Quantum computers, which operate leveraging quantum mechanics effects, could soon outperform traditional computers in some advanced optimization and simulation tasks. Most quantum computing systems developed so far store and process information using qubits (quantum units of information that can exist in a superposition of two states).
In recent years, however, some physicists and engineers have been trying to develop quantum computers based on qudits, multi-level units of quantum information that can hold more than two states.
Qudit-based quantum systems could store more information and perform computations more efficiently than qubit-based systems, yet they are also more prone to decoherence.
Decoherence is a loss of quantum information resulting from interactions between quantum units of information and their surrounding environment. Devising reliable strategies to reduce decoherence is a long-standing goal within the fields of quantum physics and quantum computing.
Researchers at University of Southern California (USC) and University of California-Berkeley (UC Berkeley) have developed new protocols for the dynamical decoupling (DD) of qudit-based systems, which could reduce decoherence in these systems. These protocols, outlined in a paper published in Physical Review Letters, were implemented and experimentally verified on a superconducting transmon processor.
"Multi-level quantum systems, or qudits, hold untapped potential for improving quantum information processing and quantum simulation," Daniel Lidar and Irfan Siddiqi, co-senior authors of the paper, told Phys.org.
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