Graduate student tests new theory for quantum state tomography

2021-02-08

Rishabh Gupta, who is entering his second year as a graduate student in Professor Sabre Kais’s research group, was able to test a new theory for quantum state tomography on a quantum computer. The finding “Maximal Entropy Approach for Quantum State Tomography” is published in the new journal PRX Quantum.

Quantum computing promises qualitatively superior processing abilities over the current classical one. The considerable promise of the new, quantum, way has motivated technology giants like Google, IBM, Microsoft, and others to explore ways to convert the potential into a reality.

As the current quantum technology continues to evolve, efficient methods to validate the results of quantum processing with dozens of qubits on these NISQ devices are needed.

“Collaborating with Professor R.D. Levine from UCLA,  we proposed an explicit scheme based on the Maximal Entropy Approach for approximating in an optimal way the density matrix of the system using a finite but incomplete set of observables,” said Professor Sabre Kais.

Kais says to test the suitability of their information-theory-based approach, Rishabh reconstructed the state using numerical experiments conducted on IBM quantum computing chips.