Fault-tolerant quantum error correction requires the measurement of error syndromes in a way that minimizes correlated errors on the quantum data. Steane and Shor ancilla are two well-known methods for fault-tolerant syndrome extraction. In this paper, we find a unifying construction that generates a family of ancilla blocks that interpolate between Shor and Steane. This family increases the complexity of ancilla construction in exchange for reducing the rounds of measurement required to fault-tolerantly measure the error. We then apply this construction to the toric code of size $L\times L$ and find that blocks of size $m\times m$ can be used to decode errors in $O(L/m)$ rounds of measurements. Our method can be applied to any Calderbank-Shor-Steane codes and presents a new direction for optimizing fault-tolerant quantum computation.
Steane's seven-qubit quantum code is a natural choice for fault-tolerance experiments because it is small and just two extra qubits are enough to correct errors. However, the two-qubit error-correction technique, known as "flagged" syndrome extraction, works slowly, measuring only one syndrome at a time. This is a disadvantage in experiments with high qubit rest error rates. We extend the technique to extract multiple syndromes at once, without needing more qubits. Qubits for different syndromes can flag errors in each other. This gives equally fast and more qubit-efficient alternatives to Ste…
To perform achieve fault-tolerant quantum computation, one can use flagged syndrome extraction with fewer ancilla qubits. However, it suffers from long circuit depth if one stabilizer is measured at a time. Previously, Reichardt showed that it is possible to measure multiple stabilizers with at most one shared flag qubit for certain small quantum codes. In this paper, we propose a procedure for general Calderbank-Shor-Steane codes of distance three so that multiple $Z$-stabilizers ($X$-stabilizers) can be fault-tolerantly measured in parallel with one shared flag qubit. We simulate the memory …
In this work we explore the accuracy of quantum error correction depending of the order of the implemented syndrome measurements. CSS codes require bit-flip and phase flip-syndromes be measured separately. To comply with fault tolerant demands and to maximize accuracy this set of syndrome measurements should be repeated allowing for flexibility in the order of their implementation. We examine different possible orders of Shor state and Steane state syndrome measurements for the [[7,1,3]] quantum error correction code. We find that the best choice of syndrome order, determined by the fidelity o…
Continuous-angle logical rotations in the Steane code
Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, NIST/University of Maryland（量子信息与计算机科学联合中心，美国国家标准与技术研究院/马里兰大学）；IonQ, Inc.（IonQ公司）；Department of Physics, The University of Texas at Austin（德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校物理系）；Duke Quantum Center, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering and Department of Physics, Duke University（杜克大学量子中心、电气与计算机工程系及物理系）；National Institute of Standards and Technology（美国国家标准与技术研究院）
We schedule the Steane [[7,1,3]] error correction on a model ion trap architecture with ballistic transport. We compare the level one error rates for syndrome extraction using the Shor method of ancilla prepared in verified cat states to the DiVincenzo-Aliferis method without verification. The study examines how the quantum error correction circuit latency and error vary with the number of available ancilla and the choice of protocol for ancilla preparation and measurement. We find that with few exceptions the DiVincenzo-Aliferis method without cat state verification outperforms the standard S…
Quantum error correction (QEC) entails the encoding of quantum information into a QEC code space, measuring error syndromes to properly locate and identify errors, and, if necessary, applying a proper recovery operation. Here we compare three syndrome measurement protocols for the [[7,1,3]] QEC code: Shor states, Steane states, and one ancilla qubit by simulating the implementation of 50 logical gates with the syndrome measurements interspersed between the gates at different intervals. We then compare the fidelities for the different syndrome measurement types. Our simulations show that the op…
Fault-tolerant quantum computation using quantum error-correcting codes requires fault-tolerant constructions of nontransversal gates. Shor proposed a fault-tolerant construction of a nontransversal gate, i.e., the Toffoli gate for a family of the Calderbank-Shor-Steane codes which has even-weight stabilizer generators and odd-weight logical operators. In fact, as shown in this paper, error propagations in the ancilla preparation of Shor's construction lead to logical errors. This work provides a solution to this problem through the insertion of bit flip error correction. Finally, error rates …
Imperfect measurement can degrade a quantum error correction scheme. A solution that restores fault tolerance is to add redundancy to the process of syndrome extraction. In this work, we show how to optimize this process for an arbitrary ratio of data qubit error probability to measurement error probability. The key is to design the measurements so that syndromes that correspond to different errors are separated by the maximum distance in the signal space, in close analogy to classical error correction codes. We find that the mathematical theory of 2-designs, appropriately modified, is the rig…
Stabilizer states are extensively studied in quantum information theory for their structures based on the Pauli group. Calderbank-Shor-Steane (CSS) stabilizer states are of particular importance in their application to fault-tolerant quantum computation (FTQC). However, how to fault-tolerantly prepare arbitrary CSS stabilizer states for general CSS stabilizer codes is still unknown, and their preparation can be highly costly in computational resources. In this paper, we show how to prepare a large class of CSS stabilizer states useful for FTQC. We propose distillation protocols using syndrome …
We expand the class of holographic quantum error correcting codes by developing the notion of block perfect tensors, a wider class that includes previously defined perfect tensors. The relaxation of this constraint opens up a range of other holographic codes. We demonstrate this by introducing the self-dual CSS heptagon holographic code, based on the 7-qubit Steane code. Finally we show promising thresholds for the erasure channel by applying a straightforward, optimal erasure decoder to the heptagon code and benchmark it against existing holographic codes.
It is shown that a classical error correcting code C = [n,k,d] which contains its dual, C^{\perp} \subseteq C, and which can be enlarged to C' = [n,k' > k+1, d'], can be converted into a quantum code of parameters [[ n, k+k' - n, min(d, 3d'/2) ]]. This is a generalisation of a previous construction, it enables many new codes of good efficiency to be discovered. Examples based on classical Bose Chaudhuri Hocquenghem (BCH) codes are discussed.
In this paper, we utilize a concatenation scheme to construct new families of quantum error correction codes achieving the quantum Gilbert-Varshamov (GV) bound asymptotically. We concatenate alternant codes with any linear code achieving the classical GV bound to construct Calderbank-Shor-Steane (CSS) codes. We show that the concatenated code can achieve the quantum GV bound asymptotically and can approach the Hashing bound for asymmetric Pauli channels. By combing Steane's enlargement construction of CSS codes, we derive a family of enlarged stabilizer codes achieving the quantum GV bound for…
Shor and Steane ancilla are two well-known methods for fault-tolerant logical measurements, which are successful on small codes and their concatenations. On large quantum low-density-parity-check (LDPC) codes, however, Shor and Steane measurements have impractical time and space overhead respectively. In this work, we widen the choice of ancilla codes by unifying Shor and Steane measurements into a single framework, called homomorphic measurements. For any Calderbank-Shor-Steane (CSS) code with the appropriate ancilla code, one can avoid repetitive measurements or complicated ancilla state pre…
In this work we discuss the ability of different types of ancillas to control the decoherence of a qubit interacting with an environment. The error is introduced into the numerical simulation via a depolarizing isotropic channel. After the correction we calculate the fidelity as a quality criterion for the qubit recovered. We observe that a recovery method with a three-qubit ancilla provides reasonable good results bearing in mind its economy. If we want to go further, we have to use fault-tolerant ancillas with a high degree of parallelism, even if this condition implies introducing new ancil…
We propose two schemes to obtain Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill (GKP) error syndromes by means of linear optical operations, homodyne measurements and GKP ancillae. This includes showing that for a concatenation of GKP codes with a $[n,k,d]$ stabilizer code only $2n$ measurements are needed in order to obtain the complete syndrome information, significantly reducing the number of measurements in comparison to the canonical concatenated measurement scheme and at the same time generalizing linear-optics-based syndrome detections to higher GKP codes. Furthermore, we analyze the possibility of building…
Clifford circuits play an important role in quantum computation. Gottesman and Chuang proposed a gate teleportation protocol so that a quantum circuit can be implemented by the teleportation circuit with specific ancillary qubits. In particular, an $n$-qubit Clifford circuit $U$ can be implemented by preparing an ancillary stabilizer state $(I\otimes U)|Φ^+\rangle^{\otimes n}$ for teleportation and doing a Pauli correction conditioned on the measurement. In this paper, we provide an alternative procedure to implement a Clifford circuit through Pauli measurements, by preparing $O(1)$ ancillas t…
Quantum computers will need effective error-correcting codes. Current quantum processors require precise control of each particle, so having fewer particles to control might be beneficial. Although traditionally quantum computers are considered as using qubits (2-level systems), qudits (systems with more than 2-levels) are appealing since they can have an equivalent computational space using fewer particles, meaning fewer particles need to be controlled. In this work we prove how to construct codes with parameters $[[2^N,2^N-1-2N,\geq 3]]_q$ for any choice of prime $q$ and natural number $N$. …
After Mayers (1996, 2001) gave a proof of the security of the Bennett-Brassard 1984 (BB84) quantum key distribution protocol, Shor and Preskill (2000) made a remarkable observation that a Calderbank-Shor-Steane (CSS) code had been implicitly used in the BB84 protocol, and suggested its security could be proven by bounding the fidelity, say F(n), of the incorporated CSS code of length n in the form 1-F(n) <= exp[-n E+o(n)] for some positive number E. This work presents such a number E=E(R) as a function of the rate of a code R, and a threshold R' such that E(R)>0 whenever R < R', which is large…
Performing active quantum error correction to protect fragile quantum states highly depends on the correctness of error information--error syndromes. To obtain reliable error syndromes using imperfect physical circuits, we propose the idea of quantum data-syndrome (DS) codes that are capable of correcting both data qubits and syndrome bits errors. We study fundamental properties of quantum DS codes, including split weight enumerators, generalized MacWilliams identities, and linear programming bounds. In particular, we derive Singleton and Hamming-type upper bounds on degenerate quantum DS code…
A major goal for fault-tolerant quantum computation (FTQC) is to reduce the overhead needed for error correction. One approach is to use block codes that encode multiple qubits, which can achieve significantly higher rates for the same code distance than single-qubit code blocks or topological codes. We present a scheme for universal quantum computation using multi-qubit Calderbank-Shor-Steane (CSS) block codes, where codes admitting different transversal gates are used to achieve universality, and logical teleportation is used to move qubits between code blocks. All circuits for both computat…
The error correcting capabilities of the Calderbank-Shor-Steane [[7,1,3]] quantum code, together with a fault-tolerant syndrome extraction by means of several ancilla states, have been numerically studied. A simple probability expression to characterize the code ability for correcting an encoded qubit has been considered. This probability, as a correction quality criterion, permits the error correction capabilities among different recovery schemes to be compared. The memory error threshold is calculated by means of the best method of those considered.
We explore the effect of Shor state construction methods on logical state encoding and quantum error correction for the [[7,1,3]] Calderbank-Shor-Steane quantum error correction code in a nonequiprobable error environment. We determine the optimum number of verification steps to be used in Shor state construction and whether Shor states without verification are usable for practical quantum computation. These results are compared to the same processes of encoding and error correction where Shor states are not used. We demonstrate that the construction of logical zero states with no first order …
Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science, University of Maryland（量子信息与计算机科学联合中心，马里兰大学）；Shanghai Institute for Mathematics and Interdisciplinary Sciences (SIMIS)（上海数学与交叉学科研究院）；Yau Mathematical Sciences Center, Tsinghua University（清华大学丘成桐数学科学中心）
Fault-tolerant quantum computation (FTQC) schemes using large block codes that encode $k>1$ qubits in $n$ physical qubits can potentially reduce the resource overhead to a great extent because of their high encoding rate. However, the fault-tolerant (FT) logical operations for the encoded qubits are difficult to find and implement, which usually takes not only a very large resource overhead but also long $\textit{in-situ}$ computation time. In this paper, we focus on Calderbank-Shor-Steane $[\![ n,k,d ]\!]$ (CSS) codes and their logical FT Clifford circuits. We show that the depth of an arbitr…
Motivated by limitations and capabilities of neutral atom qubits, we examine whether measurement-free error correction can produce practical error thresholds. We show that this can be achieved by extracting redundant syndrome information, giving our procedure extra fault tolerance and eliminating the need for ancilla verification. The procedure is particularly favorable when multi-qubit gates are available for the correction step. Simulations of the bit-flip, Bacon-Shor, and Steane codes indicate that coherent error correction can produce threshold error rates that are on the order of $10^{-3}…
Decoherence is the main problem to be solved before quantum computers can be built. To control decoherence, it is possible to use error correction methods, but these methods are themselves noisy quantum computation processes. In this work we study the ability of Steane's and Shor's fault-tolerant recovering methods, as well a modification of Steane's ancilla network, to correct errors in qubits. We test a way to measure correctly ancilla's fidelity for these methods, and state the possibility of carrying out an effective error correction through a noisy quantum channel, even using noisy error …
Correcting errors in real time is essential for reliable large-scale quantum computations. Realizing this high-level function requires a system capable of several low-level primitives, including single-qubit and two-qubit operations, mid-circuit measurements of subsets of qubits, real-time processing of measurement outcomes, and the ability to condition subsequent gate operations on those measurements. In this work, we use a ten qubit QCCD trapped-ion quantum computer to encode a single logical qubit using the $[[7,1,3]]$ color code, first proposed by Steane~\cite{steane1996error}. The logical…
In this paper we show how the fault--tolerant error correction scheme recently proposed by DiVincenzo and Shor may be improved. Our scheme, unlike the earlier one, can also deal with a single error that might occur {\em during} the gate operations that are required for the implementation of the error correction and not only in--between the gates and hence presents an improvement towards enabling error correction and with it the practical possibility of some more involved quantum computations, such as e.g. factorization of large numbers.
In the shallow sub-threshold regime, fault-tolerant quantum computation requires a tremendous amount of qubits. In this paper, we study the error correction in the deep sub-threshold regime. We estimate the physical error rate for achieving the logical error rates of $10^{-6} - 10^{-15}$ using few-qubit codes, i.e. short repetition codes, small surface codes and the Steane code. Error correction circuits that are efficient for biased error channels are identified. Using the Steane code, when error channels are biased with a ratio of $10^{-3}$, the logical error rate of $10^{-15}$ can be achiev…
CSS codes are a subfamily of stabilizer codes especially appropriate for fault-tolerant quantum computations. A very simple method is proposed to encode a general qudit when a Calderbank-Shor-Steane quantum code, defined over a q-ary alphabet, is used.
We optimize fault-tolerant quantum error correction to reduce the number of syndrome bit measurements. Speeding up error correction will also speed up an encoded quantum computation, and should reduce its effective error rate. We give both code-specific and general methods, using a variety of techniques and in a variety of settings. We design new quantum error-correcting codes specifically for efficient error correction, e.g., allowing single-shot error correction. For codes with multiple logical qubits, we give methods for combining error correction with partial logical measurements. There ar…
We present a quantum circuit synthesis algorithm for implementing universal fault-tolerant quantum computing based on concatenated codes. To realize fault-tolerant quantum computing, the fault-tolerant quantum protocols should be transformed into executable quantum circuits based on the nearest-neighbor interaction. Unlike topological codes that are defined based on local operations fundamentally, for the concatenated codes, it is possible to obtain the circuits composed of the local operations by applying the quantum circuit synthesis. However, by the existing quantum circuit synthesis develo…
We discuss a method to construct quantum codes correcting amplitude damping errors via code concatenation. The inner codes are chosen as asymmetric Calderbank-Shor-Steane (CSS) codes. By concatenating with outer codes correcting symmetric errors, many new codes with good parameters are found, which are better than the amplitude damping codes obtained by any previously known construction.
We study the performance of Bacon-Shor codes, quantum subsystem codes which are well suited for applications to fault-tolerant quantum memory because the error syndrome can be extracted by performing two-qubit measurements. Assuming independent noise, we find the optimal block size in terms of the bit-flip error probability p_X and the phase error probability p_Z, and determine how the probability of a logical error depends on p_X and p_Z. We show that a single Bacon-Shor code block, used by itself without concatenation, can provide very effective protection against logical errors if the noise…
In quantum error correction, information is encoded in a high-dimensional system to protect it from the environment. A crucial step is to use natural, low-weight operations with an ancilla to extract information about errors without causing backaction on the encoded system. Essentially, ancilla errors must not propagate to the encoded system and induce errors beyond those which can be corrected. The current schemes for achieving this fault-tolerance to ancilla errors come at the cost of increased overhead requirements. An efficient way to extract error syndromes in a fault-tolerant manner is b…
