Date of Award
Fall 2015
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department
Chemistry
First Advisor
Babikov, Dmitri
Second Advisor
Reid, Scott
Third Advisor
Timerghazin, Qadir
Abstract
For practical realization of quantum information processing we need a quantum system that provides reliable preparation of the initial state, high-fidelity quantum gate operations, error tolerance, readout of the result of quantum computation and scalability of the system to increase the number of qubits. In this dissertation we show how these requirements can be addressed for molecular quantum computer. For computational study of quantum information processing with molecules we employ thiophosgene (SCCl2) molecule that has been used as a test system for quantum control experiments [Mol. Phys. 105, 1999 (2007)]. We investigate the gateway scheme of control in which transitions between the vibrational states that encode qubits are only allowed through the intermediate “gateway” state in the B electronic state. This scheme of control provides reliable preparation of the initial qubit state and allows using UV/vis laser pulses. We demonstrate that high-fidelity quantum gates are possible to achieve in molecular quantum computer. The optimal control theory is employed to obtain a shape of laser pulse that performs CNOT gate with ~0.9999 fidelity. Analysis of frequency profile of the optimal pulse shows that preparation of the high-fidelity computational pulse requires only 64 frequency channels. Error tolerance of the computational pulse is studied by modifying amplitudes and phases of frequency components. It is shown that gate fidelity remains high after small modifications are introduced to the optimal pulse. The scheme of readout of quantum information using quantum beat spectroscopy is proposed. The quantum beat signal is obtained from excitation of the final superposition of the qubit states to a readout state in the B electronic state with a time-delayed pulse. We find that fitting the quantum beat signal with a standard fitting expression produces a phase error and propose a new accurate expression that includes phase correction term. The system of two atomic ions trapped in a double-well potential is also studied as a first step towards scalable quantum computation with trapped molecular ions. The rigorous computational treatment of the system provides explanation of the vibrational energy transfer between the ions in terms of wave packet dynamics in the accurate asymmetric potential.