Impact of Unreliable Devices on Stability of Quantum Computations

Samudra Dasgupta, Travis Humble

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices are valuable platforms for testing the tenets of quantum computing, but these devices are susceptible to errors arising from de-coherence, leakage, cross-talk, and other sources of noise. This raises concerns regarding the stability of results when using NISQ devices since strategies for mitigating errors generally require well-characterized and stationary error models. Here, we quantify the reliability of NISQ devices by assessing the necessary conditions for generating stable results within a given tolerance. We use similarity metrics derived from device characterization data to derive and validate bounds on the stability of a 5-qubit implementation of the Bernstein-Vazirani algorithm. Simulation experiments conducted with noise data from IBM washington, spanning January 2022 to April 2023, revealed that the reliability metric fluctuated between 41% and 92%. This variation significantly surpasses the maximum allowable threshold of 2.2% needed for stable outcomes. Consequently, the device proved unreliable for consistently reproducing the statistical mean in the context of the Bernstein-Vazirani circuit.

Original languageEnglish
Article number22
JournalACM Transactions on Quantum Computing
Volume5
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 10 2024

Funding

This material is based upon work supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, National Quantum Information Science Research Centers, Quantum Science Center.

Keywords

  • computational stability
  • device reliability
  • Quantum computing

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