Quantum Computation

By

Dr. Jayadev Pattar

Quantum Computation
➢ LOW-dimensional structures.
Quantum wires [one dimensional].
Quantum dots [zero dimensional].
➢ Classical bits and Quantum bit [Qubit].
➢ Qubit as a two-level system.
➢ Single qubit logic gates.
The substances having size less than 100 nm are called nanostructures or nanomaterials and
are classified in to three categories depending on the electron confinement.

Nano structures

Quantum well Quantum wire Quantum dot

Nano structures are Low-dimensional structures

 LOW-dimensional structures
• Three-dimensional (3D) structure or bulk structure:

➢No quantization of the particle motion occurs,

i.e., the particle is free, it can move in all the three
(X,Y,Z)directions

• Two-dimensional (2D) structure or quantum well:

➢Quantization of the particle motion occurs in one direction,

while the particle is free to move in the other two directions.
➢Used to prepare LASER diodes, High electron mobility
transistors and heterostructure FET.
• One-dimensional (1D) structure or quantum wire:

➢Quantization occurs in two directions, leading to free movement along only one
direction.
➢Used as junctions

• Zero-dimensional (0D) structure or quantum dot (sometimes called “quantum box”):

➢Quantization occurs in all three directions.

➢Used in preparation of solar cells, bio sensors, quantum computations, LASER,
Flat panels.
 Quantum Wire

➢ A standard quantum well layer can be patterned

with electron-beam lithography, and etched to
leave a free standing strip of quantum well
material (in this case, GaAlAs).
➢ Any charge carriers are still confined along the
hetero structure growth (z-) axis, as they were
in the quantum well.
➢ But in addition (provided the strip is narrow
enough) they are now confined along an
additional direction, either the x- or the y- axis,
depending on the lithography.
Quantum Dot

Quantum dots can again be formed by further lithography and etching, e.g. if a quantum well
sample is etched to leave pillars rather than wires, then a charge carrier can become confined
in all three dimensions, as shown in Figure.
The Solvay Conference, probably the most intelligent picture
ever taken, 1927
Introduction to quantum
computer

▪ “I think I can safely say that nobody understands

quantum mechanics” - Feynman
▪ 1982 - Feynman proposed the idea of creating
machines based on the laws of quantum mechanics
instead of the laws of classical physics.
“[T]he atoms or elementary
particles themselves are not real;
they form a world of potentialities
or possibilities rather than one of
things or facts.”
― Werner Heisenberg
 What is a quantum computer ?

A quantum computer is a machine

that performs calculations based on the
laws of quantum mechanics, which is
the behavior of particles at the sub-
atomic level.
Classical computing vs Quantum computing

• Classical computers are built upon the concept of digital logic and bits.
• A bit is simply an object, which can take a state – either 0 or 1.
• In computers this concept is usually achieved by capacitor, which can be charged (1) or
uncharged (0).
• A computer encodes information in a series of bits and performs operations on them
using circuits called logic gates.
• Logic gates simply apply a given rule to a bit. Once the operations are finished, the
information regarding the output can be decoded from the bits.
Quantum computing:
➢ in classical computers the operations are limited to either 0 or 1 state.

➢ Quantum systems can exist in a superposition of states.

➢ The quantum counterpart to the bit, the quantum bit (qubit), can have two
values as well, |0> and |1> ( | > is called ket notation, and was introduced
by the great Paul Dirac).

➢ But quantum systems can also be in any state in between, for example, 50% of
|0> and 50% of |1> [superposition] of states].

➢ If we have two qubits, we have four special states |00>, |01>, |10> and |11>.
and combinations of all the above.
 ➢ Like in the case of classical bits, scientists and engineers have designed
quantum gates, which perform operations on qubits.
➢ Circuits can be designed which carry out operations on families of qubits.
➢ More interestingly, qubits can also be entangled, leading to mysterious
connections between these objects.

What is entanglement?
Researchers can generate pairs of qubits that are “entangled,”
which means the two members of a pair exist in a single
quantum state. Changing the state of one of the qubits will
instantaneously change the state of the other one in a
predictable way. This happens even if they are separated by
very long distances.
 Classical Bits and Quantum Bits [Qubits]
A classical bit is a building block of classical computation devices, and bit has only one
state – either 0 or 1.

A Qubits has three states, either |0> or |1>or α |0> + β |1>, where α|0> + β |1> is the
superpositions states or linear combinations of states of |0> and |1> with |α|2 + |β|2 = 1.
α and β are probability amplitudes.
Note:

1. Notation like “| >” is called the “ket” or Dirac notation.

2. |ψ|= α|0> + β|1> is a quantum state, The numbers α and β are complex numbers. The state
of a qubit is a vector in a two-dimensional complex vector space. The special states |0> and |1>
are known as computational basis states, and form an orthonormal basis for this vector space.
How to identify a state whether it is 1 or 0.
We can examine a bit to determine whether it is in the state 0 or 1. For example, computers do this
all the time when they retrieve the contents of their memory.

Rather remarkably, we cannot examine a qubit to determine its quantum state, that is, the values
of α and β.

Instead, quantum mechanics tells us that we can only acquire much more restricted information
about the quantum state. When we measure a qubit we get either the result 0, with probability |α|2,
or the result 1, with probability |β|2.

Naturally, |α|2 + |β|2 = 1, since the probabilities must sum to one.

Geometrically, we can interpret this as the condition that the qubit’s state be normalized to length
1. Thus, in general a qubit’s state is a unit vector in a two-dimensional complex vector space.
The ability of a qubit to be in a superposition state runs counter to our ‘common sense’ understanding of the physical world
around us. A classical bit is like a coin: either heads or tails up. For imperfect coins, there may be intermediate states like
having it balanced on an edge, but those can be disregarded in the ideal case. By contrast, a qubit can exist in a continuum
of states between |0 and |1 – until it is observed. Let us emphasize again that when a qubit is measured, it only ever gives ‘0’
or ‘1’ as the measurement result – probabilistically. For example, a qubit can be in the state

1 2
which, when measured, gives the result 0 fifty percent (| | ) of the time, and the
2
result 1 fifty percent of the time. We will return often to this state, which is sometimes denoted |+>.
 Representation of Data - Qubits
A bit of data is represented by a single atom that is in one of two states denoted by |0> and |1>. A single
bit of this form is known as a qubit.

A physical implementation of a qubit could use the two energy levels of an atom. An excited state
representing |1> and a ground state representing |0>.

Nuclear spin = orientation of atom’s

nucleus in magnetic field.
 = |0>,  = |1>.
Photons in a cavity.
No photon = |0>, one photon = |1>

State |0> + |1>

QUANTUM GATES

Quantum gates are like classical gates, but do not have a degenerate output.
i.e. Their original input state can be derived from their output state, uniquely.
They must be reversible.

This means that a deterministic computation can be performed on a

quantum computer only if it is reversible. Luckily, it has been shown that any
deterministic computation can be made reversible.
Difference between Bits and Qubits in Quantum Computing
Bits Quantum Computing
The device computes by manipulating those bits The device computes by manipulating those bits with the
with the help of logical gates (AND, OR, NOT). help of quantum logic gates.
A classical computer has a memory made up of A qubits (quantum bits) can hold a one, a zero or crucially a
bits where each bit hold either a one or zero. superposition of these.
Bits are used in classical computers. Qubits(Quantum bits) are use in quantum computer
Information is stored in bits, which take the Information is stored in quantum bits, or qbits. A qbit can be
discrete values 0 and 1. in states labelled |0} and |1}, but it can also be in a
superposition of these states, a|0} + b|1}, where a and b are
complex numbers. If we think of the state of a qbit as a
vector, then superposition of states is just vector addition.
For example, if storing one number takes 64 bits, For example, for every extra qbit you get, you can store twice
then storing N numbers takes N times 64 bits. as many numbers. For example, with 3 qbits, you get
coefficients for |000}, |001}, |010}, |011}, |100}, |101},
|110} and |111}.
Bits are slow. Qubits are faster.
Its circuit behaviour based on classical physics. Its circuit behaviour based on quantum mechanics.
Operations on Qubits - Reversible Logic

Due to the nature of quantum physics, the destruction of information in a gate will
cause heat to be evolved which can destroy the superposition of qubits.

Ex.
Input Output
The AND Gate A B C In these 3 cases, information is
0 0 0 being destroyed
A
C 0 1 0
B 1 0 0
1 1 1

This type of gate cannot be used. We must use Quantum Gates.

Quantum Gates - Controlled NOT

A gate which operates on two qubits is called a controlled-not (CN) gate. If the bit on the control line is 1,
invert the bit on the target line.

A - Target A’ Truth table

Input Output
A B A’ B’
0 0 0 0
Or
0 1 1 1 →→
B - Control B’
1 0 1 0
1 1 0 1

Note: The CN gate has a similar behavior to the XOR gate with some extra
information to make it reversible.
 Quantum Gates - Controlled Controlled NOT (CCN)

A gate which operates on three qubits is called a controlled controlled NOT (CCN)

gate. If the bits on both of the control lines is 1,then the target bit is inverted.
Truth table
Input Output
A B C A’ B’ C’
A - Target A’ 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 1 0 0 1

B - Control 1 B’
0 1 0 0 1 0
0 1 1 1 1 1
1 0 0 1 0 0
C - Control 2 C’ 1 0 1 1 0 1
1 1 0 1 1 0
1 1 1 0 1 1
A Universal Quantum gate
The CCN gate has been shown to be a universal reversible logic gate as it can be
used as a NAND gate. Truth table Home work
Note: you should know NAND gate
Input Output working before analyzing this gate.

A B C A’ B’ C’
A - Target A’
0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 1 0 0 1
0 1 0 0 1 0
B - Control 1 B’
0 1 1 1 1 1
1 0 0 1 0 0
1 0 1 1 0 1
C - Control 2 C’ 1 1 0 1 1 0
1 1 1 0 1 1

When our target input is 1, our target output is a result of a NAND of B and C.
Single qubit logic gates - Pauli’s x, y and z gate

Note : |0 > In terms of matrix is 1

Pauli’s X gate Pauli’s X 0
matrix |1 > In terms of matrix is 0
1

1 0 1 1 0.1 + 1.0 0
If i/p is |0 > ➔ X = = = = |1 >
0 1 0 0 1.1 + 0.0 1
Truth table 0 0 1 0 0.0 + 1.1 1
If i/p is |1 > ➔ X = = = = |0 >
1 1 0 1 1.0 + 0.1 0
Similarly

Pauli’s Y gate Pauli’s Y matrix Pauli’s Z gate Pauli’s Z matrix

For students to analyze For students to analyze

Y Z
Single qubit logic gate - Hadamard
Simplest gate involves one qubit and is called a hadamard gate (also known as a square-root of
NOT gate) used to put qubits into superposition. A Hadamard gate takes a bit in a 0 or 1 state,
and puts it into an exactly equal superposition, with a 50% chance of collapsing into a 1 or 0
when measured.
H H

State |0> State |0> + |1> State |0>

One H gate out put is a superposition state, If we apply the gate again, the qubit restores to its original value.

|0> ➔ H ➔ ➔ ➔ |0>

|1> ➔ H ➔ ➔ ➔ |1>