Emulating Quantum Teleportation of a Majorana Zero Mode Qubit

Structure and scaling of Kitaev chain across a quantum critical point in real space

The spatial Kibble-Zurek mechanism is applied to the Kitaev chain with inhomogeneous pairing interactions that vanish in half of the lattice and result in a quantum critical point separating the superfluid and normal-gas phases in real space. The weakly-interacting BCS theory predicts scaling behavior of the penetration of the pair wavefunction into the normal-gas region different from conventional power-law results due to the non-analytic dependence of the BCS order parameter on the interaction. The Bogoliubov-de Gennes (BdG) equation produces numerical results confirming the scaling behavior and hints complications in the strong-interaction regime. The limiting case of the step-function quench reveals the dominance of the BCS coherence length in absence of additional length scale. Furthermore, the energy spectrum and wavefunctions from the BdG equation show abundant in-gap states from the normal-gas region in addition to the topological edge states.

Optical circuit compactification for ultracold atoms

We develop a modular and compactified optical circuit for the generation of optical beams for cooling, imaging, and controlling ultracold atoms. One of the simplifications that is made in our circuit is to admix the repumping beams to each other optical beams in its dedicated single-mode fiber. We implement our design, characterize the output, and show that the optical power efficiency of the circuit is in the region of 97%, and after fiber coupling, the efficiencies are in the range of 62-85%. Given its compact design and controllable optical sources, this setup should be adaptable to a variety of quantum experiments based on ultracold gases.

Experimental Test of High-Dimensional Quantum Contextuality Based on Contextuality Concentration

Contextuality is a distinctive feature of quantum theory and a fundamental resource for quantum computation. However, existing examples of contextuality in high-dimensional systems lack the necessary robustness required in experiments. Here, we address this problem by identifying a family of noncontextuality inequalities whose maximum quantum violation grows with the dimension of the system. At first glance, this contextuality is the single-system version of multipartite Bell nonlocality taken to an extreme form. What is interesting is that the single-system version achieves the same degree of contextuality but uses a Hilbert space of lower dimension. That is, contextuality "concentrates" as the degree of contextuality per dimension increases. We show the practicality of this result by presenting an experimental test of contextuality in a seven-dimensional system. By simulating sequences of quantum ideal measurements with destructive measurements and repreparation in an all-optical setup, we report a violation of 68.7 standard deviations of the simplest case of the noncontextuality inequalities identified. Our results advance the investigation of high-dimensional contextuality, its connection to the Clifford algebra, and its role in quantum computation.

Observing and braiding topological Majorana modes on programmable quantum simulators

Electrons are indivisible elementary particles, yet paradoxically a collection of them can act as a fraction of a single electron, exhibiting exotic and useful properties. One such collective excitation, known as a topological Majorana mode, is naturally stable against perturbations, such as unwanted local noise, and can thereby robustly store quantum information. As such, Majorana modes serve as the basic primitive of topological quantum computing, providing resilience to errors. However, their demonstration on quantum hardware has remained elusive. Here, we demonstrate a verifiable identification and braiding of topological Majorana modes using a superconducting quantum processor as a quantum simulator. By simulating fermions on a one-dimensional lattice subject to a periodic drive, we confirm the existence of Majorana modes localized at the edges, and distinguish them from other trivial modes. To simulate a basic logical operation of topological quantum computing known as braiding, we propose a non-adiabatic technique, whose implementation reveals correct braiding statistics in our experiments. This work could further be used to study topological models of matter using circuit-based simulations, and shows that long-sought quantum phenomena can be realized by anyone in cloud-run quantum simulations, whereby accelerating fundamental discoveries in quantum science and technology.

Quantum neuronal sensing of quantum many-body states on a 61-qubit programmable superconducting processor

Classifying many-body quantum states with distinct properties and phases of matter is one of the most fundamental tasks in quantum many-body physics. However, due to the exponential complexity that emerges from the enormous numbers of interacting particles, classifying large-scale quantum states has been extremely challenging for classical approaches. Here, we propose a new approach called quantum neuronal sensing. Utilizing a 61-qubit superconducting quantum processor, we show that our scheme can efficiently classify two different types of many-body phenomena: namely the ergodic and localized phases of matter. Our quantum neuronal sensing process allows us to extract the necessary information coming from the statistical characteristics of the eigenspectrum to distinguish these phases of matter by measuring only one qubit and offers better phase resolution than conventional methods, such as measuring the imbalance. Our work demonstrates the feasibility and scalability of quantum neuronal sensing for near-term quantum processors and opens new avenues for exploring quantum many-body phenomena in larger-scale systems.

Experimental Simulation of Larger Quantum Circuits with Fewer Superconducting Qubits

Although near-term quantum computing devices are still limited by the quantity and quality of qubits in the so-called NISQ era, quantum computational advantage has been experimentally demonstrated. Moreover, hybrid architectures of quantum and classical computing have become the main paradigm for exhibiting NISQ applications, where low-depth quantum circuits are repeatedly applied. In order to further scale up the problem size solvable by the NISQ devices, it is also possible to reduce the number of physical qubits by "cutting" the quantum circuit into different pieces. In this work, we experimentally demonstrated a circuit-cutting method for simulating quantum circuits involving many logical qubits, using only a few physical superconducting qubits. By exploiting the symmetry of linear-cluster states, we can estimate the effectiveness of circuit-cutting for simulating up to 33-qubit linear-cluster states, using at most 4 physical qubits for each subcircuit. Specifically, for the 12-qubit linear-cluster state, we found that the experimental fidelity bound can reach as much as 0.734, which is about 19% higher than a direct implementation on the same 12-qubit superconducting processor. Our results indicate that circuit-cutting represents a feasible approach of simulating quantum circuits using much fewer qubits, while achieving a much higher circuit fidelity.

Exactly solving the Kitaev chain and generating Majorana-zero-modes out of noisy qubits

Majorana-zero-modes (MZMs) were predicted to exist as edge states of a physical system called the Kitaev chain. MZMs should host particles that are their own antiparticles and could be used as a basis for a qubit which is robust-to-noise. However, all attempts to prove their existence gave inconclusive results. Here, the Kitaev chain is exactly solved with a quantum computing methodology and properties of MZMs are probed by generating eigenstates of the Kitev Hamiltonian on 3 noisy qubits of a publicly available quantum computer. After an ontological elaboration I show that two eigenstates of the Kitaev Hamiltonian exhibit eight signatures attributed to MZMs. The results presented here are a most comprehensive set of validations of MZMs ever conducted in an actual physical system. Furthermore, the findings of this manuscript are easily reproducible for any user of publicly available quantum computers, solving another important problem of research with MZMs—the result reproducibility crisis.

Realization of an Error-Correcting Surface Code with Superconducting Qubits

Quantum error correction is a critical technique for transitioning from noisy intermediate-scale quantum devices to fully fledged quantum computers. The surface code, which has a high threshold error rate, is the leading quantum error correction code for two-dimensional grid architecture. So far, the repeated error correction capability of the surface code has not been realized experimentally. Here, we experimentally implement an error-correcting surface code, the distance-three surface code which consists of 17 qubits, on the Zuchongzhi 2.1 superconducting quantum processor. By executing several consecutive error correction cycles, the logical error can be significantly reduced after applying corrections, achieving the repeated error correction of surface code for the first time. This experiment represents a fully functional instance of an error-correcting surface code, providing a key step on the path towards scalable fault-tolerant quantum computing.

Activation of indistinguishability-based quantum coherence for enhanced metrological applications with particle statistics imprint

Quantum coherence has a fundamentally different origin for nonidentical and identical particles since for the latter a unique contribution exists due to indistinguishability. Here we experimentally show how to exploit, in a controllable fashion, the contribution to quantum coherence stemming from spatial indistinguishability. Our experiment also directly proves, on the same footing, the different role of particle statistics (bosons or fermions) in supplying coherence-enabled advantage for quantum metrology. Ultimately, our results provide insights toward viable quantum-enhanced technologies based on tunable indistinguishability of identical building blocks.

Quantum coherence, an essential feature of quantum mechanics allowing quantum superposition of states, is a resource for quantum information processing. Coherence emerges in a fundamentally different way for nonidentical and identical particles. For the latter, a unique contribution exists linked to indistinguishability that cannot occur for nonidentical particles. Here we experimentally demonstrate this additional contribution to quantum coherence with an optical setup, showing that its amount directly depends on the degree of indistinguishability and exploiting it in a quantum phase discrimination protocol. Furthermore, the designed setup allows for simulating fermionic particles with photons, thus assessing the role of exchange statistics in coherence generation and utilization. Our experiment proves that independent indistinguishable particles can offer a controllable resource of coherence and entanglement for quantum-enhanced metrology.