Qubit

In quant um comput ing, a qubit (/ˈkjuːbɪt /) or quantum bit is a basic unit of quant um informat ion—
t he quant um version of t he classic binary bit physically realized wit h a t wo-st at e device. A qubit
is a t wo-st at e (or t wo-level) quant um-mechanical syst em, one of t he simplest quant um syst ems
displaying t he peculiarit y of quant um mechanics. Examples include t he spin of t he elect ron in
which t he t wo levels can be t aken as spin up and spin down; or t he polarizat ion of a single phot on
in which t he t wo st at es can be t aken t o be t he vert ical polarizat ion and t he horizont al
polarizat ion. In a classical syst em, a bit would have t o be in one st at e or t he ot her. However,
quant um mechanics allows t he qubit t o be in a coherent superposit ion of bot h st at es
simult aneously, a propert y t hat is fundament al t o quant um mechanics and quant um comput ing.

Etymology

The coining of t he t erm qubit is at t ribut ed t o Benjamin Schumacher.[1] In t he acknowledgment s

of his 1995 paper, Schumacher st at es t hat t he t erm qubit was creat ed in jest during a
conversat ion wit h William Woot t ers.

Bit versus qubit

A binary digit , charact erized as 0 or 1, is used t o represent informat ion in classical comput ers.
When averaged over bot h of it s st at es (0,1), a binary digit can represent up t o one bit of Shannon
informat ion, where a bit is t he basic unit of informat ion.
However, in t his art icle, t he word bit is
synonymous wit h a binary digit .
In classical comput er t echnologies, a processed bit is implement ed by one of t wo levels of low
DC volt age, and whilst swit ching from one of t hese t wo levels t o t he ot her, a so-called
"forbidden zone" bet ween t wo logic levels must be passed as fast as possible, as elect rical
volt age cannot change from one level t o anot her inst ant aneously.

There are t wo possible out comes for t he measurement of a qubit —usually t aken t o have t he
value "0" and "1", like a bit or binary digit . However, whereas t he st at e of a bit can only be eit her 0
or 1, t he general st at e of a qubit according t o quant um mechanics can be a coherent
superposit ion of bot h.[2] Moreover, whereas a measurement of a classical bit would not dist urb
it s st at e, a measurement of a qubit would dest roy it s coherence and irrevocably dist urb t he
superposit ion st at e. It is possible t o fully encode one bit in one qubit . However, a qubit can hold
more informat ion, e.g., up t o t wo bit s using superdense coding.

For a syst em of n component s, a complet e descript ion of it s st at e in classical physics requires

only n bit s, whereas in quant um physics it requires 2n complex numbers (or a single point in a 2n-
dimensional vect or space).[3]

Standard representation

In quant um mechanics, t he general quant um st at e of a qubit can be represent ed by a linear

superposit ion of it s t wo ort honormal basis st at es (or basis vect ors). These vect ors are usually
denot ed as

and
. They are writ t en in t he convent ional Dirac—or "bra–ket "—
not at ion; t he and are pronounced "ket 0" and "ket 1", respect ively. These t wo ort honormal
basis st at es, , t oget her called t he comput at ional basis, are said t o span t he t wo-
dimensional linear vect or (Hilbert ) space of t he qubit .

Qubit basis st at es can also be combined t o form product basis st at es. A set of qubit s t aken
t oget her is called a quant um regist er. For example, t wo qubit s could be represent ed in a four-

dimensional linear vect or space spanned by t he following product basis st at es:

,

,
, and
.

In general, n qubit s are represent ed by a superposit ion st at e vect or in 2n dimensional Hilbert

space.

Qubit states
A pure qubit st at e is a coherent superposit ion of t he basis st at es. This means t hat a single qubit
can be described by a linear combinat ion of and :

where α and β are t he probabilit y amplit udes, t hat are bot h complex numbers. When we measure
t his qubit in t he st andard basis, according t o t he Born rule, t he probabilit y of out come wit h
value "0" is and t he probabilit y of out come wit h value "1" is . Because t he absolut e
squares of t he amplit udes equat e t o probabilit ies, it follows t hat and must be const rained
according t o t he second axiom of probabilit y t heory by t he equat ion[4]

The probabilit y amplit udes, and , encode more t han just t he probabilit ies of t he out comes of
a measurement ; t he relative phase bet ween and is for example responsible for quant um
int erference, as seen in t he t wo-slit experiment .

Bloch sphere representation

Bloch sphere representation of a qubit. The probability amplitudes for the superposition state, are

given by and .
It might , at first sight , seem t hat t here should be four degrees of freedom in
, as and are complex numbers wit h t wo degrees of freedom each.
However, one degree of freedom is removed by t he normalizat ion const raint |α| 2 + |β| 2 = 1.
This means, wit h a suit able change of coordinat es, one can eliminat e one of t he degrees of
freedom. One possible choice is t hat of Hopf coordinat es:

Addit ionally, for a single qubit t he global phase of t he st at e has no physically observable
consequences,[a] so we can arbit rarily choose α t o be real (or β in t he case t hat α is zero), leaving
just t wo degrees of freedom:

where is t he physically significant relative phase.[5][b]

The possible quant um st at es for a single qubit can be visualised using a Bloch sphere (see
pict ure). Represent ed on such a 2-sphere, a classical bit could only be at t he "Nort h Pole" or t he
"Sout h Pole", in t he locat ions where and are respect ively. This part icular choice of t he
polar axis is arbit rary, however. The rest of t he surface of t he Bloch sphere is inaccessible t o a
classical bit , but a pure qubit st at e can be represent ed by any point on t he surface. For example,
t he pure qubit st at e would lie on t he equat or of t he sphere at t he posit ive X-
axis. In t he classical limit , a qubit , which can have quant um st at es anywhere on t he Bloch sphere,
reduces t o t he classical bit , which can be found only at eit her poles.

The surface of t he Bloch sphere is a t wo-dimensional space, which represent s t he observable

st at e space of t he pure qubit st at es. This st at e space has t wo local degrees of freedom, which
can be represent ed by t he t wo angles and .

Mixed state

A pure st at e is fully specified by a single ket , a coherent superposit ion,

represent ed by a point on t he surface of t he Bloch sphere as described above. Coherence is
essent ial for a qubit t o be in a superposit ion st at e. Wit h int eract ions, quant um noise and
decoherence, it is possible t o put t he qubit in a mixed st at e, a st at ist ical combinat ion or
“incoherent mixt ure” of different pure st at es. Mixed st at es can be represent ed by point s inside
t he Bloch sphere (or in t he Bloch ball). A mixed qubit st at e has t hree degrees of freedom: t he
angles and , as well as t he lengt h of t he vect or t hat represent s t he mixed st at e.

Quant um error correct ion can be used t o maint ain t he purit y of qubit s.

Operations on qubits

There are various kinds of physical operat ions t hat can be performed on qubit s.

Quant um logic gat es, building blocks for a quant um circuit in a quant um comput er, operat e on a
set of qubit s (a regist er); mat hemat ically, t he qubit s undergo a (reversible) unit ary
t ransformat ion described by mult iplying t he quant um gat es unit ary mat rix wit h t he quant um
st at e vect or. The result from t his mult iplicat ion is a new quant um st at e.

Quant um measurement is an irreversible operat ion in which informat ion is gained about t he
st at e of a single qubit , and coherence is lost . The result of t he measurement of a single qubit
wit h t he st at e will be eit her wit h probabilit y or wit h probabilit y
. Measurement of t he st at e of t he qubit alt ers t he magnit udes of α and β. For inst ance, if
t he result of t he measurement is , α is changed t o 0 and β is changed t o t he phase fact or
no longer experiment ally accessible. If measurement is performed on a qubit t hat is
ent angled, t he measurement may collapse t he st at e of t he ot her ent angled qubit s.

Init ializat ion or re-init ializat ion t o a known value, oft en . This operat ion collapses t he
quant um st at e (exact ly like wit h measurement ). Init ializat ion t o may be implement ed
logically or physically: Logically as a measurement , followed by t he applicat ion of t he Pauli-X
gat e if t he result from t he measurement was . Physically, for example if it is a
superconduct ing phase qubit , by lowering t he energy of t he quant um syst em t o it s ground
st at e.

Sending t he qubit t hrough a quant um channel t o a remot e syst em or machine (an I/O
operat ion), pot ent ially as part of a quant um net work.

Quantum entanglement
An import ant dist inguishing feat ure bet ween qubit s and classical bit s is t hat mult iple qubit s can
exhibit quant um ent anglement . Quant um ent anglement is a nonlocal propert y of t wo or more
qubit s t hat allows a set of qubit s t o express higher correlat ion t han is possible in classical
syst ems.

The simplest syst em t o display quant um ent anglement is t he syst em of t wo qubit s. Consider,
for example, t wo ent angled qubit s in t he Bell st at e:

In t his st at e, called an equal superposition, t here are equal probabilit ies of measuring eit her
product st at e or , as . In ot her words, t here is no way t o t ell if t he first
qubit has value “0” or “1” and likewise for t he second qubit .

Imagine t hat t hese t wo ent angled qubit s are separat ed, wit h one each given t o Alice and Bob.
Alice makes a measurement of her qubit , obt aining—wit h equal probabilit ies—eit her or , i.e.,
she can now t ell if her qubit has value “0” or “1”. Because of t he qubit s' ent anglement , Bob must
now get exact ly t he same measurement as Alice. For example, if she measures a , Bob must
measure t he same, as is t he only st at e where Alice's qubit is a . In short , for t hese t wo
ent angled qubit s, what ever Alice measures, so would Bob, wit h perfect correlat ion, in any basis,
however far apart t hey may be and even t hough bot h can not t ell if t heir qubit has value “0” or “1”
— a most surprising circumst ance t hat can not be explained by classical physics.

Controlled gate to construct the Bell state

Cont rolled gat es act on 2 or more qubit s, where one or more qubit s act as a cont rol for some
specified operat ion. In part icular, t he cont rolled NOT gat e (or CNOT or CX) act s on 2 qubit s, and
performs t he NOT operat ion on t he second qubit only when t he first qubit is , and ot herwise
leaves it unchanged. Wit h respect t o t he unent angled product basis , , , , it
maps t he basis st at es as follows:

.
A common applicat ion of t he CNOT gat e is t o maximally ent angle t wo qubit s int o t he Bell
st at e. To const ruct , t he input s A (cont rol) and B (t arget ) t o t he CNOT gat e are:

and

Aft er applying CNOT, t he out put is t he Bell St at e: .

Applications

The Bell st at e forms part of t he set up of t he superdense coding, quant um t eleport at ion,
and ent angled quant um crypt ography algorit hms.

Quant um ent anglement also allows mult iple st at es (such as t he Bell st at e ment ioned above) t o
be act ed on simult aneously, unlike classical bit s t hat can only have one value at a t ime.
Ent anglement is a necessary ingredient of any quant um comput at ion t hat cannot be done
efficient ly on a classical comput er. Many of t he successes of quant um comput at ion and
communicat ion, such as quant um t eleport at ion and superdense coding, make use of
ent anglement , suggest ing t hat ent anglement is a resource t hat is unique t o quant um
comput at ion.[6] A major hurdle facing quant um comput ing, as of 2018, in it s quest t o surpass
classical digit al comput ing, is noise in quant um gat es t hat limit s t he size of quant um circuit s t hat
can be execut ed reliably.[7]

Quantum register

A number of qubit s t aken t oget her is a qubit regist er. Quant um comput ers perform calculat ions
by manipulat ing qubit s wit hin a regist er.

Qudits and qutrits

The t erm qudit denot es t he unit of quant um informat ion t hat can be realized in suit able d-level
quant um syst ems.[8] A qubit regist er t hat can be measured t o N st at es is ident ical[c] t o an N-
level qudit . A rarely used[9] synonym for qudit is quNit ,[10] since bot h d and N are frequent ly used
t o denot e t he dimension of a quant um syst em.
Qudit s are similar t o t he int eger t ypes in classical comput ing, and may be mapped t o (or realized
by) arrays of qubit s. Qudit s where t he d-level syst em is not an exponent of 2 can not be mapped
t o arrays of qubit s. It is for example possible t o have 5-level qudit s.

In 2017, scient ist s at t he Nat ional Inst it ut e of Scient ific Research const ruct ed a pair of qudit s
wit h 10 different st at es each, giving more comput at ional power t han 6 qubit s.[11]

In 2022, researchers at t he Universit y of Innsbruck succeeded in developing a universal qudit

quant um processor wit h t rapped ions.[12] In t he same year, researchers at Tsinghua Universit y's
Cent er for Quant um Informat ion implement ed t he dual-t ype qubit scheme in t rapped ion
quant um comput ers using t he same ion species.[13] Similar t o t he qubit , t he qut rit is t he unit of
quant um informat ion t hat can be realized in suit able 3-level quant um syst ems. This is analogous
t o t he unit of classical informat ion t rit of t ernary comput ers.[14]

Physical implementations

Any t wo-level quant um-mechanical syst em can be used as a qubit . Mult ilevel syst ems can be
used as well, if t hey possess t wo st at es t hat can be effect ively decoupled from t he rest (e.g.,
ground st at e and first excit ed st at e of a nonlinear oscillat or). There are various proposals.
Several physical implement at ions t hat approximat e t wo-level syst ems t o various degrees were
successfully realized. Similarly t o a classical bit where t he st at e of a t ransist or in a processor,
t he magnet izat ion of a surface in a hard disk and t he presence of current in a cable can all be
used t o represent bit s in t he same comput er, an event ual quant um comput er is likely t o use
various combinat ions of qubit s in it s design.

The following is an incomplet e list of physical implement at ions of qubit s, and t he choices of
basis are by convent ion only.
 Information
Physical suppor t Name
suppor t

Polarizat ion Polarizat ion

Horizont al Vert ical
encoding of light

Number of
Phot on Fock st at e Vacuum Single phot on st at e
phot ons

Time-bin
Time of arrival Early Lat e
encoding

Coherent st at e of Amplit ude-

Squeezed light Quadrat ure Phase-squeezed st at e
light squeezed st at e

Elect ronic spin Spin Up Down

Elect rons
Elect ron number Charge No elect ron One elect ron

Nuclear spin
Nucleus addressed Spin Up Down
t hrough NMR

Opt ical lat t ices At omic spin Spin Up Down

Charged
Uncharged
Superconduct ing superconduct ing island
Charge superconduct ing
charge qubit (Q=2e, one ext ra Cooper
island (Q=0)
Josephson pair)

junct ion Superconduct ing Clockwise Count erclockwise

Current
flux qubit current current

Superconduct ing
Energy Ground st at e First excit ed st at e
phase qubit

Singly charged Elect ron Elect ron on left

Charge Elect ron on right dot
quant um dot pair localizat ion dot

Quant um dot Dot spin Spin Down Up

Depends on
Gapped
Non-abelian Braiding of specific Depends on specific
t opological
anyons Excit at ions t opological t opological syst em
syst em
syst em

Vibrat ional Vibrat ional Phonon/vibron superposit ion

qubit [15] st at es superposit ion

van der Waals Elect ron Elect ron on

Charge Elect ron on t op sheet
het erost ruct ure [16] localizat ion bot t om sheet

Qubit storage

In 2008 a t eam of scient ist s from t he U.K. and U.S. report ed t he first relat ively long (1.75
seconds) and coherent t ransfer of a superposit ion st at e in an elect ron spin "processing" qubit t o
a nuclear spin "memory" qubit .[17] This event can be considered t he first relat ively consist ent
quant um dat a st orage, a vit al st ep t owards t he development of quant um comput ing. In 2013, a
modificat ion of similar syst ems (using charged rat her t han neut ral donors) has dramat ically
ext ended t his t ime, t o 3 hours at very low t emperat ures and 39 minut es at room t emperat ure.[18]
Room t emperat ure preparat ion of a qubit based on elect ron spins inst ead of nuclear spin was
also demonst rat ed by a t eam of scient ist s from Swit zerland and Aust ralia.[19] An increased
coherence of qubit s is being explored by researchers who are t est ing t he limit at ions of a Ge hole
spin-orbit qubit st ruct ure.[20]

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

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