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iSWAP gate

Identifier Operator Example statement
ISWAP \(iSWAP\) ISWAP q[0], q[1]

Description

The iSWAP gate is a two-qubit gate. It swaps the state of two qubits, while adding an \(i\) phase factor to part of the state.

Properties

  • Clifford gate;
  • Perfect Entangler (maximally entangles specific product states);
  • Maximum Entangling Power over all uniformly random product states.

Properties

Representation

\[\begin{align} iSWAP &= \left(\begin{matrix} 1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & i & 0 \\ 0 & i & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \end{matrix}\right) \end{align}\]

Operation examples

Standard basis

\[\begin{align} iSWAP\,|00\rangle &= |00\rangle \\ \\ iSWAP\,|01\rangle &= i\,|10\rangle \\ \\ iSWAP\,|10\rangle &= i\,|01\rangle \\ \\ iSWAP\,|11\rangle &= |11\rangle \\ \end{align}\]

Qubit state ordering convention and matrix representation

Note that qubits in a ket are ordered with qubit indices decreasing from left to right, i.e.,

\[|\psi\rangle = \sum c_i~|q_nq_{n-1}~...q_1q_0\rangle_i\]

Note that for matrices a reversed basis ordering convention is adopted, as is done in most textbooks. For instance, in the case of a two-qubit control gate, the matrix is represented such that \(q_0\) is the control qubit and \(q_1\) is the target qubit; the state on which the matrix is applied should then effectively be written as \(|q_0\rangle \otimes |q_1\rangle\).