Publications Christoph R. KAUBRÜGGER

2023

Article

C. R. Kaubrügger, A. Shankar, D. Vasilyev, P. Zoller Optimal and Variational Multi-Parameter Quantum Metrology and Vector Field Sensing, PRX Quantum 4 20333 (2023-06-01), http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PRXQuantum.4.020333 doi:10.1103/PRXQuantum.4.020333 (ID: 721056) Toggle Abstract
We study multi-parameter sensing of 2D and 3D vector fields within the Bayesian framework for SU(2) quantum interferometry. We establish a method to determine the optimal quantum sensor, which establishes the fundamental limit on the precision of simultaneously estimating multiple parameters with an N-atom sensor. Keeping current experimental platforms in mind, we present sensors that have limited entanglement capabilities, and yet, significantly outperform sensors that operate without entanglement and approach the optimal quantum sensor in terms of performance. Furthermore, we show how these sensors can be implemented on current programmable quantum sensors with variational quantum circuits by minimizing a metrological cost function. The resulting circuits prepare tailored entangled states and perform measurements in an appropriate entangled basis to realize the best possible quantum sensor given the native entangling resources available on a given sensor platform. Notable examples include a 2D and 3D quantum ``compass'' and a 2D sensor that provides a scalable improvement over unentangled sensors. Our results on optimal and variational multi-parameter quantum metrology are useful for advancing precision measurements in fundamental science and ensuring the stability of quantum computers, which can be achieved through the incorporation of optimal quantum sensors in a quantum feedback loop.

Preprints

J. Franke, S. M. Muleady, C. R. Kaubrügger, F. Kranzl, R. Blatt, A. M. Rey, M. K. Joshi, C. F. Roos Quantum-enhanced sensing on an optical transition via emergent collective quantum correlations, (2023-03-27), arXiv:2303.10688 arXiv:2303.10688 (ID: 721072) Toggle Abstract
The control over quantum states in atomic systems has led to the most precise optical atomic clocks to date. Their sensitivity is currently bounded by the standard quantum limit, a fundamental floor set by quantum mechanics for uncorrelated particles, which can nevertheless be overcome when operated with entangled particles. Yet demonstrating a quantum advantage in real world sensors is extremely challenging and remains to be achieved aside from two remarkable examples, LIGO and more recently HAYSTAC. Here we illustrate a pathway for harnessing scalable entanglement in an optical transition using 1D chains of up to 51 ions with state-dependent interactions that decay as a power-law function of the ion separation. We show our sensor can be made to behave as a one-axis-twisting (OAT) model, an iconic fully connected model known to generate scalable squeezing. The collective nature of the state manifests itself in the preservation of the total transverse magnetization, the reduced growth of finite momentum spin-wave excitations, the generation of spin squeezing comparable to OAT (a Wineland parameter of −3.9±0.3 dB for only N = 12 ions) and the development of non-Gaussian states in the form of atomic multi-headed cat states in the Q-distribution. The simplicity of our protocol enables scalability to large arrays with minimal overhead, opening the door to advances in timekeeping as well as new methods for preserving coherence in quantum simulation and computation. We demonstrate this in a Ramsey-type interferometer, where we reduce the measurement uncertainty by −3.2±0.5 dB below the standard quantum limit for N = 51 ions.
D. González-Cuadra, D. Bluvstein, M. Kalinowski, C. R. Kaubrügger, N. Maskara, P. Naldesi, T. Zache, A. Kaufman, M. Lukin, H. Pichler, B. Vermersch, J. Ye, P. Zoller Fermionic quantum processing with programmable neutral atom arrays, (2023-03-13), arXiv:2303.06985 arXiv:2303.06985 (ID: 721066) Toggle Abstract
Simulating the properties of many-body fermionic systems is an outstanding computational challenge relevant to material science, quantum chemistry, and particle physics. Although qubit-based quantum computers can potentially tackle this problem more efficiently than classical devices, encoding non-local fermionic statistics introduces an overhead in the required resources, limiting their applicability on near-term architectures. In this work, we present a fermionic quantum processor, where fermionic models are locally encoded in a fermionic register and simulated in a hardware-efficient manner using fermionic gates. We consider in particular fermionic atoms in programmable tweezer arrays and develop different protocols to implement non-local tunneling gates, guaranteeing Fermi statistics at the hardware level. We use this gate set, together with Rydberg-mediated interaction gates, to find efficient circuit decompositions for digital and variational quantum simulation algorithms, illustrated here for molecular energy estimation. Finally, we consider a combined fermion-qubit architecture, where both the motional and internal degrees of freedom of the atoms are harnessed to efficiently implement quantum phase estimation, as well as to simulate lattice gauge theory dynamics.

2022

Article

C. Marciniak, T. Feldker, I. Pogorelov, C. R. Kaubrügger, D. Vasilyev, R. van Bijnen, P. Schindler, P. Zoller, R. Blatt, T. Monz Optimal metrology with variational quantum circuits on trapped ions, Nature 603 604 (2022-03-23), http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-04435-4 doi:10.1038/s41586-022-04435-4 (ID: 720667) Toggle Abstract
Cold atoms and ions exhibit unparalleled performance in frequency metrology epitomized in the atomic clock. More recently, such atomic systems have been used to implement programmable quantum computers and simulators with highest reported operational fidelities across platforms. Their strength in metrology and quantum information processing offers the opportunity to utilize tailored, programmable entanglement generation to approach the `optimal quantum sensor' compatible with quantum mechanics. Here we report quantum enhancement in metrology beyond squeezing through low-depth, variational quantum circuits searching for optimal input states and measurement operators in a trapped ion platform. We perform entanglement-enhanced Ramsey interferometry finding optimal parameters for variational quantum circuits using a Bayesian approach to stochastic phase estimation tailored to the sensor platform capabilities and finite dynamic range of the interferometer. We verify the performance by both directly using theory predictions of optimal parameters, and performing online quantum-classical feedback optimization to `self-calibrate' the variational parameters. In both cases we find that variational circuits outperform classical and direct spin squeezing strategies under realistic noise and imperfections. With 26 ions we achieve 2.02(8) dB of metrological gain over classical interferometers.

2021

Article

C. R. Kaubrügger, D. Vasilyev, T. Schulte, K. Hammerer, P. Zoller Quantum Variational Optimization of Ramsey Interferometry and Atomic Clocks, Phys. Rev. X 11 41045 (2021-12-06), http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.11.041045 doi:10.1103/PhysRevX.11.041045 (ID: 720629) Toggle Abstract
We discuss quantum variational optimization of Ramsey interferometry with ensembles of N entangled atoms, and its application to atomic clocks based on a Bayesian approach to phase estimation. We identify best input states and generalized measurements within a variational approximation for the corresponding entangling and decoding quantum circuits. These circuits are built from basic quantum operations available for the particular sensor platform, such as one-axis twisting, or finite range interactions. Optimization is defined relative to a cost function, which in the present study is the Bayesian mean square error of the estimated phase for a given prior distribution, i.e. we optimize for a finite dynamic range of the interferometer. In analogous variational optimizations of optical atomic clocks, we use the Allan deviation for a given Ramsey interrogation time as the relevant cost function for the long-term instability. Remarkably, even low-depth quantum circuits yield excellent results that closely approach the fundamental quantum limits for optimal Ramsey interferometry and atomic clocks. The quantum metrological schemes identified here are readily applicable to atomic clocks based on optical lattices, tweezer arrays, or trapped ions.

2019

Article

C. R. Kaubrügger, P. Silvi, C. Kokail, R. van Bijnen, A. M. Rey, J. Ye, A. Kaufman, P. Zoller Variational spin-squeezing algorithms on programmable quantum sensors, Phys. Rev. Lett. 123 260505 (2019-08-22), http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.260505 doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.260505 (ID: 720356) Toggle Abstract
Arrays of atoms trapped in optical tweezers combine features of programmable analog quantum simulators with atomic quantum sensors. Here we propose variational quantum algorithms, tailored for tweezer arrays as programmable quantum sensors, capable of generating entangled states on-demand for precision metrology. The scheme is designed to generate metrological enhancement by optimizing it in a feedback loop on the quantum device itself, thus preparing the best entangled states given the available quantum resources. We apply our ideas to generate spin-squeezed states on Sr atom tweezer arrays, where finite-range interactions are generated through Rydberg dressing. The complexity of experimental variational optimization of our quantum circuits is expected to scale favorably with system size. We numerically show our approach to be robust to noise, and surpassing known protocols.