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Adiabatic population transfer methods in performing Quantum Computations and their application with Femtosecond Pulses

University of British Columbia

This thesis is based upon the work published in the following two articles entitled: Robust Operation of a Universal Set of Logic Gates for Quantum Computation using Adiabatic Population Transfer between Molecular Levels [37], and Piecewise Adiabatic Passage with a Series of Femtosecond Pulses [54]. Both papers involve using the concept of a quantum control phenomenon, known as adiabatic passage in different manners, in order to achieve particular goals. In the first paper we present a robust construction of a set of logic gates operating on a system of qubits encoded in the ro-vibrational eigenstates of an Na₂ molecule using the optical Adiabatic Population Transfer (APT) method. We demonstrate the operation of a complete universal gate-set for quantum computation on a two-qubit system with gate fidelities approaching 99.99%. Like other APT-based processes, the method is robust against substantial fluctuations in the intensity of the laser pulse. Our construction is easily scalable to dealing with a larger number of qubits. The second line of research developed from the desire to merge the robustness of an adiabatic process, as presented in the previous paper, with the speed and additional level of control available by using pulse shaping techniques of broadband pulses. Therein we develop a method of executing complete population transfers between quantum states in a piecewise manner using a series of femtosecond laser pulses. The method can be applied to a large class of problems as it benefits from the high peak powers and large spectral bandwidths afforded by femtosecond pulses. The degree of population transfer is found to be robust to a wide variation in the absolute and relative intensities, durations, and time ordering of the pulses. The method is studied in detail for atomic sodium where piecewise adiabatic population transfer, as well as the induction of Ramsey-type interferences, is demonstrated.

Text

2011-02-22

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/31599

Physics

University of British Columbia

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