Article abstract


Nature Physics 5, 134 - 140 (2009)
Published online: 7 December 2008 | doi:10.1038/nphys1150

Subject Categories: Quantum physics | Optical physics | Information theory and computation

Simplifying quantum logic using higher-dimensional Hilbert spaces

Benjamin P. Lanyon1, Marco Barbieri1, Marcelo P. Almeida1, Thomas Jennewein1,2, Timothy C. Ralph1, Kevin J. Resch1,3, Geoff J. Pryde1,4, Jeremy L. O'Brien1,5, Alexei Gilchrist1,6 & Andrew G. White1


Quantum computation promises to solve fundamental, yet otherwise intractable, problems across a range of active fields of research. Recently, universal quantum logic-gate sets—the elemental building blocks for a quantum computer—have been demonstrated in several physical architectures. A serious obstacle to a full-scale implementation is the large number of these gates required to build even small quantum circuits. Here, we present and demonstrate a general technique that harnesses multi-level information carriers to significantly reduce this number, enabling the construction of key quantum circuits with existing technology. We present implementations of two key quantum circuits: the three-qubit Toffoli gate and the general two-qubit controlled-unitary gate. Although our experiment is carried out in a photonic architecture, the technique is independent of the particular physical encoding of quantum information, and has the potential for wider application.

Top
  1. Department of Physics and Centre for Quantum Computer Technology, University of Queensland, Brisbane 4072, Australia
  2. Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Boltzmanng. 3, A-1090 Vienna, Austria
  3. Institute for Quantum Computing and Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Waterloo, N2L 3G1, Canada
  4. Centre for Quantum Dynamics, Griffith University, Brisbane 4111, Australia
  5. Centre for Quantum Photonics, H. H. Wills Physics Laboratory and Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, University of Bristol, Merchant Venturers Building, Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 1UB, UK
  6. Physics Department, Macquarie University, Sydney 2109, Australia

Correspondence to: Benjamin P. Lanyon1 e-mail: lanyon@physics.uq.edu.au



MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS

These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.

NEWS AND VIEWS

Quantum information Reality check

Nature News and Views (08 Nov 2007)

Quantum optics On-chip factorization

Nature Photonics News and Views (01 Nov 2009)

See all 12 matches for News And Views

Extra navigation

Subscribe to Nature Physics

Subscribe

Open Innovation Challenges

  • Biocide Formulation

    • Deadline: Nov 09 2009
    • Reward: $20,000 USD

    A formulation for enhanced binding of biocides to surfaces exposed to an aqueous environment is desi...

naturejobs

ADVERTISEMENT