Semiconductor adiabatic qubits

US9530873B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• Sandia Corporation · US

Inventors

• Malcolm S. Carroll · Albuquerque, US
• Wayne Witzel · Albuquerque, US
• Noah Tobias Jacobson · Albuquerque, US
• Anand Ganti · Albuquerque, US
• Andrew J. Landahl · Albuquerque, US
• Michael Lilly · Albuquerque, US
• Khoi Thi Nguyen · Albuquerque, US
• Nathaniel Bishop · Albuquerque, US
• Stephen M. Carr · Albuquerque, US
• Ezra Bussmann · Albuquerque, US
• Erik M. Nielsen · Albuquerque, US
• James Ewers Levy · Albuquerque, US
• Robin J. Blume-Kohout · Albuquerque, US
• Rajib Rahman · West Lafayette, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Oct 15, 2013
• Grant date: Dec 27, 2016
• Expiry date: Aug 2, 2034

Classification

• Technology area (CPC H): Electricity
• CPC primary: H10D64/311
• WIPO field: Computer technology
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A quantum computing device that includes a plurality of semiconductor adiabatic qubits is described herein. The qubits are programmed with local biases and coupling terms between qubits that represent a problem of interest. The qubits are initialized by way of a tuneable parameter, a local tunnel coupling within each qubit, such that the qubits remain in a ground energy state, and that initial state is represented by the qubits being in a superposition of |0> and |1> states. The parameter is altered over time adiabatically or such that relaxation mechanisms maintain a large fraction of ground state occupation through decreasing the tunnel coupling barrier within each qubit with the appropriate schedule. The final state when tunnel coupling is effectively zero represents the solution state to the problem represented in the |0> and |1> basis, which can be accurately read at each qubit location.