QUANTUM COMPUTING

(19EPH471)
Unit 1: Introduction to quantum computing
Lecture 1_4
M Chaitanya Varma cmudunur@gitam.edu
Department of Physics 9440236906
GITAM School of Science
GITAM
Classical Bit Qubit
A qubit (pronounced “cue-bit” and short for quantum bit) is the physical carrier of quantum
information. It is the quantum version of a bit, and its quantum state can be written in terms of
two levels, labelled |0> and |1>, which can be represented in the “computational basis” by two-
dimensional vectors:
any arbitrary state can be represented as:

where α and β are complex probability amplitudes. α and β are constrained by the equation
∣α∣2 + ∣β∣2 = 1.
The probability that the qubit will be measured in the state ∣0⟩ is ∣α∣2 and the probability that
it will be measured in the state ∣1⟩ is ∣β∣2. Hence the total probability of the system being
observed in either state ∣0⟩ or ∣1⟩ is 1.
This is significantly different from the state of a classical bit, which can only take the value 0
or 1.
A qubit's most important distinction from a classical bit, however, is not the continuous nature
of the state (which can be replicated by any analog quantity), but the fact that multiple qubits
can exhibit quantum entanglement.

Entanglement is a nonlocal property that allows a set of qubits to express superpositions of

different binary strings (01010 and 11111, for example) simultaneously. Such "quantum
parallelism" is one of the keys to the potential power of quantum computation.

In essence, each independent state of the quantum particle used in the computer can follow its
own independent computation path to conclusion while its other states are observed and
changed.

A number of qubits taken together is a quantum register. Quantum computers perform

calculations by manipulating qubits.
Bloch Sphere representation
Bloch sphere is a physical representation of all possible qubit states.
Each qubit is in its essence a vector on Bloch’s sphere. Each vector on the sphere can be represented
in two basis: θ and ϕ. The first is θ which is the angle between the vector and the z-axis. The second
is ϕ which is the angle between the vector and the positive x-axis measuring counter-clockwise.
https://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/physics/quvis/simulations_html5/sims/blochsphere/blochsphere.html
Quantum Superposition

which describes a quantity which can be represented as |ψ> = α|0> +β|1> – a linear

combination. Thus, the quantity |ψ>, a qubit state, can always be written as a linear combination
of its two measureable states. A classical bit cannot be written as a general linear combination

because, as highlighted above, either one of α or β must always be zero.

The terms superposition and linear combination are used almost synonymously when it comes to
qubits. However, the term superposition should be reserved for a particular linear combination:
1
the one where α and β are both equal to .2
 Understanding Qubit Notation

https://benjaminwhiteside.com/2020/11/15/understanding-qubit-notation/
 Single Qubit Gates (qiskit.org)
Single Qubit Gates

|q⟩=cosθ/2|0⟩+eiϕsinθ/2|1⟩

The Pauli Gates

The Y & Z-gates

The Hadamard Gate
The P-gate
The P-gate (phase gate) is parametrised, that is, it needs a number (ϕϕ) to tell it exactly what to do. The P-gate
performs a rotation of ϕϕ around the Z-axis direction. It has the matrix form: