Abstract:Semiconductor quantum dot (QD) devices have become central to advancements in spin-based quantum computing. As the complexity of QD devices grows, manual tuning becomes increasingly infeasible, necessitating robust and scalable autotuning solutions. Tuning large arrays of QD qubits depends on efficient choices of automated protocols. Here, we introduce a bootstrapping, autonomous testing, and initialization system (BATIS), an automated framework designed to streamline QD device testing and initialization. BATIS navigates high-dimensional gate voltage spaces, automating essential steps such as leakage testing and gate characterization. The current channel formation protocol follows a novel and scalable approach that requires a single measurement regardless of the number of channels. Demonstrated at 1.3 K on a quad-QD Si/Si$_x$Ge$_{1-x}$ device, BATIS eliminates the need for deep cryogenic environments during initial device diagnostics, significantly enhancing scalability and reducing setup times. By requiring minimal prior knowledge of the device architecture, BATIS represents a platform-agnostic solution, adaptable to various QD systems, which bridges a critical gap in QD autotuning.
Abstract:In the physical sciences, there is an increased need for robust feature representations of image data: image acquisition, in the generalized sense of two-dimensional data, is now widespread across a large number of fields, including quantum information science, which we consider here. While traditional image features are widely utilized in such cases, their use is rapidly being supplanted by Neural Network-based techniques that often sacrifice explainability in exchange for high accuracy. To ameliorate this trade-off, we propose a synthetic data-based technique that results in explainable features. We show, using Explainable Boosting Machines (EBMs), that this method offers superior explainability without sacrificing accuracy. Specifically, we show that there is a meaningful benefit to this technique in the context of quantum dot tuning, where human intervention is necessary at the current stage of development.
Abstract:As the deployment of computer vision technology becomes increasingly common in applications of consequence such as medicine or science, the need for explanations of the system output has become a focus of great concern. Unfortunately, many state-of-the-art computer vision models are opaque, making their use challenging from an explanation standpoint, and current approaches to explaining these opaque models have stark limitations and have been the subject of serious criticism. In contrast, Explainable Boosting Machines (EBMs) are a class of models that are easy to interpret and achieve performance on par with the very best-performing models, however, to date EBMs have been limited solely to tabular data. Driven by the pressing need for interpretable models in science, we propose the use of EBMs for scientific image data. Inspired by an important application underpinning the development of quantum technologies, we apply EBMs to cold-atom soliton image data, and, in doing so, demonstrate EBMs for image data for the first time. To tabularize the image data we employ Gabor Wavelet Transform-based techniques that preserve the spatial structure of the data. We show that our approach provides better explanations than other state-of-the-art explainability methods for images.