Magic state distillation and gate compilation in quantum algorithms for quantum chemistry

Journal Article (Review;Journal)

Quantum algorithms for quantum chemistry map the dynamics of electrons in a molecule to the dynamics of a coupled spin system. To reach chemical accuracy for interesting molecules, a large number of quantum gates must be applied which implies the need for quantum error correction and fault-tolerant quantum computation. Arbitrary fault-tolerant operations can be constructed from a small, universal set of fault-tolerant operations by gate compilation. Quantum chemistry algorithms are compiled by decomposing the dynamics of the coupled spin-system using a Trotter formula, synthesizing the decomposed dynamics using Clifford operations and single-qubit rotations, and finally approximating the single-qubit rotations by a sequence of fault-tolerant single-qubit gates. Certain fault-tolerant gates rely on the preparation of specific single-qubit states referred to as magic states. As a result, gate compilation and magic state distillation are critical for solving quantum chemistry problems on a quantum computer. We review recent progress that has improved the efficiency of gate compilation and magic state distillation by orders of magnitude.

Full Text

Duke Authors

Cited Authors

  • Trout, CJ; Brown, KR

Published Date

  • October 1, 2015

Published In

Volume / Issue

  • 115 / 19

Start / End Page

  • 1296 - 1304

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1097-461X

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0020-7608

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1002/qua.24856

Citation Source

  • Scopus