Experiment

量子纠错：理论与实验

• 批准号: RGPIN-2016-04465
• 负责人: Laflamme, Raymond
• 金额: $ 6.92万
• 依托单位: University of Waterloo
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=709326
• 关键词: Quantum; Error; Correction; Theory; Experiment

Driven by curiosity, physicists try to understand the world around us through the properties of nature. Once we have a certain understanding, we begin to be able to predict the behavior of systems with these properties and then gain the ability to control them. Once control is achieved, it is sometimes possible to develop technologies based on these phenomena. Some of these not only have profound impact on our society, they also lay down the basis for this cycle to repeat itself by providing the ability to explore other natural properties at a different scale or complexity. Looking at the past, fire, steam and electro-magnetism are examples of these properties. Turning towards the future, there are many hints that quantum mechanical phenomena will play a similar role. Quantum information processing promises not only new insight on quantum mechanics but also new technologies with unparalleled power. A critical requirement for these technologies is an exquisite control of quantum systems. Although physicists have developed some control methods and applied them to some quantum systems in the past, they were not scalable, i.e., as the number of quantum bits is increased the required resources would increase exponentially. In the mid-1990s the landscape changed dramatically with the discovery of quantum error correction. Fault-tolerant quantum error correction is a theory that allows for sufficient control of quantum systems to solve problems using reasonable resources, as long as the error rate is below a threshold. My work builds on this theory (that I have helped create) with an aim to turning concepts into practical implementations. My work in quantum error correction encompasses both theoretical and experimental investigations. There are four elements needed to implement fault tolerant quantum error correction: a specific encoding, having sufficient control, characterizing the type of noise, and extracting entropy of corrupted qubits. My work will contribute to these four areas with the goal of demonstrating many rounds of quantum error correction that protects quantum information against its natural noise. The work will include developing new codes, new methods to assess the noise and use them to improve quantum control as much aas possible and finally work on algorithmic cooling a methods that allows to extract entropy from a set of corrupted qubits. My work will encompasses both theoretical and experimental investigations.

在好奇心的驱使下，物理学家试图通过自然属性来了解我们周围的世界。一旦我们有了一定的了解，我们就开始能够预测具有这些特性的系统的行为，然后获得控制它们的能力。一旦得到控制，有时就有可能根据这些现象开发技术。其中一些不仅对我们的社会产生了深远的影响，而且通过提供探索不同规模或复杂性的其他自然属性的能力，它们还为这种循环的重复奠定了基础。回顾过去，火、蒸汽和电磁都是这些特性的例子。展望未来，有很多迹象表明量子力学现象将扮演类似的角色。