Quantum Plumbing: Fixing Leakage in Transmon Systems using Optimal Control

Quantum computers use two energy levels of a physical system to store a quantum bit (qubit), but fast or faulty control can cause a qubit to leak into nearby, non-computational states. This project uses trajectory optimization, the same framework used to optimally control robots and satellites, to study how quantum control pulses can be shaped to suppress, exploit, or reverse leakage in qubits. Different physical qubits have different kinds of leaks: we fix leaks in two representative qubit candidates, one made from superconducting circuits and another from atoms.

Interns: Ian Borden, Mason Boucher, Jessika Jetta

Mentors: Andy Goldschmidt (REDD/R1B), Neda Forouzani (REDD/R1B)