Quantum information processing via a lossy bus

Abstract

We describe a method to perform two qubit measurements and logic operations on pairs of qubits which each interact with a harmonic oscillator degree of freedom (the \emph{bus}), but do not directly interact with one another. Our scheme uses only weak interactions between the qubit and the bus, homodyne measurements, and single qubit operations. In contrast to earlier schemes, the technique presented here is extremely robust to photon loss in the bus mode, and can function with high fidelity even when the rate of photon loss is comparable to the strength of the qubit-bus coupling.