Gate Optimization via Efficient Two-Qubit Benchmarking for NV Centers in Diamond

TL;DR

This paper introduces an efficient measurement method for two-qubit gate performance in NV centers, enabling closed-loop optimization with significantly fewer measurements than traditional techniques, thus improving quantum gate fidelity.

Contribution

It presents a novel, measurement-efficient approach for two-qubit gate benchmarking in NV centers, facilitating closed-loop optimization with reduced experimental overhead.

Findings

Reduces measurement requirements by two orders of magnitude compared to process tomography.

Enables effective closed-loop gate optimization using a simple performance metric.

Demonstrates the method's effectiveness through numerical simulations in realistic settings.

Abstract

High-fidelity gate implementation requires sophisticated control pulses that steer the quantum system to undergo the desired transformation. Quantum Optimal Control allows to derive these control pulses in an open-loop fashion based on numerical simulations. However, their precision can be limited by incomplete knowledge of the system. Closed-loop optimization overcomes this limitation by incorporating feedback from measurements, provided a suitable and efficient measure of the gate performance can be defined. In this article, we present an efficient method to evaluate the performance of a two-qubit gate by preparation and measurement of only two quantum states, enabling experimental closed-loop optimization with a metric previously believed to be limited to open-loop control. We tailor the approach to nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond and, through numerical simulations, demonstrate how the method can optimize a two-qubit gate while reducing the number of required measurements by two orders of magnitude compared to standard process tomography under realistic experimental settings.