Innovative Pulse Programmers for Quantum Computing Applications

Quantum computing experiments use pulse programmers to generate programmable sequences of radio frequency pulses to perform quantum logic operations and error corrections. Currently pulse programmers are often designed in-house by individual quantum computing research groups. Consequently, they have only a small number of radio frequency channels and have a limited frequency range (up to 100 – 400 MHz) that falls far short of supporting solid-state qubit research. In Phase I of this program we have developed a new pulse programmer architecture that can support both trapped ion and solid-state qubit research by taking advantage of recent innovations in wireless communications and high-performance computing industries. The major features of the architecture are: (1) extensibility to hundreds of radio frequency and arbitrary waveform channels, (2) system-wide sub-picosecond clock synchronization, (3) direct digital synthesis beyond 400 MHz with phase coherent switching, (4) cost effective radio frequency synthesizer modules up to 22 GHz, (5) high-speed (1 GS/sec) pulse envelope generation, (6) ultra-fast (1 GBytes/sec) data link for fast waveform downloading, and (7) real-time feedback and dynamic pulse sequence execution for quantum error correction. This proposal describes the design of the pulse programmer, plans to build the prototype, and demonstrate its capabilities in a real quantum computing laboratory, and strategies to apply the technology to scientific, commercial and government markets.