Improving Quantum Protocols in the Presence of Noise

Abstract: 

Quantum technologies hold the promise of performing computation and communication tasks that are infeasible using only classical resources. However, physical and statistical noise have so far acted as barriers to realizing many useful quantum protocols. In this thesis, we explore the effects of noise in a variety of quantum application settings and consider strategies to address these noise sources. This includes fault-tolerant simulation for small codes, hybrid classical-quantum algorithm design for estimating the expectation values of quantum observables, and analysis of the performance and security of noisy dispersive-optics quantum key distribution networks.