Classical Coding Approaches to Quantum Applications

Abstract

Quantum information science strives to leverage the quantum-mechanical nature of our universe in order to achieve large improvements in certain information processing tasks. In deep-space optical communications, current receivers for the pure-state classical-quantum channel first measure each qubit channel output and then classically post-process the measurements. This approach is sub-optimal. In this dissertation we investigate a recently proposed quantum algorithm for this task, which is inspired by classical belief-propagation algorithms, and analyze its performance on a simple $5$-bit code. We show that the algorithm is optimal for each bit and it appears to achieve optimal performance when deciding the full transmitted message. We also provide explicit circuits for the algorithm in terms of standard gates. This suggests a near-term quantum communication advantage over the aforementioned sub-optimal scheme. Quantum error correction is vital to building a universal fault-tolerant quantum computer. We propose an efficient algorithm that can translate a given logical Clifford operation on a stabilizer code into all (equivalence classes of) physical Clifford circuits that realize that operation. In order to achieve universality, one also needs to implement at least one non-Clifford logical operation. So, we develop a mathematical framework for a large subset of diagonal operations in the Clifford hierarchy, which we call Quadratic Form Diagonal (QFD) gates. Then we use the QFD formalism to characterize all stabilizer codes whose code spaces are preserved under the transversal action of the non-Clifford $T$ gates on the physical qubits. We also discuss a few purely-classical coding problems motivated by transversal $T$ gates. A conscious effort has been made to keep this dissertation self-contained, by including necessary background material on quantum information and computation.

Ph.D. Dissertation, Duke University, 260 pages, double-spaced. Links to GitHub code included in text. Defense talk: https://youtu.be/cvAcaujp7Wo. Comments welcome!

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