Variational quantum simulation of thermal statistical states on a superconducting quantum processer

Quantum computers promise to solve finite-temperature properties of quantum many-body systems,which is generally challenging for classical computers due to high computational complexities.Here,we report experimental preparations of Gibbs states and excited states of Heisenberg X X and X X Z models by using a 5-qubit programmable superconducting processor.In the experiments,we apply a hybrid quantum–classical algorithm to generate finite temperature states with classical probability models and variational quantum circuits.We reveal that the Hamiltonians can be fully diagonalized with optimized quantum circuits,which enable us to prepare excited states at arbitrary energy density.We demonstrate that the approach has a self-verifying feature and can estimate fundamental thermal observables with a small statistical error.Based on numerical results,we further show that the time complexity of our approach scales polynomially in the number of qubits,revealing its potential in solving large-scale problems.

Tunable coupling between Xmon qubit and coplanar waveguide resonator

Realization of a flexible and tunable coupling scheme among qubits is critical for scalable quantum information processing.Here,we design and characterize a tunable coupling element based on Josephson junction,which can be adapted to an all-to-all connected circuit architecture where multiple Xmon qubits couple to a common coplanar waveguide resonator.The coupling strength is experimentally verified to be adjustable from 0 MHz to about 40 MHz,and the qubit lifetime can still be up to 12μs in the presence of the coupling element.

Measuring Loschmidt echo via Floquet engineering in superconducting circuits

The Loschmidt echo is a useful diagnostic for the perfection of quantum time-reversal process and the sensitivity of quantum evolution to small perturbations. The main challenge for measuring the Loschmidt echo is the time reversal of a quantum evolution. In this work, we demonstrate the measurement of the Loschmidt echo in a superconducting 10-qubit system using Floquet engineering and discuss the imperfection of an initial Bell-state recovery arising from the next-nearestneighbor(NNN) coupling present in the qubit device. Our results show that the Loschmidt echo is very sensitive to small perturbations during quantum-state evolution, in contrast to the quantities like qubit population that is often considered in the time-reversal experiment. These properties may be employed for the investigation of multiqubit system concerning many-body decoherence and entanglement, etc., especially when devices with reduced or vanishing NNN coupling are used.

Creating nitrogen-vacancy ensembles in diamond for coupling with flux qubit

Hybrid quantum system of negatively charged nitrogen–vacancy（NV^-） centers in diamond and superconducting qubits provide the possibility to extend the performances of both systems. In this work, we numerically simulate the coupling strength between NV^-ensembles and superconducting flux qubits and obtain a lower bound of 1016cm^（-3） for NV^-concentration to achieve a sufficiently strong coupling of 10 MHz when the gap between NV^-ensemble and flux qubit is 0. Moreover, we create NV^-ensembles in different types of diamonds by14^（N＋）and12（C＋）ion implantation, electron irradiation, and high temperature annealing. We obtain an NV^-concentration of 1.05 × 1016cm^（-3） in the diamond with1-ppm nitrogen impurity, which is expected to have a long coherence time for the low nitrogen impurity concentration. This shows a step toward performance improvement of flux qubit-NV^-hybrid system.