Scalable QKD Postprocessing System With Reconfigurable Hardware Accelerator

Key distillation is an essential component of every quantum key distribution (QKD) system because it compensates for the inherent transmission errors of a quantum channel. However, the interoperability and throughput aspects of the postprocessing components are often neglected. In this article, we propose a high-throughput key distillation framework that supports multiple QKD protocols, implemented in […]

Emulation of Quantum Algorithms Using CMOS Analog Circuits

Quantum computers are regarded as the future of computing, as they are believed to be capable of solving extremely complex problems that are intractable on conventional digital computers. However, near-term quantum computers are prone to a plethora of noise sources that are difficult to mitigate, possibly limiting their scalability and precluding us from running any […]

Approaching Collateral Optimization for NISQ and Quantum-Inspired Computing (May 2023)

Collateral optimization refers to the systematic allocation of financial assets to satisfy obligations or secure transactions while simultaneously minimizing costs and optimizing the usage of available resources. This involves assessing the number of characteristics, such as the cost of funding and quality of the underlying assets to ascertain the optimal collateral quantity to be posted […]

Design and Analysis of Digital Communication Within an SoC-Based Control System for Trapped-Ion Quantum Computing

Large-scale quantum information processing requires the use of quantum error-correcting codes to mitigate the effects of noise in quantum devices. Topological error-correcting codes, such as surface codes, are promising candidates, as they can be implemented using only local interactions in a 2-D array of physical qubits. Procedures, such as defect braiding and lattice surgery, can […]

Variational Quantum Optimization of Nonlocality in Noisy Quantum Networks

The noise and complexity inherent to quantum communication networks leads to technical challenges in designing quantum network protocols using classical methods. We address this issue with a hybrid variational quantum optimization (VQO) framework that simulates quantum networks on quantum hardware and optimizes the simulation using differential programming. We maximize nonlocality in noisy quantum networks to […]

Layer VQE: A Variational Approach for Combinatorial Optimization on Noisy Quantum Computers

Combinatorial optimization on near-term quantum devices is a promising path to demonstrating quantum advantage. However, the capabilities of these devices are constrained by high noise or error rates. In this article, inspired by the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE), we propose an iterative layer VQE (L-VQE) approach. We present a large-scale numerical study, simulating circuits with […]

Neural-Network Decoders for Quantum Error Correction Using Surface Codes: A Space Exploration of the Hardware Cost-Performance Tradeoffs

Quantum error correction (QEC) is required in quantum computers to mitigate the effect of errors on physical qubits. When adopting a QEC scheme based on surface codes, error decoding is the most computationally expensive task in the classical electronic back-end. Decoders employing neural networks (NN) are well-suited for this task but their hardware implementation has […]

Practical Quantum K-Means Clustering: Performance Analysis and Applications in Energy Grid Classification

In this work, we aim to solve a practical use-case of unsupervised clustering that has applications in predictive maintenance in the energy operations sector using quantum computers. Using only cloud access to quantum computers, we complete thorough performance analysis of what some current quantum computing systems are capable of for practical applications involving nontrivial mid-to-high-dimensional […]

Effects of Dynamical Decoupling and Pulse-Level Optimizations on IBM Quantum Computers

Currently available quantum computers are prone to errors. Circuit optimization and error mitigation methods are needed to design quantum circuits to achieve better fidelity when executed on NISQ hardware. Dynamical decoupling (DD) is generally used to suppress the decoherence error, and different DD strategies have been proposed. Moreover, the circuit fidelity can be improved by […]

QubiC: An Open-Source FPGA-Based Control and Measurement System for Superconducting Quantum Information Processors

As quantum information processors grow in quantum bit (qubit) count and functionality, the control and measurement system becomes a limiting factor to large-scale extensibility. To tackle this challenge and keep pace with rapidly evolving classical control requirements, full control stack access is essential to system-level optimization. We design a modular field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based system […]