Quantum states are highly susceptible to noise originating from within quantum device hardware and from unwanted system-environment interaction leading to decoherence, the loss of quantum information. Robust control of quantum systems in the presence of noise is a significant challenge that has received decades of attention. The goal of dynamical error suppression is to implement a unitary on the system of interest with the highest fidelity possible. When the desired unitary is the identity, the approach is called dynamical decoupling (DD), and when the desired unitary is not the identity, the approach is called a composite pulse (NMR literature) or dynamically corrected gate (DCG, quantum computing literature). In this presentation we will review a completed project that advances the state of DD and introduce two in-progress projects which will advance the state of robust DCG construction and robust algorithmic execution, respectively.
Ethan Hickman is a Ph.D. student in computer science working with Prof. Xiaodi Wu in the Quantum Institute for Computer Science (QuICS) at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD). He holds a B.S. in Computer Engineering and minor in physics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Ethan's research focuses on the development of robust quantum error suppression techniques implementable on existing quantum hardware under realistic control constraints. Here, quantum error suppression refers to approaches to quantum control specifically designed to reduce the impacts of various noise sources that are otherwise deleterious to accurate storage and processing of quantum information. In collaboration with others in QuICS, Ethan has also contributed to research in quantum algorithms for optimization and to novel robust quantum characterization, control, and calibration techniques. With support from the Department of Computer Science and Institute for Robust Quantum Simulation, Ethan and Prof. Wu developed the first quantum programming course offered at UMD, Introduction to Quantum Software Laboratory (CMSC 437).
Outside of his work, Ethan enjoys playing music (cello and guitar) and photography (wildlife and film).