Single-spin holonomic quantum gates with coherent optical control in diamond

Quantum state transfer and qubit operations are routinely performed using dynamic effects prone to systematic errors. With the growing interest in fault-tolerant quantum computing, researchers have turned to purely geometric phases (and their non-Abelian generalizations, holonomic gates) as a promising paradigm for robust quantum operations. However, the intrinsically slower operation of adiabatic holonomic gates is vulnerable to decoherence, which reduces fidelities. We present a recent implementation of nonadiabatic holonomic quantum control in the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond, which surpasses the speeds of adiabatic control without sacrificing its geometric character [1]. In this approach, arbitrary single-qubit rotations are performed in a single operation by detuning the optical fields that drive lambda system transitions. Furthermore, we explore the enhanced robustness of detuned gates to intermediate-state decoherence and present insights for optimizing fast holonomic control in dissipative quantum systems. The NV center’s rich energy level structure and spin properties enable a variety of advanced optical control techniques [2, 3] that can be translated to other promising quantum information platforms.

[1] B. B. Zhou, P. C. Jerger, V. O. Shkolnikov, F. J. Heremans, G. Burkard, & D. D. Awschalom, Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 140503 (2017).
[2] C. G. Yale et al., Nat. Photonics 10, 184-189 (2016).
[3] B. B. Zhou et al., Nat. Phys. 13, 330-334 (2017).

This work was performed in collaboration with B. B. Zhou, V. O. Shkolnikov, F. J. Heremans, G. Burkard, and D. D. Awschalom.