ON states as resource units for universal quantum computation with photonic architectures

TL;DR

This paper introduces ON states, superpositions of vacuum and Fock states, as resource states for implementing higher-order quadrature phase gates in photonic quantum computing, enabling scalable and controlled universal computation.

Contribution

The paper proposes ON states as efficient non-Gaussian resources for higher-order gates, simplifying resource preparation and enhancing control in photonic quantum computation.

Findings

ON states enable implementation of cubic and higher-order gates to first order.

Advantages include fewer superpositions needed and better control over gates.

Potential for scalable, high-accuracy quantum computation using on-demand resources.

Abstract

Universal quantum computation using photonic systems requires gates whose Hamiltonians are of order greater than quadratic in the quadrature operators. We first review previous proposals to implement such gates, where specific non-Gaussian states are used as resources in conjunction with entangling gates such as the continuous-variable versions of C-PHASE and C-NOT gates. We then propose ON states which are superpositions of the vacuum and the $N^{th}$ Fock state, for use as non-Gaussian resource states. We show that ON states can be used to implement the cubic and higher-order quadrature phase gates to first order in gate strength. There are several advantages to this method such as reduced number of superpositions in the resource state preparation and greater control over the final gate. We also introduce useful figures of merit to characterize gate performance. Utilising a supply of on-demand resource states one can potentially scale up implementation to greater accuracy, by repeated application of the basic circuit.