Efficient Qubit Calibration by Binary-Search Hamiltonian Tracking

TL;DR

This paper introduces a real-time, adaptive binary-search-based protocol for calibrating qubit frequencies, significantly improving precision and stability by dynamically updating control parameters, with experimental validation on a transmon qubit.

Contribution

It presents a novel, efficient calibration method that uses adaptive binary search and real-time feedback, enhancing qubit stability and gate fidelity in quantum computing.

Findings

Achieved exponential scaling in calibration precision.

Improved qubit coherence and gate fidelity.

Partially mitigated non-Markovian noise with FPGA control.

Abstract

We present and experimentally implement a real-time protocol for calibrating the frequency of a resonantly driven qubit, achieving exponential scaling in calibration precision with the number of measurements, up to the limit imposed by decoherence. The real-time processing capabilities of a classical controller dynamically generate adaptive probing sequences for qubit-frequency estimation. Each probing evolution time and drive frequency are calculated to divide the prior probability distribution into two branches, following a locally optimal strategy that mimics a conventional binary search. The scheme does not require repeated measurements at the same setting, as it accounts for state preparation and measurement errors. Its use of a parametrized probability distribution favors numerical accuracy and computational speed. We show the efficacy of the algorithm by stabilizing a flux-tunable transmon qubit, leading to improved coherence and gate fidelity. As benchmarked by gate-set tomography, the field-programmable gate array (FPGA) powered control electronics partially mitigates non-Markovian noise, which is detrimental to quantum error correction. The mitigation is achieved by dynamically updating and feeding forward the qubit frequency. Our protocol highlights the importance of feedback in improving the calibration and stability of qubits subject to drift and can be readily applied to other qubit platforms.