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# Quantum Codes for Simplifying Design and Suppressing Decoherence in Superconducting Phase-Qubits

## I Introduction

Solid state systems are now attracting much attention as potential components for quantum computers, in part because of their potential scalability, and because the parameters of a solid state qubit can be engineered with considerable freedom. This freedom allows one to add different building blocks to the quantum computer, each block bringing the design closer to satisfying the criteria required for quantum computation (QC) D.P. DiVincenzo (2000) and, in particular, enabling universal QC according to the (non fault-tolerant) “standard paradigm” A. Barenco, C.H. Bennett, R. Cleve, D.P. DiVincenzo, N. Margolus, P. Shor, T. Sleator, J. Smolin and H. Weinfurter (1995). In this standard paradigm, all single-qubit operations \[generating $`SU(2)`$\] plus an entangling two-qubit operation (e.g., controlled-NOT, denoted CNOT) are necessary to achieve universal quantum computation. Alternatively, one can use a discrete set of single-qubit operations (e.g., Hadamard and $`\pi /8`$) together with CNOT in order to approximate to arbitrary accuracy any quantum circuit P. Boykin, T. Mor, M. Pulver, V. Roychowdhury, and F. Vatan (1999), a method that is compatible with fault-tolerant quantum error correction D. Aharonov and M. Ben-Or (1997); E. Knill, R. Laflamme and W. Zurek (1998). While the different building blocks help in reaching universality, each one comes with its fabrication difficulties and adds a potential source of noise and decoherence to the system.

It was realized recently that some of these building blocks can be replaced by ‘software’ means D. Bacon, J. Kempe, D.A. Lidar and K.B. Whaley (2000). More specifically, by encoding a logical qubit into a few physical qubits, the design of the quantum computer can be simplified without compromising universality. This approach is known as encoded universality D. Bacon, J. Kempe, D.P. DiVincenzo, D.A. Lidar, and K.B. Whaley (2001). E.g., it is possible to remove difficult-to-implement single-qubit operations D. Bacon, J. Kempe, D.A. Lidar and K.B. Whaley (2000); J. Kempe, D. Bacon, D.A. Lidar, and K.B. Whaley (2001); D.P. DiVincenzo, D. Bacon, J. Kempe, G. Burkard, and K. B. Whaley (2000); D. Bacon, J. Kempe, D.P. DiVincenzo, D.A. Lidar, and K.B. Whaley (2001); L.-A. Wu and D.A. Lidar (2002a); J. Levy (2001); S.C. Benjamin (2001); D.A. Lidar and L.-A. Wu (2002); L.-A. Wu and D.A. Lidar (2001a); J. Kempe, D. Bacon, D.P. DiVincenzo and K.B. Whaley (2001); J. Kempe and K.B. Whaley (2001); L.-A. Wu and D.A. Lidar (2002b); J. Vala and K.B. Whaley (2002). This simplification has the advantages of facilitating fabrication and reducing some sources of decoherence and noise. Interesting alternatives to encoding that also aim to reduce design constraints, some by replacing logic gates with measurements, were recently presented in R. Raussendorf and H.J. Briegel (2001); Nielsen (2001); D.W. Leung (2001); Ll. Masanes, G. Vidal, J. I. Latorre (2002).

Studies of simplifying encodings have so far been performed primarily for exchange-type Hamiltonians in spin-coupled solid state quantum computer designs D. Bacon, J. Kempe, D.A. Lidar and K.B. Whaley (2000); J. Kempe, D. Bacon, D.A. Lidar, and K.B. Whaley (2001); D.P. DiVincenzo, D. Bacon, J. Kempe, G. Burkard, and K. B. Whaley (2000); D. Bacon, J. Kempe, D.P. DiVincenzo, D.A. Lidar, and K.B. Whaley (2001); J. Levy (2001); L.-A. Wu and D.A. Lidar (2002a); S.C. Benjamin (2001); D.A. Lidar and L.-A. Wu (2002); L.-A. Wu and D.A. Lidar (2001a); J. Kempe, D. Bacon, D.P. DiVincenzo and K.B. Whaley (2001); J. Kempe and K.B. Whaley (2001); L.-A. Wu and D.A. Lidar (2002b); L.-A. Wu, M.S. Byrd, D.A. Lidar (2002); L.-A. Wu and D.A. Lidar (2001b); M.S. Byrd and D.A. Lidar (2001a); J. Vala and K.B. Whaley (2002), and in NMR L. Viola (2001); E.M. Fortunato, L. Viola, J. Hodges, G. Teklemariam, and D.G. Cory (2001). Here we extend this study to superconducting phase qubits.

Superconducting phase qubits are among the leading solid state qubit candidates, in part due to recent experimental progress C.H. v.d. Wal, A.C.J. ter Haar, F.K. Wilhelm, R.N. Schouten, C.J P. M. Harmans, T.P. Orlando, S. Lloyd, and J.E. Mooij (2000); J.R. Friedman, V. Patel, W. Chen, S.K. Tolpygo, J.E. Lukens (2000). Several designs of phase qubits have been suggested in the literature; see Ref. Y. Makhlin, G. Schön, and A. Shnirman (2001) for a review. In this work, we first focus on the d-wave grain boundary qubits A.M. Zagoskin (1999); A. Blais and A.M. Zagoskin (2000) and recall the relevant system Hamiltonian. A simplification of the design suggested in Refs. A.M. Zagoskin (1999); A. Blais and A.M. Zagoskin (2000) will yield a system Hamiltonian which is not versatile enough to be universal, according to the standard paradigm A. Barenco, C.H. Bennett, R. Cleve, D.P. DiVincenzo, N. Margolus, P. Shor, T. Sleator, J. Smolin and H. Weinfurter (1995); P. Boykin, T. Mor, M. Pulver, V. Roychowdhury, and F. Vatan (1999), because it lacks certain single-qubit operations. We will show how universality can be recovered by using a simple encoding and recoupling techniques. The encoding will suggest the use of a “bus qubit”, a concept that could be useful for other quantum computer designs. In particular, we explore the possibility of using these concepts with the other superconducting phase qubit designs. Finally, application of the dynamical decoupling technique to decoherence reduction will be examined.

## II System Hamiltonian

The d-wave grain boundary qubit (dGB qubit), Figure 1, has the following system Hamiltonian A. Blais and A.M. Zagoskin (2000):

$$H_S=H_X+H_Z+H_{ZZ},$$
(1)
where

$`H_X={\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}}\mathrm{\Delta }_i\sigma _i^x\mathrm{tunneling}`$ (2)
$`H_Z={\displaystyle \underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}}b_i\sigma _i^z\mathrm{bias}`$ (3)
$`H_{ZZ}={\displaystyle \underset{i,j=1}{\overset{N}{}}}J_{ij}\sigma _i^z\sigma _j^z\mathrm{Josephson}\mathrm{coupling},`$ (4)
and where $`\sigma _i^\alpha `$ ($`\alpha =x,y,z`$) are the Pauli matrices. In this system, coherent tunneling of the phase is only possible when the energy levels are in resonance 111Tunneling can actually be possible at finite bias, e.g. due to finite level width. The tunneling amplitude will however be very sensitive to fluctuations of these biases. Therefore here we only consider biases large enough to suppress tunneling.. As a result, when a bias or Josephson coupling is turned on, the tunneling matrix element(s) $`\mathrm{\Delta }_i`$ for the corresponding qubit(s) is exponentially suppressed. We therefore take only one of the terms (2), (3) or (4) to be on at any given time.

Moreover, for the dGB qubit, turning on the bias or Josephson coupling is the only way to control the value of the tunneling matrix element. The latter can then effectively only be turned on or off, without continuous control over its magnitude. This magnitude is determined at fabrication time by the asymmetry between the d-wave superconductors forming the qubit and by the width of the junction A.M. Zagoskin (1999). It is interesting to note that by connecting an external capacitor to the qubit circuit, the magnitude of $`\mathrm{\Delta }_i`$ could be controlled independently G. Blatter, V.B. Geshkenbein, and L.V. Ioffe (2001). However, this design complicates fabrication and connects the qubit to another potential source of decoherence. Since the tunneling matrix elements depend exponentially on their parameters, small noise on these parameters can have dramatic effect on the coherence of the system. In this paper, we are interested in simplifying fabrication demands on the design and reducing sources of decoherence, hence this possibility will not be considered further.

We now come to our main simplification: In this work we reduce the constraints on fabrication by removing the possibility of applying bias $`b_i`$ on individual qubits. This bias requires, e.g., the possibility of applying a local magnetic field on each qubit, and is experimentally very challenging to realize. We do retain the Josephson couplings $`J_{ij}`$ between the qubits, as these are necessary to produce entanglement. These couplings are realized by connecting pairs of qubits by a superconducting single electron transistor (SSET) A.M. Zagoskin (1999); A. Blais and A.M. Zagoskin (2000). The magnitude of $`J_{ij}`$ can, to some extent, be tuned continuously by the SSET’s gate voltage. The sign of this energy could be changed by inserting a strong $`\pi `$-junction. Again, with simplification of design in mind, the sign of $`J_{ij}`$ will hereafter be considered fixed.

The effective system Hamiltonian that we consider in this paper is therefore:

$$H_S=H_X+H_{ZZ},$$
(5)
where we have continuous control over $`J_{ij}`$. As mentioned above, when the Josephson coupling $`J_{ij}`$ is non-zero, the corresponding matrix elements necessarily vanish: $`\mathrm{\Delta }_i=\mathrm{\Delta }_j=0`$. In the idle state, $`\mathrm{\Delta }_i`$ is non-zero and the qubit undergoes coherent tunneling. We proceed to show how universal QC can be performed given the outlined constraints.

## III Encoding, Initialization, and Encoded Logic Gates

### III.1 Code

In Ref. A. Blais and A.M. Zagoskin (2000), it was shown how to perform universal quantum computation on the dGB qubit in the case where individual control of the bias $`b_i`$ is possible. Here, we do not allow for this possibility and, since $`H_X`$ and $`H_{ZZ}`$ are insufficient for universal QC on the physical qubits, the techniques of Ref. A. Blais and A.M. Zagoskin (2000) will have to be supplemented. This is achieved by encoding a pair of physical qubits as one logical qubit in the following way:

$`|0_L_m`$ $`=`$ $`|0_{2m1}|1_{2m}|0_{2m1}1_{2m}`$
$`|1_L_m`$ $`=`$ $`|1_{2m1}|1_{2m}|1_{2m1}1_{2m}`$ (6)
for the $`m^{\mathrm{th}}`$ logical qubit with $`m=1,2,\mathrm{}..,N/2`$ and where there are a total of $`N`$ physical qubits. It is easy to check that any other encoding into two qubits is not preserved under $`H_X+H_{ZZ}`$. Moreover, if $`\sigma _{2m}^x`$ terms are allowed to act then the encoding of Eq. (6) is not preserved either. We address this issue below.

### III.2 Initialization

Initialization of each encoded qubit can be done by measurement. This will project on the physical qubit’s computational basis. Hence measuring the $`(2m1)^{\mathrm{th}}`$ physical qubit will yield either $`|0_{2m1}`$ or $`|1_{2m1}`$ (either one would do), while measuring the $`(2m)^{\mathrm{th}}`$ physical qubit will have to be repeated until the outcome $`|1_{2m}`$ is obtained. Since tunneling will cause bit-flips immediately following the measurement, a good strategy is to simultaneously measure both these physical qubits, and repeat the measurement of the $`(2m1)^{\mathrm{th}}`$ physical qubit (projecting on the computational basis every time) until that of the $`(2m)^{\mathrm{th}}`$ physical qubit has converged on $`|1_{2m}`$. Alternatively, initialization can be performed by field-cooling the qubits. By choosing the proper orientation for the external field, all physical qubits can be prepared in the $`|1`$ state and, therefore, all logical qubits in the $`|1_L`$ state. This strategy will most probably not be of practical use during computation but can serve to provide an initial supply of fresh qubits. For the dGB qubits, a current in terminal B can also be used to initialize all qubits to the $`|1_L`$ state A.M. Zagoskin (1999).

### III.3 Single-Qubit Gates

On the logical qubits, the encoded single-qubit operations are:

$`X_m`$ $`=`$ $`\sigma _{2m1}^x`$
$`Z_m`$ $`=`$ $`\sigma _{2m1}^z\sigma _{2m}^z.`$
$`X_m`$ acts as a logical $`\sigma ^x`$ operation on the encoded qubit, since:

$$X_m|0_L_m=\sigma _{2m1}^x|0_{2m1}1_{2m}=|1_{2m1}1_{2m}=|1_L_m.$$

Similarly, it is simple to check that $`Z_m`$ acts as an encoded phase shift. Note that whenever $`X_m`$ is on $`Z_m`$ is off, and vice versa, so that we can easily implement an Euler angle rotation \[Eq. (9) below\] to generate the Lie group $`SU(2)`$ on the $`m^{\mathrm{th}}`$ logical qubit.

### III.4 Two-Qubit Gates

It can be shown that the present model is not universal with nearest-neighbor interactions only in 1D. Therefore we consider a quasi-1D triangular arrangement, as shown in Figure 2. Each dot represents a physical qubit and the numbers are our indexing scheme: odd-numbered qubits are in the top row. In this arrangement qubits $`2m1`$, $`2m`$, $`2m+1`$ are all nearest-neighbors and are connected by SSETs. The logical qubits are represented by pairs, as indicated by the ovals in Figure 2. The lower line of physical qubits are all in the state $`|1`$. We refer to these as the ancilla qubits.

As detailed in Ref. A. Blais and A.M. Zagoskin (2000), interaction between physical qubits is supplied by the SSETs which couples pairs of qubits through a term $`J_{ij}\sigma _i^z\sigma _j^z`$. With the above encoding, an encoded controlled-phase gate (CPHASE) between the $`m^{\mathrm{th}}`$ and $`(m+1)^{\mathrm{th}}`$ logical qubits corresponds simply to coupling the odd-numbered (top-row) physical qubits of those two logical qubits. To see this, note that the Hamiltonian generating the CPHASE gate is

$`H_{m,m+1}^{\text{CPHASE}}`$ $`=`$ $`J_{2m1,2m+1}Z_mZ_{m+1}`$ (7)
$`=`$ $`J_{2m1,2m+1}\sigma _{2m1}^z\sigma _{2m+1}^z.`$
Hence the implementation of the CPHASE gate only involves a (quasi 1D-)nearest-neighbor two-body term, and the control of the single Josephson energy $`J_{2m1,2m+1}`$. Only odd-numbered physical qubits are involved in this gate.

We now have all the ingredients for universal QC. However, there are some subtleties and potential simplifications, to which we now turn.

## IV Alternative Code Using a Bus Qubit

Since the even-numbered qubits in Figure 2 must be kept in an identical state there is the possibility of simply replacing them all by a single “bus” qubit which is kept in the $`|1`$ state. Thus instead of using $`N`$ physical qubits we would use only $`N/2+1`$, as depicted in two possible geometries in Figure 3. It is simple to check that doing so is consistent with our logical operations: Since $`X_m=\sigma _{2m1}^x`$ and $`H_{m,m+1}^{\text{CPHASE}}=J_{2m1,2m+1}\sigma _{2m1}^z\sigma _{2m+1}^z`$, the only operation that involves the even-numbered qubits is $`Z_m=\sigma _{2m1}^z\sigma _{2m}^z`$. If we replace the $`(2m)^{\mathrm{th}}`$ qubit by a fixed bus qubit $`|1_b`$ then the only change necessary is $`Z_m=\sigma _{2m1}^z\sigma _b^z`$. I.e., we need to be able to turn on/off a Josephson coupling between all odd-numbered qubits and the bus qubit. We remark that the situation where a qubit in a code must be kept fixed has also arisen in the context of encoded universality for the XY model, namely the “truncated qubit” of Ref. J. Kempe and K.B. Whaley (2001).

## V Problems due to Tunneling on Passive Qubits and Encoded Selective Recoupling

There is a problem with performing universal QC using only $`H_X+H_{ZZ}`$ and the above encoding, which must now be addressed. As stressed above, in the idle state each qubit undergoes Rabi oscillations. We therefore need to “freeze” the evolution of passive qubits while logical operations are performed on active qubits. In Ref. A. Blais and A.M. Zagoskin (2000) this was done by using recoupling pulses, a technique similar to that used routinely in NMR J.S. Waugh, L. M. Huber, and U. Haeberlen (1968); Slichter (1996). However, this was implemented by single-qubit bias pulses, which, as stressed above, we do not assume are available here. To solve this problem, we therefore extend the scheme of Ref. A. Blais and A.M. Zagoskin (2000) to the technique of encoded selective recoupling developed in Ref. D.A. Lidar and L.-A. Wu (2002).

Like selective recoupling, encoded selective recoupling is based on some simple identities and the elementary theory of angular momentum. Let $`A`$ and $`B`$ be arbitrary Hermitian operators, $`\theta ,\varphi `$ real numbers. Then

$$e^{i\phi A}e^{i\theta B}e^{i\phi A}=e^{i\theta \mathrm{exp}(i\phi A)B\mathrm{exp}(i\phi A)}.$$
(8)
Now assume $`A=\widehat{n}\stackrel{}{J}`$ where $`\widehat{n}`$ is a real 3D unit vector and $`\stackrel{}{J}=(J_x,J_y,J_z)`$ is an angular momentum vector operator. Then $`R\mathrm{exp}(i\phi A)`$ is a rotation operator that can be written as a product of three Euler angle rotations (M.E. Rose, 1995, Sec. 13):

$$R=e^{i\alpha J_z}e^{i\beta J_y}e^{i\gamma J_z},$$
(9)
where $`\alpha ,\beta ,\gamma `$ are the Euler angles. If we take $`B`$ to be an irreducible tensor operator of rank $`L`$ (i.e., a member of a set of $`2L+1`$ functions $`T_{LM}`$, $`M=L,L+1,\mathrm{},L`$, which transform under the $`2L+1`$-dimensional representation of the rotation group), then (M.E. Rose, 1995, Sec. 17):

$$RT_{LM}R^{}=\underset{M^{}}{}D_{M^{}M}^L(\alpha ,\beta ,\gamma )T_{LM^{}},$$

where $`D`$ are the Wigner rotation matrices, whose matrix elements $`D_{M^{}M}^L(\alpha ,\beta ,\gamma )`$ are the matrix elements of $`R`$ in the $`LM`$ representation. The Wigner matrices are extensively tabulated M.E. Rose (1995), so that in principle calculating the transformation $`\mathrm{exp}(i\phi A)B\mathrm{exp}(i\phi A)`$ appearing in Eq. (8) is always possible for angular momentum operators $`A,B`$. Let us consider a few cases of importance to us here, and of general interest in quantum computing.

Assume that $`A`$ and $`B`$ are anticommuting operators, e.g., different Pauli matrices. Let $`I`$ be the identity operator. Then, we define the operation of “conjugation by $`A`$”, i.e., Eq. (8), as D.A. Lidar, D. Bacon, J. Kempe, and K.B. Whaley (2001):

$`C_A^\phi e^{i\theta B}`$ $``$ $`e^{i\phi A}e^{i\theta B}e^{i\phi A}`$ (13)
$`=`$ $`\mathrm{exp}[i\theta (B\mathrm{cos}(2\phi )+iBA\mathrm{sin}(2\phi ))]`$
$`=`$ $`\{\begin{array}{c}\hfill e^{i\theta B}\mathrm{if}\phi =\pm \pi /2\\ \hfill e^{\pm i\theta (iBA)}\mathrm{if}\phi =\pm \pi /4\\ \hfill e^{i\theta B(I\pm iA)/\sqrt{2}}\mathrm{if}\phi =\pm \pi /8\end{array}.`$
To prove these relations one can use the Wigner $`D`$ matrices as above, or, more simply but less generally, note that for anticommuting $`A`$ and $`B`$ that in addition satisfy $`A^2=I`$:

$`e^{i\phi A}Be^{i\phi A}`$ $`=`$ $`(I\mathrm{cos}\phi Ai\mathrm{sin}\phi )B(I\mathrm{cos}\phi +Ai\mathrm{sin}\phi )`$
$`=`$ $`B\mathrm{cos}^2\phi +ABA\mathrm{sin}^2\phi i\mathrm{sin}\phi \mathrm{cos}\phi [A,B]`$
$`=`$ $`B\mathrm{cos}(2\phi )+iBA\mathrm{sin}(2\phi ).`$
The result of Eq. (13) with $`\phi =\pi /2`$ is used in the NMR technique of refocusing, or more generally, selective recoupling J.S. Waugh, L. M. Huber, and U. Haeberlen (1968); Slichter (1996). It allows one to flip the sign of a term in a Hamiltonian, which can be used to cancel unwanted evolution. The result with $`\phi =\pi /4`$ can be viewed as a special case of Euler angle rotations which preserve a discrete group (in QC commonly the Pauli group – the group of tensor products of Pauli matrices). The case with $`\phi =\pi /8`$ allows us to move from the Pauli group to the group algebra of the Pauli group, and is useful for rotating sums of operators into a desired direction on the Bloch sphere (see Section VIII.2 below). The conjugation method can be used on the physical as well as the encoded qubits, in which case we refer to it as “encoded selective recoupling”.

Note that in order to implement $`e^{itA}`$ where $`A`$ is a Hamiltonian that is turned on for a time $`t`$, we need to find $`\vartheta `$ such that $`e^{i\vartheta A}=I`$ and implement $`e^{i(\vartheta t)A}`$ instead. This depends on $`A`$ having rationally related eigenvalues, which is the case for the Hamiltonians of interest to us. E.g., for $`A=J\sigma _1^z\sigma _2^z`$ we have $`\vartheta =2\pi /J`$, so that $`\mathrm{exp}(it(J)\sigma _1^z\sigma _2^z)=\mathrm{exp}(i(t2\pi /J)J\sigma _1^z\sigma _2^z)`$. I.e., if this Hamiltonian is applied for a time $`t2\pi /J>0`$ it effectively evolves as if $`JJ`$. This method circumvents the need for switching the sign of the Hamiltonian itself, which is difficult to realize in the case of the Josephson coupling $`J_{ij}`$.

We are now ready to address and solve the issue of the idle qubit Rabi oscillations mentioned above. We will first concentrate on the realization of Figure 2 before turning to the bus qubit implementation.

### V.1 Leakage

In the idle state there will be tunneling on all qubits implementing unwanted $`\sigma ^x`$ operations. On the even-numbered qubits of Figure 2, these bit flips cause a transition out of the computational space, or leakage.

Our goal is then to eliminate the leakage term on all even-numbered qubits

$$\mathrm{\Delta }=\underset{m=1}{\overset{N/2}{}}\mathrm{\Delta }_{2m}\sigma _{2m}^x$$

due to the free evolution of these qubits during an idle period. For simplicity consider just the first and second encoded qubits, i.e., the term $`\mathrm{\Delta }_2\sigma _2^x+\mathrm{\Delta }_4\sigma _4^x`$. We can refocus it using $`\sigma _2^z\sigma _4^z`$, which will flip the sign of the offending term. To do so we need to turn on $`\sigma _2^z\sigma _4^z`$ for a time $`\tau _{24}`$ such that $`\tau _{24}J_{24}=\pm \pi /2`$ \[recall Eq. (13)\]. Specifically, since $`A=\sigma _2^z\sigma _4^z`$ and $`B=\mathrm{\Delta }_2\sigma _2^x+\mathrm{\Delta }_4\sigma _4^x`$ are Hermitian and anticommute:

$$e^{it(\mathrm{\Delta }_2\sigma _2^x+\mathrm{\Delta }_4\sigma _4^x)}\left(C_{\sigma _2^z\sigma _4^z}^{\pi /2}e^{it(\mathrm{\Delta }_2\sigma _2^x+\mathrm{\Delta }_4\sigma _4^x)}\right)=I,$$

so that evolution under $`\mathrm{\Delta }_2\sigma _2^x+\mathrm{\Delta }_4\sigma _4^x`$ has been eliminated.

Note that Eq. (13) implicitly assumes that while $`A`$ is on $`B`$ is off, and vice versa. This is satisfied in our procedure, since the tunneling term $`\mathrm{\Delta }_2\sigma _2^x+\mathrm{\Delta }_4\sigma _4^x`$ is on (off) while the coupling term $`\sigma _2^z\sigma _4^z`$ is off (on). Interestingly, this is different from most other recoupling schemes, e.g., D.A. Lidar and L.-A. Wu (2002); L. Viola (2001), where one typically assumes strong pulses that completely dominate the natural evolution (see V. Protopopescu, R. Perez, C. D’Helon, J. Schmulen (2002) for an analysis of this issue). Continuing, $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ can be completely eliminated if all pairs of qubits $`\{(2,4),(6,8),\mathrm{}\}`$ are refocused in a similar manner, i.e., by turning on $`\sigma _{4m2}^z\sigma _{4m}^z`$ for a time $`\tau _{4m2,4m}`$ such that $`\tau _{4m2,4m}J_{4m2,4m}=\pm \pi /2`$ (where $`m=1,2,\mathrm{},N/4`$). With $`J_{ij}`$ of the order of the GHz, the refocusing pulses will typically be of the order of the nanosecond. These operations need to be applied in parallel, which is possible because they commute (they are applied to different qubits). This means that all $`J_{4m2,4m}`$ must be rationally related, so that appropriate intervals $`\tau _{4m2,4m}`$ can be found. Obviously, a possibility is to set all $`J_{4m2,4m}`$ equal but this could be difficult to realize in practice.

### V.2 Unwanted $`\sigma ^x`$ Operations During Encoded Single Qubit Operation

We now take care not only of leakage out of the code subspace, but of errors due to tunneling on passive qubits during operation of encoded single qubit gates on active qubits.

For example, while $`X_l=\sigma _{2l1}^x`$ is on we still have tunneling on all qubits other than $`2l1`$, again implementing unwanted $`\sigma ^x`$ operations. To emphasize this let us rewrite $`H_X`$ as:

$`H_X`$ $`=`$ $`H_0+H_{\overline{X}}+\mathrm{\Delta }`$
$``$ $`\mathrm{\Delta }_{2l1}X_l+{\displaystyle \underset{ml}{\overset{N/2}{}}}\mathrm{\Delta }_{2m1}X_m+{\displaystyle \underset{m=1}{\overset{N/2}{}}}\mathrm{\Delta }_{2m}\sigma _{2m}^x`$
where $`H_0`$ is the desired evolution, $`H_{\overline{X}}`$ are unwanted bit flips on the passive qubits and $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ is a leakage term.

Similarly, while $`Z_l`$ is on, we have tunneling in all qubits other than $`2l1`$ and $`2l`$, again implementing unwanted bit flips. I.e., the Hamiltonian while $`Z_l`$ is on is:

$$H_{Z_l}=J_lZ_l+\underset{ml}{\overset{N/2}{}}\mathrm{\Delta }_{2m1}X_m+\underset{ml}{\overset{N/2}{}}\mathrm{\Delta }_{2m}\sigma _{2m}^x$$
(14)
Thus we either have to implement computational operations on the other encoded qubits ($`ml`$), or eliminate this unwanted evolution.

We start by first taking care of the single encoded $`X_l=\sigma _{2l1}^x`$ operation in the presence of tunneling on all other qubits. I.e., we need to eliminate not just the leakage term $`\mathrm{\Delta }`$ but also the unwanted logical operations $`H_{\overline{X}}`$. Suppose we wish to implement $`X_1`$ for a time $`T`$, i.e., the operation $`e^{iT\mathrm{\Delta }_1X_1}`$. The solution is shown schematically in Figure 4. We refocus all other qubits in pairs $`\{(m,n)\}=\{(2,3),(4,5),(6,7),(8,9),\mathrm{}\}`$, using the same idea as for the leakage problem. Namely, we turn on the interactions $`\{\sigma _m^z\sigma _n^z\}`$ for times $`\tau _{mn},\tau _{mn}^{\prime \prime }`$ such that $`\tau _{mn}J_{mn}=\pi /2`$ and $`\tau _{mn}^{\prime \prime }J_{mn}=3\pi /2`$ (we are now explicitly taking into account the fact that we cannot switch the sign of $`J_{mn}`$). In between and after the $`\pi /2`$ and $`3\pi /2`$ periods these pairs of qubits are allowed to evolve freely for times $`\tau _{mn}^{}`$ under the tunneling terms $`\{\mathrm{\Delta }_m,\mathrm{\Delta }_n\}`$. The condition that must then be satisfied is:

$$\tau _{mn}+2\tau _{mn}^{}+\tau _{mn}^{\prime \prime }=T.$$

Since, e.g., $`\tau _{23}J_{23}=\pi /2`$, the free evolution time is determined by $`\tau _{23}^{}=\left(T4\tau _{23}\right)/2=T/2\pi /J_{23}`$, or, in general 222This is for the case where $`J_{23}`$ is kept fixed over the periods $`\tau `$ and $`\tau ^{\prime \prime }`$. One could also adjust the strength of $`J_{23}`$ (voltage on the SSET) to have, e.g., $`\tau =\tau ^{\prime \prime }`$. Which adjustment to make will be a matter of experimental convenience.:

$$\tau _{mn}^{}=T/2\pi /J_{mn}.$$

These times must be positive, so that we must be able to make $`J_{mn}`$ (assuming it is positive) large enough that

$$J_{mn}>2\pi /T.$$

Conversely, if $`J_{mn}`$ has a maximum value $`J_{mn}^{\mathrm{max}}`$ then there is a time

$$T_{\mathrm{min}}=2\pi /J_{mn}^{\mathrm{max}}$$

below which we cannot apply an encoded logical $`X`$ operation. Thus all encoded logical $`X`$ operations must be implemented as $`e^{iT\mathrm{\Delta }_1X_1}`$ with $`TT_{\mathrm{min}}`$. This means that the smallest angle of rotation around the encoded $`x`$ axis is $`\theta _{\mathrm{min}}=2\pi \mathrm{\Delta }_{m(n)}/J_{mn}^{\mathrm{max}}`$. With $`\mathrm{\Delta }_m100`$MHz A.M. Zagoskin (1999) and $`J_{mn}`$ of the order of the GHz, $`\theta _{\mathrm{min}}`$ is of the order of $`2\pi /10`$ and can be made smaller if the Josephson energy $`J_{mn}`$ is made larger. However, this is not necessary in the fault-tolerant “standard paradigm” of universal QC, where all logic gates can be built up from the Hadamard, $`\pi /8`$ and CPHASE gates, which require $`\theta `$ of $`\pi /2`$, $`\pi /8`$, and $`\pi /4`$ respectively P. Boykin, T. Mor, M. Pulver, V. Roychowdhury, and F. Vatan (1999). Of course, here we have in mind an encoded version of this universal set of gates.

The solution to the single encoded $`Z_l=\sigma _{2l1}^z\sigma _{2l}^z`$ operation in the presence of tunneling on all other qubits, Eq. (14), is almost identical to that of single encoded $`X`$ operations. Suppose we wish to implement $`Z_1=\sigma _1^z\sigma _2^z`$ for a time $`T`$, i.e., the operation $`e^{iTJ_1Z_1}`$. The solution is shown schematically in Figure 5. We refocus all other qubits in pairs $`\{(m,n)\}=\{(3,5),(4,6),(7,9),(8,10),\mathrm{}\}`$ by again turning on the interactions $`\{\sigma _m^z\sigma _n^z\}`$ for times $`\tau _{mn},\tau _{mn}^{\prime \prime }`$ such that $`\tau _{mn}J_{mn}=\pi /2`$ and $`\tau _{mn}^{\prime \prime }J_{mn}=3\pi /2`$. All other details are the same as above.

### V.3 Unwanted $`\sigma ^x`$ Operations During Two Qubit Encoded $`ZZ`$ Operation

The problem is the same as in the previous cases. We now have to deal with the Hamiltonian

$$H_{Z_lZ_{l+1}}=J_{2l1,2l+1}Z_lZ_{l+1}+\underset{ml,l+1}{\overset{N/2}{}}\mathrm{\Delta }_{2m1}X_m+\mathrm{\Delta },$$
(15)
i.e., leakage plus unwanted $`X`$ operations on all but encoded qubits $`l,l+1`$. The solution is completely analogous to the case of single encoded $`Z`$ operations.

### V.4 Compatibility of Recoupling Sequences

There is still one problem with the above method that needs to be solved: recoupling in the single encoded $`X`$ case requires pairing up $`N1`$ physical qubits, whereas recoupling in the single encoded $`Z`$ and encoded $`ZZ`$ cases requires pairing up $`N2`$ physical qubits. Thus in the former case we would want $`N`$ to be odd, while in the latter we need $`N`$ to be even. Assuming $`N`$ to be even, there are several possible solutions to this.

One solution is to reintroduce single-qubit $`\sigma ^z`$ operations, but only on (say) the last qubit. This qubit can then be refocused independently. This is however not very elegant (or practical) as our aim was to eliminate single-qubit $`\sigma ^z`$ operations in the first place.

A second possibility is to make the Josephson coupling energy much larger than the tunneling matrix element. In this case, it is possible to neglect the evolution of the passive qubits due to tunneling during the on-time of the Josephson coupling on the active qubit. Reaching the necessary constraint $`|J_{ij}||\mathrm{\Delta }_k|k`$ can however be difficult in practice and, even if it is reached, there will be accumulation of small errors on the passive qubits. This solution is therefore not the most practical either.

The simplest way to solve the compatibility problem is to assume that we can fix (say) the last qubit (number $`N`$) in the $`|1`$ state. This corresponds to producing that qubit with a very high tunneling barrier and initializing it in the $`|1`$ state. In this manner this qubit is “frozen” and the problem of unwanted evolution on it does not arise. For the dGB qubit, producing a qubit with a high tunneling barrier can be done by choosing proper misalignment between the two d-wave superconductors or, more simply, by working with larger junctions A.M. Zagoskin (1999).

An interesting alternative is to extend this concept of “frozen” qubit to all ancilla qubits. In this case, there is no possible leakage out of the code subspace. Moreover, this applies well to the concept of “bus qubit” presented above. In this case, the bus is a single qubit with a large tunneling barrier and initialized to the $`|1`$ state.

Considering the bus qubit case, even if there is no leakage, the problem of freezing passive qubits is still present. Fortunately, the solution explained above still applies. However, as illustrated in Figure 6, with a bus qubit the number of physical qubits should be odd. The reason is that otherwise, during the implementation of, e.g., $`Z_1=\sigma _1^z\sigma _b^z`$ we would be left with an odd number of qubits to be refocused \[Figure 6(d)\]. As seen in Figure 6((a)-(c)), with an odd number of logical qubits all logic operations can be performed provided the bus qubit can be kept fixed in the $`|1`$ state during single qubit $`X`$ operations \[Figure 6(a)\].

The question of which of the two designs, bus qubit or with $`N/2`$ ancilla qubits, is superior, will be decided by engineering constraints. The bus qubit imposes a circular geometry \[as in Figure 3(a)\], or has to be made long \[as in Figure 3(b)\], or some other method has to be found to connect it to all other qubits. In particular, it can be challenging experimentally to connect many qubits to the bus. Having several bus qubits and, for example, repeating the circular geometry of Figure 3(a) in an triangular lattice could help in reducing these constraints.

## VI Codes with Higher Rates

So far we have considered encoding a single logical qubit into two physical qubits. This code has a rate of $`1/2`$. In this section we consider codes with higher rates. Specifically, we propose an encoding of two logical qubits into three physical qubits, yielding a rate of $`2/3`$.

Consider the following encoding:

$`|0_L|0_L`$ $`=`$ $`|0_10_20_3`$
$`|0_L1_L`$ $`=`$ $`|010`$
$`|1_L0_L`$ $`=`$ $`|100`$
$`|1_L1_L`$ $`=`$ $`|110.`$
The third physical qubit is always $`0`$ here, so once again the bus qubit idea applies. The corresponding logical operations are:

$`X_1`$ $`=`$ $`\sigma _1^xX_2=\sigma _2^x`$
$`Z_1`$ $`=`$ $`\sigma _1^z\sigma _3^zZ_2=\sigma _2^z\sigma _3^z`$
$`Z_1Z_2`$ $`=`$ $`\sigma _1^z\sigma _2^z,`$
as is readily checked. E.g.,

$`Z_1Z_2|0_L0_L`$ $`=`$ $`\sigma _1^z\sigma _2^z|000=|000=|0_L0_L`$
$`Z_1Z_2|0_L1_L`$ $`=`$ $`\sigma _1^z\sigma _2^z|010=|010=|0_L1_L,`$
etc. Note that $`Z_1`$ and $`Z_2`$ explicitly use the third qubit, showing that it is essential. As before, we think of these logical operations as Hamiltonians, not gates. We therefore have a universal generating set for two logical qubits encoded into the first three physical qubits. To complete the universal set we also need to be able to couple logical qubits belonging to different blocks of three physical qubits. Let physical qubits $`4,5,6`$ encode the next pair of logical qubits. Then

$$Z_2Z_3=\sigma _2^z\sigma _4^z$$

is a logical operation coupling the two blocks. To verify this consider the truth table for this operation. Let $`x,y`$ be $`0`$ or $`1`$. Then:

$`Z_2Z_3|x_L0_L|0_Ly_L`$ $`=`$ $`\sigma _2^z\sigma _4^z|x_10_20_3|0_4y_50_6=|x_10_20_3|0_4y_50_6=|x_L0_L|0_Ly_L`$
$`Z_2Z_3|x_L0_L|1_Ly_L`$ $`=`$ $`\sigma _2^z\sigma _4^z|x_10_20_3|1_4y_50_6=|x_10_20_3|1_4y_50_6=|x_L0_L|1_Ly_L`$
$`Z_2Z_3|x_L1_L|0_Ly_L`$ $`=`$ $`\sigma _2^z\sigma _4^z|x_11_20_3|0_4y_50_6=|x_11_20_3|0_4y_50_6=|x_L1_L|0_Ly_L`$
$`Z_2Z_3|x_L1_L|1_Ly_L`$ $`=`$ $`\sigma _2^z\sigma _4^z|x_11_20_3|1_4y_50_6=|x_11_20_3|1_4y_50_6=|x_L1_L|1_Ly_L,`$
which is the desired action. Note that next-nearest neighbor couplings are involved in $`Z_1`$ (inside a block of three) and $`Z_2Z_3`$ (between blocks of three). Figure 7 shows a possible arrangement in 3D. Two triangular arrays of qubits are superimposed such that the relevant qubits form tetrahedrons (see caption). With this particular geometry, only nearest neighbor couplings are required. Qubit arrays of lower dimensionality will require next-nearest neighbor couplings, which may or may not be easier to implement experimentally. For definiteness we continue the discussion here while referring to the 3D layout, but it should be kept in mind that a 1D/2D layout with overlapping wires may prove to be advantageous.

Recoupling will still be needed since we still have passive tunneling on the idle physical qubits. The recoupling paths are shown in Figure 8. As in the rate $`1/2`$ code, there is an incompatibility between the number of qubits required for recoupling in the case of a logical $`X`$ operation, and the number required for the logical $`Z`$ and $`ZZ`$ operations. This can be solved by introducing an auxiliary qubit. This qubit then has to be frozen in the $`|0`$ state, as discussed above.

All the considerations above can be modified easily to the case of a single bus qubit, taken to be, e.g., a long single qubit fixed in the $`|0`$ state (i.e., the single bus qubit now replaces all physical qubits numbered $`3n`$, $`n=1,2,\mathrm{}`$ in the discussion above). This architecture is shown in Figure 9. The recoupling paths are shown in Figure 10 (compare to the recoupling figures for the one-in-two encoding). However, note that with a “global” bus qubit the advantage of a higher rate disappears. As in the above encoding of one logical qubit per two physical qubits, with a global bus qubit optimal use of all physical qubits has already been made.

There will be codes with even higher rates (e.g., use four physical qubits to encode three logical qubits by fixing the fourth physical qubit). However, in this case the geometrical constraints may become impossible to satisfy even in 3D if we can only use nearest-neighbor coupling. Therefore such higher rate codes will require introducing longer-range coupling. What the tradeoffs are between a 3D arrangement and long-range couplings, is, again, an implementation-dependent question that we cannot answer here.

## VII Implementation and connection to other designs

We now turn to a discussion of the usefulness and practicality of the above scheme to the dGB qubits and to the other superconducting phase-qubits in general.

For the dGB qubits, the usefulness of the above scheme is clear. The application of individual qubit bias following the scheme of Refs. A.M. Zagoskin (1999); A. Blais and A.M. Zagoskin (2000) would be rather difficult experimentally. The encoding and bus qubit proposed here circumvent this problem. Moreover, for the dGB qubits, the implementation of the bus qubit concept turns out to be a rather simple modification of the layout already presented in A.M. Zagoskin (1999); A. Blais and A.M. Zagoskin (2000). As shown in Figure 11, the bus can be a large piece of d-wave superconductor coupled to terminal B of the qubits by a weak link. If this bus is large and has the proper misalignment of its order parameter with respect to terminal B, it will have a fixed phase and hence correspond to a fixed logical state. This bus is coupled to the other qubits by SSETs to provide the necessary $`J_{ij}`$ couplings. Thus, based on the encoding of Eq. (6) which suggested the use of a bus qubit, the equivalent of single-qubit bias operations could be reintroduced in a way that is experimentally simpler than what was previously suggested A.M. Zagoskin (1999); A. Blais and A.M. Zagoskin (2000).

The concepts explored in this paper can be applied to the other superconducting phase qubit designs G. Blatter, V.B. Geshkenbein, and L.V. Ioffe (2001); J.E. Mooij, T.P. Orlando, L. Levitov, L. Tian, C.H. v.d. Wal, and S. Lloyd (1999); T.P. Orlando, J.E. Mooij, L. Tian, C.H. v.d. Wal, L.S. Levitov, S. Lloyd, and J.J. Mazo (1999); M.H.S. Amin, A.N. Omelyanchouk, A. Blais, A. Maassen v.d. Brink, G. Rose, T. Duty and A.M. Zagoskin (2002). First, for the rf-SQUID like design of Ref. J.E. Mooij, T.P. Orlando, L. Levitov, L. Tian, C.H. v.d. Wal, and S. Lloyd (1999); T.P. Orlando, J.E. Mooij, L. Tian, C.H. v.d. Wal, L.S. Levitov, S. Lloyd, and J.J. Mazo (1999), single-qubit logical operations are provided by control of external fluxes in two different loops of the SQUID, Figure 12a). One of these fluxes controls the asymmetry of the qubit’s potential energy landscape (i.e., $`\sigma _i^z`$ operations), while the other controls the tunnel barrier (i.e., $`\sigma _i^x`$ operations). Qubits can be coupled inductively to provide the necessary two-qubit logical gates. These coupling can be arranged to provide a term in the Hamiltonian which has the same symmetry as considered above, $`J_{ij}\sigma _i^z\sigma _j^z`$ T.P. Orlando, J.E. Mooij, L. Tian, C.H. v.d. Wal, L.S. Levitov, S. Lloyd, and J.J. Mazo (1999).

Consider moving to a design with only 3 junctions and one loop (as was used experimentally in C.H. v.d. Wal, A.C.J. ter Haar, F.K. Wilhelm, R.N. Schouten, C.J P. M. Harmans, T.P. Orlando, S. Lloyd, and J.E. Mooij (2000)), such that only the asymmetry can be controlled, Figure 12b). By choosing the Josephson energies such that in the idle state coherent tunneling is possible, the Hamiltonian describing the system is (5), with the same constraints as for the dGB qubit. The encoding and results presented here therefore apply equally to these qubits and provide enough control to perform universal QC. Of course, the application of the logical operations is more laborious than in the original 4-junction design but this has other advantages. First, there is some simplification in fabrication. Moreover, the external flux controlling the tunnel barrier is a source of noise to the system. Removing such a source of decoherence in a system which has a small coherence time to begin with, is clearly advantageous. For this design, rather than the simplification in fabrication, the possibility of reducing sources of noise is the real advantage of using the encoding (6).

Similarly, for the “quiet qubit” design of Ref. G. Blatter, V.B. Geshkenbein, and L.V. Ioffe (2001), one could eliminate the external capacitor which is used to tune the tunneling amplitude, and choose the Josephson energies such that tunneling is possible in the idle state, Figure 12c). Connection to the strong $`\pi /2`$junctions, used to control the asymmetry, can also be discarded, retaining only two-qubit couplings, Figure 12d). In this way the system again is described by (5) and the same ideas apply. As with the rf-SQUID design, use of the encoding (6) allows to remove some of the components of the quantum computer design while maintaining universality. We again stress that this reduces engineering constraints and removes some important sources of noise.

Implementation of the bus qubit for the “quiet qubit” design is similar to the phase bus discussed in Ref. G. Blatter, V.B. Geshkenbein, and L.V. Ioffe (2001). Similar ideas can be used for the rf-SQUID like qubits.

By using the encoding suggested here, we are now relying mostly on two-qubit gates to perform QC. Therefore, qubit-qubit coupling should be easily controlled and the ratio of the characteristic energy when the qubit-qubit “switch” is on compared to when it is off should be high. These requirements are not different from the standard situation when the encoding (6) is not used. Further, for this scheme to be useful in practice, the two-qubit gates should not be much slower than the 1-qubit gates. By choosing strong enough Josephson junctions for the SSETs, this should be satisfied for the dGB qubits. Similarly, in the design of Refs. J.E. Mooij, T.P. Orlando, L. Levitov, L. Tian, C.H. v.d. Wal, and S. Lloyd (1999); T.P. Orlando, J.E. Mooij, L. Tian, C.H. v.d. Wal, L.S. Levitov, S. Lloyd, and J.J. Mazo (1999) the inductive coupling qubits should be of the order of single-qubit energies. The situation is similar for the “quiet qubit” design. All of the above remarks apply equally for the multi-terminal superconducting phase qubit M.H.S. Amin, A.N. Omelyanchouk, A. Blais, A. Maassen v.d. Brink, G. Rose, T. Duty and A.M. Zagoskin (2002).

## VIII Reduction of Errors due to Decoherence

Standard quantum error correction techniques A.M. Steane (1999) are certainly compatible with the dGB qubit design. Here we focus on the recoupling J.S. Waugh, L. M. Huber, and U. Haeberlen (1968); Slichter (1996); D.A. Lidar and L.-A. Wu (2002); J.A. Jones and E. Knill (1999); D.W. Leung, I.L. Chuang, F. Yamaguchi, and Y. Yamamoto (2000) and the decoupling, or “bang-bang” (BB) method introduced in Viola and Lloyd (1998), and developed further, e.g, in Refs. Duan and Guo (1999); Zanardi (1999); Vitali and Tombesi (1999); L. Viola, E. Knill and S. Lloyd (1999); L. Viola, E. Knill, and S. Lloyd (1999, 2000); D. Vitali and P. Tombesi (2002); M.S. Byrd and D.A. Lidar (2001b, a); L.-A. Wu and D.A. Lidar (2001b); L.-A. Wu, M.S. Byrd, D.A. Lidar (2002). The advantage of the recoupling and BB methods, is that they does not require extra qubit (space) resources, unlike quantum error correction A.M. Steane (1999) and/or decoherence-free subspaces P. Zanardi and M. Rasetti (1997); D.A. Lidar, I.L. Chuang and K.B. Whaley (1998). Specifically, we will show that decoherence can be reduced significantly using only the existing controllable interactions, acting on the encoded qubits. Different methods will be presented depending on the symmetry of the system-bath interaction. “Encoded decoupling” (i.e., acting on encoded qubits) of the type we discuss below has been previously suggested for solid-state M.S. Byrd and D.A. Lidar (2001a); L.-A. Wu and D.A. Lidar (2001b); L.-A. Wu, M.S. Byrd, D.A. Lidar (2002) and NMR L. Viola (2001); E.M. Fortunato, L. Viola, J. Hodges, G. Teklemariam, and D.G. Cory (2001) QC proposals. We further note that use of BB pulses for dGB qubits was previously discussed in Ref. A. Blais and A.M. Zagoskin (2000), but access to single-qubit $`Z`$ operations was assumed. We extend and generalize this discussion here.

The total Hamiltonian of a qubit system ($`S`$) and bath ($`B`$) can be written as

$$H=H_S+H_B+H_{SB},$$

where $`H_{SB}`$ is the system-bath coupling. In order to use the BB method one makes two assumptions: First, (as in the threshold result of fault tolerant QC D. Aharonov and M. Ben-Or (1997); E. Knill, R. Laflamme and W. Zurek (1998)) that a controllable part of $`H_S`$ can be made so strong that we can make $`H`$ approximate that part of $`H_S`$ to arbitrary precision. This is needed so that $`H_{SB}`$ can be neglected during the pulse. Second, that one can pulse this controllable part of $`H_S`$ with a pulse repetition time that is much shorter than the inverse of the bath frequency cutoff. This requirement arises since in between BB pulses the bath should not change, or else it will acquire phases that, when the bath is traced over, will result in decoherence in the system Viola and Lloyd (1998).

We will take the interaction term to have the linear form $`H_{SB}=_i\stackrel{}{\sigma }_i\stackrel{}{B}_i`$, where $`\stackrel{}{\sigma }_i`$ is the vector of Pauli matrices acting on the system, and $`\stackrel{}{B}_i`$ are corresponding bath operators. This can represent the interaction of a qubit with a fluctuating control field. For example, for the superconducting phase qubit, a term $`\sigma _i^zB_i^z`$ arises due to fluctuation of local magnetic field. The relation of $`H_{SB}`$ to the parameters of the system and bath can be analyzed in detail Y. Makhlin, G. Schön, and A. Shnirman (2001). Our approach to decoherence suppression depends on the time-scales that emerge from this analysis, and on the symmetry of the system-bath interaction.

### VIII.1 Suppression of Axially Symmetric System-Bath Interaction by $`ZZ`$ Recoupling Method

Suppose that $`|J_{ij}||\mathrm{\Delta }_i|,|B_i^x|,|B_i^y|,|B_i^z|`$ so that the strong parts of $`H_S`$ are

$$H_{ij}=J_{ij}\sigma _i^z\sigma _j^z,$$

which we can turn on and off freely. If $`H_{SB}`$ is of the general form $`_i\stackrel{}{\sigma }_i\stackrel{}{B}_i`$, then $`H_{ij}`$ obviously is not enough to eliminate $`H_{SB}`$ by decoupling methods, since it commutes with the $`\sigma _i^zB_i^z`$ terms. However, by the same token, if the system-bath interaction has an axial symmetry so that

$$H_{SB}=\underset{i}{}\left(\sigma _i^xB_i^x+\sigma _i^yB_i^y\right),$$

it can be eliminated by

$$\mathrm{exp}(iH_{SB}t/2)\left[C_{_{m=1}^{N/2}Z_m}^{\pi /2}\mathrm{exp}(iH_{SB}t/2)\right]=I,$$
(16)
where as before $`Z_m=\sigma _{2m1}^z\sigma _{2m}^z`$ is the logical $`Z`$ operation. Implicit in this calculation is that $`H_{SB}`$ is negligible while $`Z_m`$ is on. To the extent that this assumption breaks down there will be an error proportional to the ratio of the largest eigenvalue of $`H_{SB}`$ by the smallest eigenvalue of $`H_S`$. The important point is that this type of axially symmetric system-bath interaction can be suppressed without any extra resources, simply by using the already available Josephson coupling. Moreover, the decoupling pulse $`C_{_{m=1}^{N/2}Z_m}^{\pi /2}`$ used in Eq. (16) commutes with all $`Z_m^{}`$, $`Z_m^{}Z_{m^{\prime \prime }}`$ and with all $`X_m^{}`$ such that $`m^{},m^{\prime \prime }m`$. All these logical operations can therefore be executed in parallel with this decoupling procedure. However, since the decoupling pulses anticommute with $`X_m`$ this logical operation is eliminated if it is turned on during decoupling. Hence we must alternate suppressing decoherence on the $`m^{\mathrm{th}}`$ qubit and performing logical $`X`$ operations on it. This implies that this qubit will suffer some decoherence while $`X_m`$ is applied to it, unless we protect it by other means, such as active quantum error correction A.M. Steane (1999).

### VIII.2 Suppression of Partial Symmetric System-Bath Interaction Hamiltonians by Decoupling

Suppose that $`|J_{ij}||\mathrm{\Delta }_i||B_i^x|,|B_i^y|,|B_i^z|`$, so that we can freely turn $`\mathrm{\Delta }_i\sigma _i^x`$ and $`J_{ij}\sigma _i^z\sigma _j^z`$ on and off, and while we do so $`H_{SB}`$ becomes negligible. The only effect of $`H_{SB}`$ is to decohere the qubit system when it evolves freely, i.e., under $`\mathrm{exp}(it(H_B+H_{SB}))`$.

Now suppose the system-bath interaction has a symmetry so that

$$H_{SB}^{yz}=\underset{i}{}\left(\sigma _i^y+\sigma _i^z\right)B_i^{yz}+\sigma _i^xB_i^x.$$

Note that, using Eq. (13), a term of the form $`\mathrm{exp}i\theta (\sigma ^y+\sigma ^z)`$ can be rotated to $`\mathrm{exp}(i\theta \sigma ^y)`$:

$$C_{\sigma ^x}^{\pi /8}\mathrm{exp}\left[i\theta (\sigma ^y+\sigma ^z)/\sqrt{2}\right]=\mathrm{exp}\left(i\theta \sigma ^y\right).$$

Hence

$`C_{\sigma _i^x}^{\pi /8}\mathrm{exp}\left[it\left(\left(\sigma _i^y+\sigma _i^z\right)B_i^{yz}+\sigma _i^xB_i^x\right)\right]=`$
$`\mathrm{exp}\left[it\left(\sqrt{2}\sigma _i^yB_i^{yz}+\sigma _i^xB_i^x\right)\right].`$
But this we can eliminate using the Josephson coupling, since conjugation by $`\sigma _i^z\sigma _{i+1}^z`$ will flip the sign of both $`\sigma _i^y`$ and $`\sigma _i^x`$:

$`\mathrm{exp}\left[it(\sqrt{2}\sigma _i^yB_i^{yz}+\sigma _i^xB_i^x)\right]\times `$
$`\left(C_{\sigma _i^z\sigma _{i+1}^z}^{\pi /2}\mathrm{exp}\left[it\left(\sqrt{2}\sigma _i^yB_i^{yz}+\sigma _i^xB_i^x\right)\right]\right)=I.`$
Performing this in parallel for $`i=1,3,\mathrm{}`$ will suppress the system-bath interaction completely. Again, there is the implicit assumption that during the on-time of the tunneling and Josephson operations $`H_{SB}`$ is negligible. Regarding computation, similar comments as in the previous subsection apply, i.e., those logical operations that commute with the decoupling pulses can be turned on simultaneously with the latter, while those that anticommute cannot. However, the cases

$$H_{SB}^{xy}=\underset{i}{}\left(\sigma _i^x+\sigma _i^y\right)B_i^{xy}+\sigma _i^zB_i^z$$

and

$$H_{SB}^{zx}=\underset{i}{}\left(\sigma _i^z+\sigma _i^x\right)B_i^{zx}+\sigma _i^yB_i^y$$

cannot be dealt with using this decoupling method, given the available interactions. To treat these cases we must introduce an additional short-time assumption, which may or may not be more severe than the usual BB assumption.

### VIII.3 Decoupling Method for System-Bath Interaction Without Symmetry

Suppose again that $`|J_{ij}||\mathrm{\Delta }_i||B_i^x|,|B_i^y|,|B_i^z|`$, but that there is no symmetry in the system-bath interaction, i.e., the case of arbitrary $`H_{SB}=_i\stackrel{}{\sigma }_i\stackrel{}{B}_i`$. Unlike the previous cases, where there was a symmetry in $`H_{SB}`$, we now have to resort to a small time approximation in order to expand the time evolution. Namely

$$e^{i(A+B)}=\underset{n\mathrm{}}{lim}\left(e^{iA/n}e^{iB/n}\right)^n=e^{iA/n}e^{iB/n}+O(\frac{1}{n^2}).$$

To see how this is useful, assume that we leave the system-bath interaction on for a short time, so that:

$$e^{iH_{SB}t/n}=\underset{i=1}{\overset{N}{}}e^{i\sigma _i^xB_i^xt/n}e^{i\sigma _i^yB_i^yt/n}e^{i\sigma _i^zB_i^zt/n}+O(\frac{1}{n^2}),$$
(17)
which can be partly decoupled using the Josephson interaction. First:

$`C_{\sigma _i^z\sigma _{i+1}^z}^{\pi /2}[{\displaystyle \underset{\alpha =x,y,z}{}}e^{i\sigma _i^\alpha B_i^\alpha t/n}]=`$
$`e^{i\sigma _i^xB_i^xt/n}e^{i\sigma _i^yB_i^yt/n}e^{i\sigma _i^zB_i^zt/n}.`$
Therefore:

$`e^{iH_{SB}t/n}\left[C_{_{i=1,3,\mathrm{}}^{N1}\sigma _i^z\sigma _{i+1}^z}^{\pi /2}e^{iH_{SB}t/n}\right]=`$
$`e^{i_i\sigma _i^zB_i^zt/n}+O(n^2).`$
The remaining term can be decoupled using the tunneling Hamiltonian:

$$e^{i_i\sigma _i^zB_i^zt/n}\left[C_{_i^N\sigma _i^x}^{\pi /2}e^{i_i\sigma _i^zB_i^zt/n}\right]=I+O(\frac{1}{n^2}).$$

This procedure requires pulses that are short not only on the time scale of the bath inverse frequency cutoff (for the BB procedure), but also on the time scale of the system-bath interaction \[in order to justify the expansion of the exponential in Eq. (17)\]. We see once more that some decoherence reduction can be performed without using more resources than is required for computation.

## IX Conclusions

By encoding two physical qubits into one logical qubit, or three physical qubits into two logical qubits, we have shown how some of the building blocks that have so far been considered indispensable in superconducting phase-qubit quantum computers, can in fact be eliminated. Moreover, by grouping the code’s ancilla qubits into a single “bus qubit”, we were able to further simplify the engineering constraints on the fabrication of this important class of solid-state qubits. An important additional advantage of the encoding is that it allows one to eliminate potential external sources of noise and decoherence. We have shown how to use decoupling pulse methods in order to further drastically suppress the remaining sources of errors on these encoded qubits, without using extra space resources. We believe that the approach presented here will prove to be useful in reducing design constraints as well as decoherence and noise sources in superconducting phase-qubit quantum computers.

###### Acknowledgements.

We thank Dr. M.H.S. Amin, Dr. G. Rose, and especially Dr. A. Zagoskin for valuable discussions. D.A.L. and L.W. acknowledge financial support from D-Wave Systems, Inc. A.B. was supported by D-Wave Systems, Inc., NSERC, IMSI and FCAR.


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# Wetting of an Ising system with perfect and corrugated surfaces in a transverse field

## 1 Introduction

Recently, the wetting and layering transitions of magnetic Ising systems have been subject of great interest. Experimental studies have motivated much theoretical works in order to understand and explain the growth of thin layers from only single atoms. A simple lattice-gas model with layering transitions has been introduced and studied in the mean field approximation by de Oliveira and Griffiths . Multilayer films adsorbed on attractive substrates may exhibit a variety of possible phase transitions, as has been reviewed by Pandit et al. , Nightingale et al. , Patrykiejew et al.  and Ebner et al. \[5-8\]. One type of transitions is the layering transitions, in which the thickness of a solid film increases discontinuously by one layer as the pressure is increased. Such transitions have been observed in a variety of systems including for example $`{}_{}{}^{4}He`$  and ethylene  adsorbed on graphite. Ebner and Saam  carried out Monte Carlo simulations of such a lattice gas model. Huse  applied renormalization group technique to this model. It allowed the study of the effects on an atomic scale in the adsorbed layers. The lattice gas models applied to the wetting phenomena was reviewed by Dietrich . The effect of finite size on such transitions has been studied, in a thin film confined between parallel planes or walls, by Nakanishi and Fisher  using mean field theory.
The model of transverse field was originally introduced by de Gennes  for hydrogen-bonded ferroelectrics such as $`KH_2PO_4`$. Since then, this model has been applied to several physical systems, like $`DyVO_2`$, and studied by a variety of sophisticated techniques \[18-21\]. In order to study the amorphization of a crystalline Ising ferromagnet with a transverse field, Kaneyoshi  introduced the differential operator technique as a generalised but approximate Callen relation derived by Sa Barreto and Fittipaldi . The system has a finite transition temperature, which can be decreased by increasing the transverse field to a critical value $`\mathrm{\Omega }_c`$. The effect of a transverse field on the critical behaviour and the magnetisation curves was studied \[18-21\] and by Kaneyoshi et al. . Using the perturbative theory, Harris et al.  have studied the layering transitions at $`T=0`$ in the presence of a transverse field. Benyoussef and Ez-Zahraouy have studied the layering transitions of Ising model thin films using a real space renormalization group , and transfer matrix  methods. In a previous work  we have established the effect of temperature and transverse field, for a fixed surface field values, on the wetting and layering transitions of an Ising system with perfect surfaces. The purpose of this work is to study the effect of a corrugated surface on the wetting and layering transitions, of an Ising system spin-$`1/2`$, using the mean field theory. The outline of this work is as follows. In Section $`2`$, the model and method are presented. Section $`3`$ is devoted to study the ground state for the perfect and corrugated surface cases. The results and the phase diagrams obtained are discussed in Section $`4`$.

## 2 Model and method

We consider a film with finite thickness of a three dimensional spin-$`1/2`$ model, with $`N`$ layers, limited by two surfaces. Figure 1 represents the geometry of this system for
$`a)`$ two perfect surfaces,
$`b)`$ presence of a corrugated surface.
The Hamiltonian describing this system can be written as

$$=\underset{<i,j>}{}J_{ij}S_i^zS_j^z\underset{i}{}(H_iS_i^z+\mathrm{\Omega }S_i^x)$$
(1)
where the first summation is carried out over nearest-neighbour pairs of spins. $`S_i^\alpha =\pm 1`$, $`(\alpha =z,x)`$ are the Pauli matrices for a spin $`i`$. The exchange interaction $`J_{ij}=J`$ is assumed to be constant, and $`\mathrm{\Omega }`$ is the transverse field. The total longitudinal field $`H_i`$, applied on a site $`i`$, is distributed according to the nature of the top surface as it is discussed below.
For a system with perfect surfaces, Fig. 1a, $`H_i`$ is assumed to be uniform in a layer $`k`$, and defined by:

$$H_k=\{\begin{array}{ccc}H+H_{s1}\hfill & \text{for}\hfill & k=1\hfill \\ H\hfill & \text{for}\hfill & 1<k<N\hfill \\ H+H_{s_N}\hfill & \text{for}\hfill & k=N\hfill \end{array}$$
(2)
where the surface fields $`H_{s1}`$ and $`H_{s_N}=H_{s1}`$ are applied on the first layer $`k=1`$ and the last layer $`k=N`$, respectively. $`H`$ is the external field applied on the whole system.
For a corrugated surface film with n steps, each step containing L spins in the $`x`$ direction, $`H_i`$ is given by:

$$H_i=\{\begin{array}{ccc}H+H_{s1}\hfill & \text{for}\hfill & iϵS_1\hfill \\ H\hfill & \text{for}\hfill & iϵS_k\text{}1<k<N\hfill \\ H+H_{s_N}\hfill & \text{for}\hfill & iϵS_N\hfill \end{array}$$
(3)
where the surface field $`H_{s1}`$ acts on the corrugated surface $`S_1`$, and $`H_{s_N}=H_{s1}`$ is applied on the bottom surface $`S_N`$, Fig. 1b. The configurations $`S_k(0kN)`$ are defined in Section 3 for both the perfect and corrugated surfaces. $`H`$ is the external field applied on the whole system.
The part of the Hamiltonian describing a site $`i`$, for the perfect and corrugated surfaces, is given by

$$_i=(\underset{ji}{}J_{ij}S_i^z+H_i)S_i^z+\mathrm{\Omega }S_i^x$$
(4)
the summation runs over nearest neighbour sites $`j`$ of $`i`$. The diagonalization of the operator $`_i`$ leads to the eigen values $`\lambda _i^\pm =\pm \sqrt{x_i^2+\mathrm{\Omega }^2}`$, where $`x_i=_{ji}J_{ij}S_i^z+H_i`$.
The magnetisation per site can be written as

$$m_i=\frac{TrS_i^z\mathrm{exp}(\beta H_i)}{Tr\mathrm{exp}(\beta H_i)}=[\frac{(k_i+\lambda _i^+)^2\mathrm{\Omega }^2}{(k_i+\lambda _i^+)^2+\mathrm{\Omega }^2}]\mathrm{tanh}(\beta \sqrt{x_i^2+\mathrm{\Omega }^2}).$$
(5)
Using the mean field theory, the free energy of the system can be written as follows

$$F=\frac{1}{\beta }\underset{i}{}\mathrm{log}(2\mathrm{cosh}(\beta \lambda _i^+))+\frac{1}{2}\underset{i}{}\underset{j}{}J_{ij}m_im_j.$$
(6)
For a simple cubic lattice, the magnetisation and the free energy for each plane $`k`$ are given, respectively, by the following expressions:

$$m_k=\frac{1}{\lambda _k}[4m_k+(m_{k+1}+m_{k1}+H^{^{}})]\mathrm{tanh}(\beta ^{^{}}\lambda _k)$$
(7)
and

$$F_k=\frac{1}{\beta }\mathrm{log}(2\mathrm{cosh}(\beta \lambda _k))+\frac{1}{2}m_k(4m_k+(m_{k+1}+m_{k1})$$
(8)
with

$$\lambda _k=\sqrt{(4m_k+(m_{k+1}+m_{k1})+H^{^{}})^2+\mathrm{\Omega }^{}_{}{}^{}2},$$
(9)
assuming that $`J_{ij}=J`$, the reduced parameters are defined by: $`\beta ^{^{}}=\beta J`$, $`H^{^{}}=\frac{H}{J}`$, $`\mathrm{\Omega }^{^{}}=\frac{\mathrm{\Omega }}{J}`$.

## 3 Ground state

### 3.1 Perfect surface

The ground state of this model is established in Fig. 2a. The start point is a situation where all spins are down: configuration $`S_0`$. For $`H_{s1}/J1`$, we have only one transition, $`S_0S_N`$. By contrast, for $`H_{s1}/J1`$, we have three transitions namely; the first transition, $`S_0S_1`$, arises for $`H/J=1H_{s1}/J`$ , the second transition, $`S_1S_{N1}`$, occurs for $`H/J=0`$, while the last transition $`S_{N1}S_N`$, is seen for $`H/J=1+H_{s1}/J`$. The notation $`S_k(k=0,1,\mathrm{},N)`$ is a situation where, starting from the top surface, k layers are spin-up and the remainder $`Nk`$ layers are spin-down. The Fig. 2a shows that the transitions arise for values of $`H_{s1}/J`$ above a critical value, $`H_{s1}^c/J=1`$.

### 3.2 Corrugated surface

The model is described in section 2, the corresponding ground state is illustrated in Fig. 2b for a system formed with $`N=20`$ layers, $`n=2`$ steps and $`L=10`$ spins, for each step, in the $`x`$ direction. The start point is a situation, called $`S_0`$, where all the spins are down. Under the effect of increasing the surface field $`H_{s1}/J`$, and for a bulk field value $`H/J`$ close to $`1H_{s1}/J`$, the spins of the top external surface, called $`S_1`$, will flip and become up. Increasing the bulk field, the spins of the layer 2 will flip, this situation is noted $`S_2`$. Increasing the bulk field more and more, the spins of the layer 3 will flip, this configuration is noted $`S_3`$, and so on. As it is shown Fig. 2b, the transition $`S_0S_1`$, which appears for $`H/J=1H_{s1}/J`$ and the transition $`S_{N1}S_N`$, arising for $`H/J=1+H_{s1}/J`$, are fixed only by the surface field $`H_{s1}/J`$ value, and do not depend on the parameters $`n`$ and $`L`$. By contrast, the number of transitions parallel to the line $`H/J=0`$ is close to the number of corrugated surfaces $`n`$, and the corresponding value of $`H/J`$ is fixed by the number of spins per step $`L`$. A generalisation of the ground state energy $`E(S_k,n,L,N)`$, of this system, is given in Appendix A, as a function of arbitrary values of the parameters: $`n,L`$ and $`N`$.

## 4 Results and discussion

Numerical results are giving for a system formed with $`N=20`$ ferromagnetic layers of a spin$`1/2`$ Ising model with free bound conditions. In order to examine the temperature effect, in absence of transverse magnetic field, $`\mathrm{\Omega }/J=0`$, on the wetting and layering transitions, we plot in Fig. 3 the corresponding phase diagrams. By increasing the temperature we show the existence of a critical value, $`T_w/J`$, above which a sequence of layering transitions occurs this means that the temperature effect is sufficient to produce layering transitions. This temperature, $`T_w/J`$, is called the ”wetting temperature”, which depends on the transverse field and surface magnetic field values. The first and last layer transitions occur in the absence of the transverse magnetic field, but only under the increasing bulk magnetic field for a temperature $`T/J>T_w/J`$, the other layering transitions arise for increasing temperatures. On the other hand, the corrugation effect is to accelerate the layering transitions phenomenon since the transitions $`S_0S_2`$ and $`S_0S_3`$ are present in the corrugated surface case: Fig. 3b and are absent in the perfect surface situation: Fig 3a. The same behaviour is found when inverting the temperature and the transverse field roles, as it is summarised in Fig. 4. The phase diagrams show that the layer transitions are found for $`\mathrm{\Omega }/J>\mathrm{\Omega }_w/J`$ with increasing transverse magnetic field at fixed temperature. $`\mathrm{\Omega }_w/J`$ is called the ”wetting” transverse field. The same transitions, found in Fig. 3, are still present for the corrugated surface case, Fig. 4b, and disappear for the perfect surface situation, Fig 4a.
Figs. 3 and 4 are plotted for a surface field value $`H_{s1}/J=0.9`$, less than the critical value $`1`$. The effect of increasing the surface field above the critical value is summarised in Figs. 5 and 6 for $`H_{s1}/J=1.2`$. It is worth to note that the ”wetting” parameters, $`T_w/J`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }_w/J`$, disappear since the layering transitions are present even for very low temperature: Figs 5a and 5b, and very low transverse field: Figs 6a and 6b. Furthermore, the transitions $`S_1S_2`$ and $`S_2S_3`$ are present in Figs. 5b and 6b for $`T/J0`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }/J0`$, respectively, in good agreement with the ground state illustrated in Fig. 2b, for the corrugated surface case. On the other hand, the dependency of the wetting temperature $`T_w/J`$ on the wetting transverse field $`\mathrm{\Omega }_w/J`$, is illustrated in Fig. 7, corresponding to the surface field value $`H_{s1}/J=0.9`$, for the both cases: perfect and corrugated surfaces. As it has been outlined above, the corrugation effect is to accelerate the wetting phenomenon since the wetting region, of the phase diagram in Fig. 7, occurs first for the corrugated surface before that one corresponding to the perfect surface.

## 5 Conclusion

Within the mean field theory, we have studied the wetting and layer transitions of a 3-D spin$`1/2`$ Ising model. For a surface field less than the critical value $`1`$, the system exhibits a sequence of layering transitions only above a wetting temperature (wetting transverse field) for fixed transverse field (temperature). For surface fields higher than the critical value, the layering transitions under only under the effect of increasing the bulk field even for $`\mathrm{\Omega }/J=0`$ or $`T/J0`$. Furthermore the corrugation effect is accelerate the layering transitions and wetting phenomena compared to perfect surfaces.

Acknowledgements:
One of the authors L. B. would like to thank the support of the program: PARS Physique $`035`$.

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Figure Captions
Figure 1. Geometry of the model with $`N`$ layers in the $`z`$ direction. The system is infinite in the direction $`y`$ with:
a) perfect surfaces case,
b) presence of a corrugated surface with $`n`$ steps, each step contains $`L`$ spins in the $`x`$ direction.

Figure 2. Ground state phase diagrams in the $`(H/J,H_{s1}/J)`$ plane for:
a) perfect surfaces case with $`N=20`$ layers,
b) corrugated surface case with $`N=20`$ layers, $`n=2`$ steps and $`L=10`$ spins for each step.

Figure 3 Phase diagrams in $`(H/J,T/J)`$ plane for $`H_{s1}/J=0.9`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }/J=0`$
a) perfect surfaces case,
b) presence of a corrugated surface.

Figure 4. Phase diagrams in $`(H/J,\mathrm{\Omega }/J)`$ plane for $`H_{s1}/J=0.9`$ and $`T/J=0.5`$
a) perfect surfaces case,
b) presence of a corrugated surface.

Figure 5. Phase diagrams in $`(H/J,T/J)`$ plane for $`H_{s1}/J=1.2`$ and $`\mathrm{\Omega }/J=0`$
a) perfect surfaces case,
b) presence of a corrugated surface.

Figure 6. Phase diagrams in $`(H/J,\mathrm{\Omega }/J)`$ plane for $`H_{s1}/J=1.2`$ and $`T/J=0.5`$
a) perfect surfaces case,
b) presence of a corrugated surface.

Figure 7. The wetting temperature $`T_w/J`$ dependency on the wetting transverse field $`\mathrm{\Omega }_w/J`$, with fixed surface field $`H_{s1}/J=0.9`$, for the both cases: corrugated and perfect surfaces.

Appendix
Expression of the energy $`E(S_k,n,L,N)`$:
In the following we will investigate, the ground state energy $`E(S_k,n,L,N)`$ as a function of the parameters $`S_k,n,L`$ and $`N`$ (see text). For $`T=0`$ the Hamiltonian of Eq. (1) allows to write :

$$E(S_k,n,L,N)/J=A\times H_{s1}/J+B\times H/J+C.$$
(10)
Where $`A=N_{H_{s1}}`$ is the coefficient of $`H_{s1}`$, $`B=N_H`$ is the coefficient of $`H`$ and $`C=N_J`$ is the coefficient of $`J`$, which depend on the parameters $`S_k,n,L`$ and $`N`$
For a given configuration $`S_k,(x=0,1,\mathrm{},N)`$, of a corrugated surface system formed with $`N`$ layers, $`n`$ steps with $`L`$ spins for each step. These expressions will generate a sequence of transition lines from a configuration $`S_k`$ to a configuration $`S_l`$ when $`0k,lN`$.

### .1 Coefficients $`N_{H_{s1}}(S_k,n,L,N)`$

1- Configuration $`S_0`$ (all spins down): $`N_{H_{s1}}(S_0,n,L,N)=2n`$.
2- Configuration $`S_k,(k=1,\mathrm{},N1)`$): $`N_{H_{s1}}(S_k,n,L,N)=2(n+1)(2L1)`$.
3- Configuration $`S_N`$ ( all spins up): $`N_{H_{s1}}(S_N,n,L,N)=2n`$.

### .2 Coefficients $`N_H(S_k,n,L,N)`$

1- Configuration $`S_0`$:
$`N_H(S_0,n,L,N)=_{z=1}^{n+1}(2z(L1)+1)+(N(n+1))(2(n+1)(L1)+1)`$.
2- Configuration $`S_j:1jn+1`$:
$`N_H(S_j,n,L,N)=_{z=1}^j(2z(L1)+1)+_{z=j+1}^{n+1}(2z(L1)+12L)+(N(n+1))(2(n+1)(L1)+1)`$.
3- Configuration $`S_j:n+1<jN`$:
$`N_H(S_j,n,L,N)=_{z=1}^{n+1}(2z(L1)+1)(j(n+1))(2(n+1)(L1)+1)+(Nj)(2(n+1)(L1)+1)`$.

### .3 Coefficients $`N_J(S_k,n,L,N)`$

1- Configurations $`S_0`$ :
$`N_J(S_0,n,L,N)=(_{z=1}^{n+1}(4(2z(L1))+3)+(N1(n+1))(4(2(n+1)(L1))+3)+(3(2(n+1)(L1))+2))`$.
2- Configuration $`S_1`$:
$`N_J(S_1,n,L,N)=((4L+1)+_{z=2}^n(2(4+2(L2)+4(z(L1)L))+3)+(2(2(L1)+4((n+1)(L1)L))+3)+_{z=n+2}^{N1}(4(2(n+1)(L1))+3)+(3(2(n+1)(L1))+2))`$.
3- Configuration $`S_j:1<j<n+1`$:
$`N_J(S_j,n,L,N)=(_{z=1}^{j1}(5(2z(L1)+1)1)+_{z=j}^n(2(4+2(L2)+4(z(L1)L))+3)+(2(4+2(L2)+4((n+1)(L1)L))+3)+(2(2(L1)+4((n+1)(L1)L))+3)+_{z=n+2}^{N1}(4(2(n+1)(L1))+3)+(3(2(n+1)(L1))+2))`$.
4- Configuration $`S_{n+1}`$:
$`N_J(S_{n+1},n,L,N)=(_{z=1}^n(5(2z(L1)+1)1)+(2(2(n+1)(L1))+1)+_{z=n+2}^{N1}(4(2(n+1)(L1))+3)+(3(2(n+1)(L1))+2))`$.
5-Configuration $`S_j:n+1<jN1`$:
$`N_J(S_j,n,L,N)=(_{z=1}^n(5(2z(L1)+1)1)+_{n+1}^{j1}(4(2(n+1)(L1))+3)+(2(2(n+1)(L1))+1)+_{z=j+1}^{N1}(4(2(n+1)(L1))+3)+(3(2(n+1)(L1))+2)).`$
6-Configuration $`S_N`$:
$`N_J(S_N,n,L,N)=(_{z=1}^n(5(2z(L1)+1)1)+_{n+1}^{N1}(4(2(n+1)(L1))+3)+(3(2(n+1)(L1))+2))`$