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Tuesday, April 30, 2024 3:00 pm - 4:00 pm EDT (GMT -04:00)

Two Prover Perfect Zero Knowledge for MIP*

CS/MATH Seminar - Kieran Mastel from IQC ZOOM + IN PERSON

Quantum-Nano Centre, 200 University Ave West, Room QNC 1201 Waterloo, ON CA N2L 3G1

The recent MIP*=RE theorem of Ji, Natarajan, Vidick, Wright, and Yuen shows that the complexity class MIP* of multiprover proof systems with entangled provers contains all recursively enumerable languages. In prior work Grilo, Slofstra, and Yuen showed (via a technique called simulatable codes) that every language in MIP* has a perfect zero knowledge (PZK) MIP* protocol.  The MIP*=RE theorem uses two-prover one-round proof systems, and hence such systems are complete for MIP*. However, the construction in Grilo, Slofstra, and Yuen uses six provers, and there is no obvious way to get perfect zero knowledge with two provers via simulatable codes. This leads to a natural question: are there two-prover PZK-MIP* protocols for all of MIP*?

In this talk we answer the question in the affirmative. For the proof, we use a new method based on a key consequence of the MIP*=RE theorem, which is that every MIP* protocol can be turned into a family of boolean constraint system (BCS) nonlocal games. This makes it possible to work with MIP* protocols as boolean constraint systems, and in particular allows us to use a variant of a construction due to Dwork, Feige, Kilian, Naor, and Safra which gives a classical MIP protocol for 3SAT with perfect zero knowledge. To show quantum soundness of this classical construction, we develop a toolkit for analyzing quantum soundness of reductions between BCS games, which we expect to be useful more broadly. This talk is based on joint work with William Slofstra

Wednesday, May 1, 2024 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm EDT (GMT -04:00)

IQC Student Seminar Featuring Alexander Frei

Fermionic encodings: BK Superfast, ternary trees, and even fermionic encodings

Quantum-Nano Centre, 200 University Ave West, Room QNC 1201 Waterloo, ON CA N2L 3G1

We give an introduction to fermionic encoding schemes applicable in the context of quantum simulation of fermionic systems in condensed matter physics, lattice gauge theories, and in quantum chemistry.
 
For this we will focus on the circuit depth overhead for a variety of constructions of fermionic encodings, more precisely in terms of their weight given by the choice of encoding within the Pauli group, and as such also in terms of their circuit depth due to multi-qubit rotation gates.
 
In particular we will introduce the Fenwick tree encoding due to Bravyi and Kitaev, as well as an optimal all-to-all encoding scheme in terms of ternary trees due to Jiang et al, and put those in perspective with the well-known fermionic encoding given by the Jordan-Wigner transformation. Such encoding schemes of fermionic systems with all-to-all connectivity become relevant especially in the context of molecular simulation in quantum chemistry.
 
We then further discuss the encoding of the algebra of even fermionic operators, which becomes particularly handy in the estimation of ground state energies for complex materials and their phase transitions in condensed matter physics.
 
In particular, we will introduce here the so-called Bravyi--Kitaev superfast encoding for the algebra of even fermionic operators, as well as the compact encoding due to Klassen and Derby as a particular variant thereof. These encoding schemes require the further use of stabilizer subspaces and so of fault-tolerant encoding schemes for their practical implementation for the purpose of quantum simulation. We then finish with a further improvement, the so-called supercompact encoding, due to Chen and Xu. In particular, we will focus here on its code parameters (more precisely its encoding rate and code distance) and put those in perspective with the previous compact encoding due to Klassen and Derby.
 
This talk is meant as an expository talk on available encoding schemes for fermionic systems, together with their best practices for the purpose of quantum simulations.

Tuesday, May 14, 2024 - Thursday, May 16, 2024 (all day)

ETSI/IQC Quantum Safe Cryptography Conference 2024

ETSI and the Institute for Quantum Computing are pleased to announce the 10th ETSI/IQC Quantum Safe Cryptography Conference, taking place in Singapore on May 14-16, 2024. The event will be hosted by the Centre for Quantum Technologies, National University of Singapore.

This event was designed for members of the business, government, and research communities with a stake in cryptographic standardization to facilitate the knowledge exchange and collaboration required to transition cyber infrastructures and business practices to make them safe in an era with quantum computers. It aims to showcase both the most recent developments from industry and government and cutting-edge potential solutions coming out of the most recent research.

Wednesday, May 22, 2024 8:30 am - 9:30 am EDT (GMT -04:00)

Paul Oh PhD Thesis Defense

Entangled photon source for a long-distance quantum key distribution

Remote

Satellite-based Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) leverages quantum principles to offer unparalleled security and scalability for global quantum networks, making it a promising solution for next-generation secure communication systems. However, many technical challenges need to be overcome. This thesis focuses on theoretical modeling and experimental validation for long-distance QKD, as well as the development and testing of the quantum source necessary for its implementation, to take strides towards realization. While various approaches exist for demonstrating long-distance QKD, here we focus on discussing the approach of sending entangled photon pairs from an optical quantum ground station (OQGS), one through free-space on one end (uplink), and the other one through ground on the other end. This is also because our research team at the Quantum Photonics Laboratory (QPL), collaborating with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), is planning to demonstrate Canada's first ground-to-space QKD in the near future. The mission is called Quantum Encryption and Science Satellite (QEYSSat) mission, which is planned to deploy a Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite for the purpose for demonstrating QKD.

In the thesis, we first discuss the considerations relevant to establishing a long-distance quantum link. Since a substantial amount of research has already been conducted on optical fiber communication through ground-based methods, our focus is specifically directed towards ground-to-space (i.e., free space) quantum links. One of the most concerning aspects in free- space quantum communication is signal attenuation caused by environmental factors. We particularly examine pointing errors that arise from satellite tracking systems. To investigate this further, we designed a tracking system employing a specific tracking algorithm and conducted tracking tests to validate its accuracy, using the International Space Station (ISS) as a test subject. Our findings illustrate the potentially significant impact of inaccurate ground station-to- satellite alignment on link attenuation, according to our theoretical model. Given that photons serve as the signals for the QKD, we also investigate the background light noise resulting from light pollution, which is another concerning aspect, as it could worsen the link attenuation. Conducting light pollution measurements around our Optical Quantum Ground Station (OQGS), we estimate the minimum photon pair rate required for successful QKD, taking into account both the obtained values from these measurements and the expected level of link loss.

Having determined the minimum photon pair rate and other requirements for the long-distance QKD, we proceed to fully elaborate on the development process of the Entangled Photon Source (EPS), which is one of the crucial devices for demonstrating entanglement-based QKD. We use a nonlinear crystal for generating photon pairs, and experimentally obtain the photon pair rate produced from it. Here, the thesis also includes a detailed explanation of the customization process for the crystal oven. Next, we implement a beam displacer scheme along with the Sagnac loop scheme to create a robust interferometer, responsible for creating quantum entanglement. In addition, we demonstrate a novel approach to effectively compensate for the major weaknesses of the interferometer, namely spatial and temporal walk-offs. Finally, we conduct the entanglement test and demonstrate its suitability for long-distance QKD. As a side project, we

investigate the performance degradation of nonlinear crystals in response to proton radiation, exploring the potential of deploying the EPS in space for downlink QKD in the future. This thesis provides a comprehensive analysis and testing of elements required for long-distance QKD, contributing to the advancement of future global quantum networks.

Supervisor: Thomas Jennewein

Monday, May 27, 2024 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm EDT (GMT -04:00)

Semiconductor spin qubits for quantum networking

IQC Colloquium - Akira Oiwa, Osaka University

Quantum-Nano Centre, 200 University Ave West, Room QNC 1501 Waterloo, ON CA N2L 3G1

Semiconductor spin qubits are well recognized as a promising platform for scalable fault-tolerant quantum computers (FTQCs) because of relatively long spin coherence time in solid state devices and high-electrical tuneability of the quantum states [1]. In addition, semiconductors have a great potential for applications in quantum communications because of their abilities in optical devices. Therefore, especially in quantum repeater applications, the semiconductor spin qubits provide a route to efficiently connect qubit modules or quantum computers via optical fibers and construct global quantum networks, contributing to realize secure quantum communications and distributed quantum computing [2]. In this talk, we present the physical process enabling the quantum state conversion from single photon polarization states to single electron spin states in gate-defined quantum dots (QDs) and its experimental demonstration [3]. As recent significant achievements, we discuss that the enhancement of the conversion efficiency from a single photon to a single spin in a quantum dot using photonic nanostructures [4]. Finally, we present a perspective of high conversion efficiency quantum repeater operating directly at a telecom wavelength based on semiconductor spin qubits.

[1] G. Burkard et al., Rev. Mod. Phys. 95, 025003 (2023). [2] A. Oiwa et al., J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 86, 011008 (2017); L. Gaudreau et al., Semicond. Sci. Technol. 32, 093001 (2017). [3] T. Fujita et al., Nature commun. 10, 2991 (2019); K. Kuroyama et al., Phys. Rev. B 10, 2991 (2019). [4] R. Fukai et al., Appl. Phys. Express 14, 125001 (2021); S. Ji et al., Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 62, SC1018 (2023).