Bang-bang shortcut to adiabaticity in trapped ion quantum simulators

TL;DR

This paper proposes a bang-bang control protocol as a simple and effective shortcut to adiabaticity for preparing ground states in ion-trap quantum simulators, balancing performance and implementation simplicity.

Contribution

It introduces a bang-bang optimization method for ground-state preparation, demonstrating its practicality and providing implementation details for current ion-trap systems.

Findings

Bang-bang protocol achieves reasonable ground-state probability.

Simpler implementation compared to locally adiabatic evolution.

Suitable for systems beyond classical computational capabilities.

Abstract

We model the bang-bang optimization protocol as a shortcut to adiabaticity in the ground-state preparation of an ion-trap-based quantum simulator. Compared to a locally adiabatic evolution, the bang-bang protocol produces a somewhat lower ground-state probability, but its implementation is so much simpler than the locally adiabatic approach, that it remains an excellent choice to use for maximizing ground-state preparation in systems that cannot be solved with conventional computers. We describe how one can optimize the shortcut and provide specific details for how it can be implemented with current ion-trap-based quantum simulators.