Full Quantum Process Tomography of a Universal Entangling Gate on an IBM’s Quantum Computer

Characterizing quantum dynamics is critical in quantum physics, quantum information science, and computation, where the precision of quantum gates plays a key role. We present a comprehensive experimental analysis of the SQSCZ gate–a novel universal two-qubit entangling gate combining √SWAP SWAP and √CZ CZ operations–on superconducting quantum hardware. Leveraging quantum process tomography via the Choi-Jamiołkowski isomorphism, we benchmark the gate’s performance across different noise environments. Experimental results demonstrate high process fidelities of $$97.27%$$ 97.27 % (quantum simulator) and $$88.99%$$ 88.99 % (quantum hardware), revealing remarkable noise resilience. Owing to its hybrid architecture, circuit depth reduction capabilities, and hardware-efficient decomposition into only two CNOT gates, the SQSCZ gate holds strong potential for near-term quantum applications, including the Quantum Fourier Transform and Variational Quantum Eigensolvers for molecular simulations. These findings establish the SQSCZ gate as a promising primitive for NISQ-era quantum algorithms, while providing key insights into gate-level error processes in superconducting quantum processors.