Enhancing quantum sensing sensitivity by a quantum memory.

In quantum sensing, precision is typically limited by the maximum time interval over which phase can be accumulated. Memories have been used to enhance this time interval beyond the coherence lifetime and thus gain precision. Here, we demonstrate that by using a quantum memory an increased sensitivity can also be achieved. To this end, we use entanglement in a hybrid spin system comprising a sensing and a memory qubit associated with a single nitrogen-vacancy centre in diamond. With the memory we retain the full quantum state even after coherence decay of the sensor, which enables coherent interaction with distinct weakly coupled nuclear spin qubits. We benchmark the performance of our hybrid quantum system against use of the sensing qubit alone by gradually increasing the entanglement of sensor and memory. We further apply this quantum sensor-memory pair for high-resolution NMR spectroscopy of single (13)C nuclear spins.

Quantum Simulation of Helium Hydride Cation in a Solid-State Spin Register.

Ab initio computation of molecular properties is one of the most promising applications of quantum computing. While this problem is widely believed to be intractable for classical computers, efficient quantum algorithms exist which have the potential to vastly accelerate research throughput in fields ranging from material science to drug discovery. Using a solid-state quantum register realized in a nitrogen-vacancy (NV) defect in diamond, we compute the bond dissociation curve of the minimal basis helium hydride cation, HeH(+). Moreover, we report an energy uncertainty (given our model basis) of the order of 10(-14) hartree, which is 10 orders of magnitude below the desired chemical precision. As NV centers in diamond provide a robust and straightforward platform for quantum information processing, our work provides an important step toward a fully scalable solid-state implementation of a quantum chemistry simulator.

High-fidelity spin entanglement using optimal control.

Precise control of quantum systems is of fundamental importance in quantum information processing, quantum metrology and high-resolution spectroscopy. When scaling up quantum registers, several challenges arise: individual addressing of qubits while suppressing cross-talk, entangling distant nodes and decoupling unwanted interactions. Here we experimentally demonstrate optimal control of a prototype spin qubit system consisting of two proximal nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamond. Using engineered microwave pulses, we demonstrate single electron spin operations with a fidelity F≈0.99. With additional dynamical decoupling techniques, we further realize high-quality, on-demand entangled states between two electron spins with F>0.82, mostly limited by the coherence time and imperfect initialization. Crosstalk in a crowded spectrum and unwanted dipolar couplings are simultaneously eliminated to a high extent. Finally, by high-fidelity entanglement swapping to nuclear spin quantum memory, we demonstrate nuclear spin entanglement over a length scale of 25 nm. This experiment underlines the importance of optimal control for scalable room temperature spin-based quantum information devices.

Quantum circuits for general multiqubit gates.

We consider a generic elementary gate sequence which is needed to implement a general quantum gate acting on n qubits-a unitary transformation with 4(n) degrees of freedom. For synthesizing the gate sequence, a method based on the so-called cosine-sine matrix decomposition is presented. The result is optimal in the number of elementary one-qubit gates, 4(n), and scales more favorably than the previously reported decompositions requiring 4(n)-2(n+1) controlled NOT gates.