iSWAP Gate | Entangling Swap with Imaginary Phase
Quick Technical Answer:
The iSWAP gate exchanges the states of two qubits while imparting an imaginary phase factor i to the |01⟩ and |10⟩ transitions. It is a native two-qubit gate in direct-coupled superconducting transmon processors.
Formula / Unitary:
iSWAP = \begin{pmatrix} 1 & 0 & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & i & 0 \\ 0 & i & 0 & 0 \\ 0 & 0 & 0 & 1 \end{pmatrix}
Simulate this in Itachi Quantum Studio
Inspect state amplitudes, 3D Bloch sphere vector, and OpenQASM code live.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is iSWAP related to SWAP?
Two consecutive iSWAP gates produce a SWAP combined with a Z ⊗ Z phase shift. iSWAP is locally equivalent to generating 1/2 e-bit of entanglement.