BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

Aspects of the present disclosure generally relate to waveform or signal generators, and more specifically, to scalable and programmable coherent waveform generators implemented for quantum information processing (QIP) systems.

Trapped atoms (or atomic ions) are one of the leading implementations for quantum information processing, where superconducting devices is another possible implementation. Atomic-based qubits can be used as quantum memories, as quantum gates in quantum computers and simulators, and can act as nodes for quantum communication networks. These atoms or atomic ions are at least partially controlled during various operations in a QIP system, including the performance of quantum algorithms/calculations and quantum simulations, by having modulated optical beams applied to them. These optical beams are in turn at least partially controlled by radio frequency (RF) signals provided to acousto-optic modulators (AOMs) that are used to modulate the optical beams. It is important that the electronics that drive the RF signals are well synchronized and have tightly controlled phase relationships to ensure correct operation across the multiple qubits in the system. When the number of trapped atoms or atomic ions that are available in the QIP system scales up (e.g., increases), the QIP system needs to be able to maintain the synchronization and phase relationships of the RF signals even as more electronics are needed to handle additional RF signals and optical beams for the additional number of trapped atoms or atomic ions.

Moreover, these electronics need to operate in an efficient manner to ensure that the RF signals have the appropriate waveforms that are applied to the trapped atoms or atomic ions using the optical beams. Since the waveforms of the RF signals are typically generated by digital-to-analog converters (DACs), it is therefore desirable that these DACs are configured not only for scalability but also to operate in a manner that overcomes latencies such as those introduced by having the waveform information be provided by streaming from a network host.

Accordingly, it is desirable to develop and implement techniques that allow for the scalability and programmability of coherent waveform or signal generators (e.g., DDSs) for use in different types of systems, including QIP systems.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

The following presents a simplified summary of one or more aspects in order to provide a basic understanding of such aspects. This summary is not an extensive overview of all contemplated aspects, and is intended to neither identify key or critical elements of all aspects nor delineate the scope of any or all aspects. Its purpose is to present some concepts of one or more aspects in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later.

The disclosure describes techniques related to scaling and programming of waveform or signal generators (e.g., direct digital synthesizers (DDSs)). More specifically, the disclosure describes techniques related to scaling and programming of waveform or signal generators for quantum information processing (QIP) systems.

In an aspect of the disclosure, a network is described for synchronizing a plurality of digital-to-analog converter (DAC) cards in a QIP system. The network includes the DAC cards, where each DAC card has a clock divider/replicator having an input synchronization (SYNC) pin, a digital logic component, and one or more DAC components, wherein each of the outputs of the DAC components is used to control one or more optical beams for a separate qubit of the QIP system. The network further includes a first distribution network to provide a clock signal to the clock divider/replicator in each of the plurality of DAC cards, and a second distribution network to provide a central start signal to each of the plurality of DAC cards. For each of the plurality of DAC cards, the central start signal is used by the digital logic component in the DAC card to assert the input SYNC pin of the clock divider/replicator of the DAC card in response to the central start signal being asserted unless the central start signal is masked by the digital logic component.

In another aspect of the disclosure, a DAC card is described for controlling qubits in a QIP system. The DAC card may include a digital logic component having one or more direct digital synthesizers (DDSs) for each output of the DAC card, wherein each output controls one or more optical beams for a separate qubit of the QIP system, and a pair of tables that collectively provide commands to the one or more DDSs, a first table of the pair of tables being a function table and the second table of the pair of tables being an instruction table, the function table defining a parametrized function to be generated by the one or more DDSs and the instructions table defining subroutine calls to the function table or conditional loop instructions for the function table. The DAC card may further include one or more DAC components, where each DAC component providing one or more of the outputs of the DAC card, and where each DAC component receiving the parametrized function generated by the one or more DDSs to generate the one or more outputs, wherein the parametrize function is in digital form and the one or more outputs are in analog form.

Described herein are methods, apparatuses, and computer-readable storage medium for various aspects associated with the implementation of the techniques for scaling and programming of waveform or signal generators.

