Preparing Schrödinger cat states in a microwave cavity using a neural network

Abstract

Scaling up quantum computing devices requires solving ever more complex quantum control tasks. Machine learning has been proposed as a promising approach to tackle the resulting challenges. However, experimental implementations are still scarce. In this work, we demonstrate experimentally a neural-network-based preparation of Schrödinger cat states in a cavity coupled dispersively to a qubit. We show that it is possible to teach a neural network to output optimized control pulses for a whole family of quantum states. After being trained in simulations, the network takes a description of the target quantum state as input and rapidly produces the pulse shape for the experiment, without any need for time-consuming additional optimization or retraining for different states. Our experimental results demonstrate more generally how deep neural networks and transfer learning can produce efficient simultaneous solutions to a range of quantum control tasks, which will benefit not only state preparation but also parametrized quantum gates.

20 pages, appendix included

References in corpus (6)

• QuTiP 2: A Python framework for the dynamics of open quantum systems
• Confining the state of light to a quantum manifold by engineered two-photon loss
• Deep Reinforcement Learning for Quantum Gate Control
• Quantum dynamics of an electromagnetic mode that cannot contain N photons
• Faster State Preparation across Quantum Phase Transition Assisted by Reinforcement Learning
• Detection of entangled states supported by reinforcement learning

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Application of the Pontryagin Maximum Principle to the robust time-optimal control of two-level quantum systems
• Preparation of conditionally-squeezed states in qubit-oscillator systems
• Autonomously Designed Pulses for Precise, Site-Selective Control of Atomic Qubits
• Bounding fidelity in quantum feedback control: theory and applications to Dicke state preparation
• Feedback cooling of fermionic atoms in optical lattices
• CDJ-Pontryagin Optimal Control for General Continuously Monitored Quantum Systems
• Reservoir-Engineered Mechanical Cat States with a Driven Qubit