Normal form for single-qutrit Clifford+T operators and synthesis of single-qutrit gates

Abstract

We study single-qutrit gates composed of Clifford and $T$ gates, using the qutrit version of the $T$ gate proposed by Howard and Vala. We propose a normal form for single-qutrit gates analogous to the Matsumoto-Amano normal form for qubits. We prove that the normal form is optimal with respect to the number of $T$ gates used and that any string of qutrit Clifford+$T$ operators can be put into this normal form in polynomial time. We also prove that this form is unique and provide an algorithm for exact synthesis of any single qutrit Clifford+$T$ operator.