Observation of measurement-induced quantum phases in a trapped-ion quantum computer

TitleObservation of measurement-induced quantum phases in a trapped-ion quantum computer
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2021
AuthorsNoel, C, Niroula, P, Zhu, D, Risinger, A, Egan, L, Biswas, D, Cetina, M, Gorshkov, AV, Gullans, M, Huse, DA, Monroe, C
Date Published6/10/2021
Abstract

Many-body open quantum systems balance internal dynamics against decoherence from interactions with an environment. Here, we explore this balance via random quantum circuits implemented on a trapped ion quantum computer, where the system evolution is represented by unitary gates with interspersed projective measurements. As the measurement rate is varied, a purification phase transition is predicted to emerge at a critical point akin to a fault-tolerent threshold. We probe the "pure" phase, where the system is rapidly projected to a deterministic state conditioned on the measurement outcomes, and the "mixed" or "coding" phase, where the initial state becomes partially encoded into a quantum error correcting codespace. We find convincing evidence of the two phases and show numerically that, with modest system scaling, critical properties of the transition clearly emerge.

URLhttps://arxiv.org/abs/2106.05881