Publications Tobias OLSACHER

2022

Articles

• T. Olsacher, L. Pastori, C. Kokail, L. Sieberer, Peter Zoller Digital quantum simulation, learning of the Floquet Hamiltonian, and quantum chaos of the kicked top, J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 55 (2022-08-19), http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/1751-8121/ac8087 doi:10.1088/1751-8121/ac8087 (ID: 720859) Toggle Abstract
  The kicked top is one of the paradigmatic models in the study of quantum chaos (Haake et al 2018 Quantum Signatures of Chaos (Springer Series in Synergetics vol 54)). Recently it has been shown that the onset of quantum chaos in the kicked top can be related to the proliferation of Trotter errors in digital quantum simulation (DQS) of collective spin systems. Specifically, the proliferation of Trotter errors becomes manifest in expectation values of few-body observables strongly deviating from the target dynamics above a critical Trotter step, where the spectral statistics of the Floquet operator of the kicked top can be predicted by random matrix theory. In this work, we study these phenomena in the framework of Hamiltonian learning (HL). We show how a recently developed HL protocol can be employed to reconstruct the generator of the stroboscopic dynamics, i.e., the Floquet Hamiltonian, of the kicked top. We further show how the proliferation of Trotter errors is revealed by HL as the transition to a regime in which the dynamics cannot be approximately described by a low-order truncation of the Floquet–Magnus expansion. This opens up new experimental possibilities for the analysis of Trotter errors on the level of the generator of the implemented dynamics, that can be generalized to the DQS of quantum many-body systems in a scalable way. This paper is in memory of our colleague and friend Fritz Haake.
• L. Pastori, T. Olsacher, C. Kokail, Peter Zoller Characterization and Verification of Trotterized Digital Quantum Simulation via Hamiltonian and Liouvillian Learning, PRX Quantum 3 30324 (2022-08-18), http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PRXQuantum.3.030324 doi:10.1103/PRXQuantum.3.030324 (ID: 720828) Toggle Abstract
  The goal of digital quantum simulation is to approximate the dynamics of a given target Hamiltonian via a sequence of quantum gates, a procedure known as Trotterization. The quality of this approximation can be controlled by the so called Trotter step, that governs the number of required quantum gates per unit simulation time, and is intimately related to the existence of a time-independent, quasilocal Hamiltonian that governs the stroboscopic dynamics, refered to as the Floquet Hamiltonian of the Trotterization. In this work, we propose a Hamiltonian learning scheme to reconstruct the implemented Floquet Hamiltonian order-by-order in the Trotter step: this procedure is efficient, i.e., it requires a number of measurements that scales polynomially in the system size, and can be readily implemented in state-of-the-art experiments. With numerical examples, we propose several applications of our method in the context of verification of quantum devices, from the characterization of the distinct sources of errors in digital quantum simulators to the design of new types of quantum gates. Furthermore, we show how our approach can be extended to the case of non-unitary dynamics and used to learn Floquet Liouvillians, thereby offering a way of characterizing the dissipative processes present in NISQ quantum devices.

2021

Preprint

• C. Kargi, J. P. Dehollain, F. Henriques, L. Sieberer, T. Olsacher, P. Hauke, M. Heyl, P. Zoller, N. Langford Quantum Chaos and Trotterisation Thresholds in Digital Quantum Simulations, (2021-10-21), arXiv:2110.11113 arXiv:2110.11113 (ID: 720694) Toggle Abstract
  Digital quantum simulation (DQS) is one of the most promising paths for achieving first useful real-world applications for quantum processors. Yet even assuming rapid progress in device engineering and development of fault-tolerant quantum processors, algorithmic resource optimisation will long remain crucial to exploit their full power. Currently, Trotterisation provides state-of-the-art DQS resource scaling. Moreover, recent theoretical studies of Trotterised Ising models suggest it also offers feasible performance for unexpectedly large step sizes up to a sharp breakdown threshold, but demonstrations and characterisation have been limited, and the question of whether this behaviour applies as a general principle has remained open. Here, we study a set of paradigmatic and experimentally realisable DQS models, and show that a range of Trotterisation performance behaviours, including the existence of a sharp threshold, are remarkably universal. Carrying out a detailed characterisation of a range of performance signatures, we demonstrate that it is the onset of digitisation-induced quantum chaos at this threshold that underlies the breakdown of Trotterisation. Specifically, combining analysis of detailed dynamics with conclusive, global static signatures based on random matrix theory, we observe clear signatures of regular behaviour pre-threshold, and conclusive, initial-state-independent evidence for the onset of quantum chaotic dynamics beyond the threshold. We also show how this behaviour consistently emerges as a function of system size for sizes and times already relevant for current experimental DQS platforms. The advances in this work open up many important questions about the algorithm performance and general shared features of sufficiently complex Trotterisation-based DQS. Answering these will be crucial for extracting the maximum simulation power from future quantum processors.

2020

Article

• T. Olsacher, L. Postler, P. Schindler, T. Monz, P. Zoller, L. Sieberer Scalable and Parallel Tweezer Gates for Quantum Computing with Long Ion Strings, PRX Quantum 1 20316 (2020-08-26), http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PRXQuantum.1.020316 doi:10.1103/PRXQuantum.1.020316 (ID: 720527) Toggle Abstract
  Trapped-ion quantum computers have demonstrated high-performance gate operations in registers of about ten qubits. However, scaling up and parallelizing quantum computations with long one-dimensional (1D) ion strings is an outstanding challenge due to the global nature of the motional modes of the ions which mediate qubit-qubit couplings. Here, we devise methods to implement scalable and parallel entangling gates by using engineered localized phonon modes. We propose to tailor such localized modes by tuning the local potential of individual ions with programmable optical tweezers. Localized modes of small subsets of qubits form the basis to perform entangling gates on these subsets in parallel. We demonstrate the inherent scalability of this approach by presenting analytical and numerical results for long 1D ion chains and even for infinite chains of uniformly spaced ions. Furthermore, we show that combining our methods with optimal coherent control techniques allows to realize maximally dense universal parallelized quantum circuits.

2019

Article

• L. Sieberer, T. Olsacher, A. Elben, M. Heyl, P. Hauke, F. Haake, P. Zoller Digital Quantum Simulation, Trotter Errors, and Quantum Chaos of the Kicked Top, npj Quantum Information 5 (2019-09-20), http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41534-019-0192-5 doi:10.1038/s41534-019-0192-5 (ID: 720105) Toggle Abstract
  This work aims at giving Trotter errors in digital quantum simulation (DQS) of collective spin systems an interpretation in terms of quantum chaos of the kicked top. In particular, for DQS of such systems, regular dynamics of the kicked top ensures convergence of the Trotterized time evolution, while chaos in the top, which sets in above a sharp threshold value of the Trotter step size, corresponds to the proliferation of Trotter errors. We show the possibility to analyze this phenomenology in a wide variety of experimental realizations of the kicked top, ranging from single atomic spins to trapped-ion quantum simulators which implement DQS of all-to-all interacting spin-1/2 systems. These platforms thus enable in-depth studies of Trotter errors and their relation to signatures of quantum chaos, including the growth of out-of-time-ordered correlators.