Near-term quantum computers have significant error rates and short coherence times, so compilation of circuits to be as short as possible is essential. Two types of compilation problems are typically considered: circuits to prepare a given state from a fixed input state, called 'state preparation'; and circuits to implement a given unitary operation, for example by 'unitary synthesis'. In this paper we solve a more general problem: the transformation of a set of m states to another set of m states, which we call 'multi-state preparation'. State preparation and unitary synthesis are special cases; for state preparation, m=1, while for unitary synthesis, m is the dimension of the full Hilbert space. We generate and optimize circuits for multi-state preparation numerically. In cases where a top-down approach based on matrix decompositions is also possible, our method finds circuits with substantially (up to 40 %) fewer two-qubit gates. We discuss possible applications, including efficient preparation of macroscopic superposition ('cat') states and synthesis of quantum channels.

We present a topology aware quantum synthesis algorithm designed to produce short circuits and to scale well in practice. The main contribution is a novel representation of circuits able to encode placement and topology using generic "gates", which allows the QFAST algorithm to replace expensive searches over circuit structures with few steps of numerical optimization. When compared against optimal depth, search based state-of-the-art techniques, QFAST produces comparable results: 1.19× longer circuits up to four qubits, with an increase in compilation speed of 3.6×. In addition, QFAST scales up to seven qubits. When compared with the state-of-the-art "rule"based decomposition techniques in Qiskit, QFAST produces circuits shorter by up to two orders of magnitude (331×), albeit 5.6× slower. We also demonstrate the composability with other techniques and the tunability of our formulation in terms of circuit depth and running time.

Abstract: Dynamic simulation of materials is a promising application for near-term quantum computers. Current algorithms for Hamiltonian simulation, however, produce circuits that grow in depth with increasing simulation time, limiting feasible simulations to short-time dynamics. Here, we present a method for generating circuits that are constant in depth with increasing simulation time for a specific subset of one-dimensional (1D) materials Hamiltonians, thereby enabling simulations out to arbitrarily long times. Furthermore, by removing the effective limit on the number of feasibly simulatable time-steps, the constant-depth circuits enable Trotter error to be made negligibly small by allowing simulations to be broken into arbitrarily many time-steps. For an N-spin system, the constant-depth circuit contains only $\mathcal {O}(N^{2})$ O ( N 2 ) CNOT gates. Such compact circuits enable us to successfully execute long-time dynamic simulation of ubiquitous models, such as the transverse field Ising and XY models, on current quantum hardware for systems of up to 5 qubits without the need for complex error mitigation techniques. Aside from enabling long-time dynamic simulations with minimal Trotter error for a specific subset of 1D Hamiltonians, our constant-depth circuits can advance materials simulations on quantum computers more broadly in a number of indirect ways.

We present QUEST, a procedure to systematically generate approximations for quantum circuits to reduce their CNOT gate count. Our approach employs circuit partitioning for scalability with procedures to 1) reduce circuit length using approximate synthesis, 2) improve fidelity by running circuits that represent key samples in the approximation space, and 3) reason about approximation upper bound. Our evaluation results indicate that our approach of "dissimilar"approximations provides close fidelity to the original circuit. Overall, the results indicate that QUEST can reduce CNOT gate count by 30-80% on ideal systems and decrease the impact of noise on existing and near-future quantum systems.

Dynamic simulation of materials is a promising application for near-term quantum computers. Current algorithms for Hamiltonian simulation, however, produce circuits that grow in depth with increasing simulation time, limiting feasible simulations to short-time dynamics. Here, we present a method for generating circuits that are constant in depth with increasing simulation time for a subset of one-dimensional materials Hamiltonians, thereby enabling simulations out to arbitrarily long times. Furthermore, by removing the effective limit on the number of feasibly simulatable time-steps, the constant-depth circuits enable Trotter error to be made negligibly small by allowing simulations to be broken into arbitrarily many time-steps. Composed of two-qubit matchgates on nearest-neighbor qubits, these constant-depth circuits are constructed based on a set of multi-matchgate identity relationships. For an $N$-spin system, the constant-depth circuit contains only $\mathcal{O}(N^2)$ CNOT gates. When compared to standard Hamiltonian simulation algorithms, our method generates circuits with order-of-magnitude fewer gates, which allows us to successfully simulate the long-time dynamics of systems with up to 5 spins on available quantum hardware. This paves the way for simulations of long-time dynamics for scientifically and technologically relevant quantum materials, enabling the observation of interesting and important atomic-level physics.

High-dimensional quantum information processing has emerged as a promising avenue to transcend hardware limitations and advance the frontiers of quantum technologies. Harnessing the untapped potential of the so-called qudits necessitates the development of quantum protocols beyond the established qubit methodologies. Here, we present a robust, hardware-efficient, and scalable approach for operating multidimensional solid-state systems using Raman-assisted two-photon interactions. We then utilize them to construct extensible multi-qubit operations, realize highly entangled multidimensional states including atomic squeezed states and Schrödinger cat states, and implement programmable entanglement distribution along a qudit array. Our work illuminates the quantum electrodynamics of strongly driven multi-qudit systems and provides the experimental foundation for the future development of high-dimensional quantum applications such as quantum sensing and fault-tolerant quantum computing.

Recent progress in noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) hardware shows that quantum devices may be able to tackle complex problems even without error correction. However, coherent errors due to the increased complexity of these devices is an outstanding issue. They can accumulate through a circuit, making their impact on algorithms hard to predict and mitigate. Iterative algorithms like quantum imaginary time evolution are susceptible to these errors. This article presents the combination of both noise tailoring using randomized compiling and error mitigation with purification. We also show that cycle benchmarking gives an estimate of the reliability of the purification. We apply this method to the quantum imaginary time evolution of a transverse field Ising model and report an energy estimation error and a ground-state infidelity both below 1%. Our methodology is general and can be used for other algorithms and platforms. We show how combining noise tailoring and error mitigation will push forward the performance of NISQ devices.

The success of the current generation of Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) hardware shows that quantum hardware may be able to tackle complex problems even without error correction. One outstanding issue is that of coherent errors arising from the increased complexity of these devices. These errors can accumulate through a circuit, making their impact on algorithms hard to predict and mitigate. Iterative algorithms like Quantum Imaginary Time Evolution are susceptible to these errors. This article presents the combination of both noise tailoring using Randomized Compiling and error mitigation with a purification. We also show that Cycle Benchmarking gives an estimate of the reliability of the purification. We apply this method to the Quantum Imaginary Time Evolution of a Transverse Field Ising Model and report an energy estimation and a ground state infidelity both below 1\%. Our methodology is general and can be used for other algorithms and platforms. We show how combining noise tailoring and error mitigation will push forward the performance of NISQ devices.