Demonstration of a Nonstoquastic Hamiltonian in Coupled Superconducting Flux Qubits

Abstract

Demonstration of a $n\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}o\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}n\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}s\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}t\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}o\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}q\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}u\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}a\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}s\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}t\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}i\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}c$ Hamiltonian---one for which there exists no local basis in which all off-diagonal elements are nonpositive---is an important step toward the development of quantum annealers that are more computationally powerful, or even universal. (This condition is tied to the ``sign problem'' in quantum Monte Carlo techniques.) This work presents the implementation of such a Hamiltonian by coupling two flux qubits both inductively and capacitively. The signature of nonstoquastic behavior is observed through destructive interference in quantum coherent oscillations. This result would seem to bear strong implications for scalable quantum computing.