Instrumentation for quantum computers

Quantum computation poses challenging engineering and basic physics issues for the control of nanoscale systems. In particular, experimental realizations of up to seven-qubit NMR quantum computers have acutely illustrated how quantum circuits require extremely precise control instrumentation for pulsed excitation. In this thesis, we develop two general-purpose, low-cost pulse programmers and two Class E power amplifiers, designed for precise control of qubits and complex pulse excitation. The first-generation pulse programmer has timing resolutions of 235 ns, while the second-generation one has resolutions of 10 ns. The Class E power amplifier has [mu]s transient response times, a high quality-factor, and a small form factor. The verification of the pulse programmer and the Class E power amplifier is demonstrated using a customized nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) spectrom- eter, which incorporates both devices. The two devices control the generation of RF pulses used in NQR experiments on paradichlorobenzene (C₆H₄C₁₂) and sodium nitrite (NaNO₂). The NQR signals originating from ¹⁴N in sodium nitrite and from ³⁵Cl in paradichlorobenzene are measured using the NQR spectrometer. The pulse programmer and the Class E power amplifier represent first steps towards development of practical NMR quantum computers.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2004

Author dc:creator

• Huang, Wei-Han, 1979-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Isaac L. Chuang.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/30104

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/30104