We show that quantum feedback control can be used as a quantum error correction process for errors induced by weak continuous measurement. In particular, when the error model is restricted to one, perfectly measured, error channel per physical qubit, quantum feedback can act to perfectly protect a stabilizer codespace. Using the stabilizer formalism we derive an explicit scheme, involving feedback and an additional constant Hamiltonian, to protect an ($n-1$)-qubit logical state encoded in $n$ physical qubits. This works for both Poisson (jump) and white-noise (diffusion) measurement processes. In addition, universal quantum computation is possible in this scheme. As an example, we show that detected-spontaneous emission error correction with a driving Hamiltonian can greatly reduce the amount of redundancy required to protect a state from that which has been previously postulated [e.g., Alber \emph{et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 4402 (2001)].
It was shown by Ahn, Wiseman, and Milburn [PRA {\bf 67}, 052310 (2003)] that feedback control could be used as a quantum error correction process for errors induced by weak continuous measurement, given one perfectly measured error channel per qubit. Here we point out that this method can be easily extended to an arbitrary number of error channels per qubit. We show that the feedback protocols generated by our method encode $n-2$ logical qubits in $n$ physical qubits, thus requiring just one more physical qubit than in the previous case.
Reliable quantum information processing in the face of errors is a major fundamental and technological challenge. Quantum error correction protects quantum states by encoding a logical quantum bit (qubit) in multiple physical qubits. To be compatible with universal fault-tolerant computations, it is essential that the states remain encoded at all times and that errors are actively corrected. Here we demonstrate such active error correction on a continuously protected qubit using a diamond quantum processor. We encode a logical qubit in three long-lived nuclear spins, repeatedly detect phase er…
Two possible applications of random decoupling are discussed. Whereas so far decoupling methods have been considered merely for quantum memories, here it is demonstrated that random decoupling is also a convenient tool for stabilizing quantum algorithms. Furthermore, a decoupling scheme is presented which involves a random decoupling method compatible with detected-jump error correcting quantum codes. With this combined error correcting strategy it is possible to stabilize quantum information against both spontaneous decay and static imperfections of a qubit-based quantum information processor…
We describe an implementation of quantum error correction that operates continuously in time and requires no active interventions such as measurements or gates. The mechanism for carrying away the entropy introduced by errors is a cooling procedure. We evaluate the effectiveness of the scheme by simulation, and remark on its connections to some recently proposed error prevention procedures.
We propose a new approach to study the evolution of a quantum state that is encoded in a system which is continuously subject to the operations required to implement a quantum error correcting code. In the limit of continuous error correction we introduce a Markovian master equation that includes the effects of: a) Hamiltonian evolution, b) errors caused by the interaction with an environment and c) error-correcting operations. The master equation is formally presented for all stabilizer codes and its solution is analyzed for the simplest such code.
We describe a protocol for continuously protecting unknown quantum states from decoherence that incorporates design principles from both quantum error correction and quantum feedback control. Our protocol uses continuous measurements and Hamiltonian operations, which are weaker control tools than are typically assumed for quantum error correction. We develop a cost function appropriate for unknown quantum states and use it to optimize our state-estimate feedback. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we study our protocol for the three-qubit bit-flip code in detail and demonstrate that it can improve…
Real-time adaptive quantum error correction by model-free multi-agent learning
Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Peter Grünberg Institute, Quantum Control (PGI-8)（于利希研究中心，彼得·格林伯格研究所，量子控制）；Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Cologne（科隆大学理论物理研究所）；Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Bologna（博洛尼亚大学物理与天文学系）
Fault-tolerant quantum computation with depolarization error often requires demanding error threshold and resource overhead. If the operations can maintain high noise bias -- dominated by dephasing error with small bit-flip error -- we can achieve hardware-efficient fault-tolerant quantum computation with a more favorable error threshold. Distinct from two-level physical systems, multi-level systems (such as harmonic oscillators) can achieve a desirable set of bias-preserving quantum operations while using continuous engineered dissipation or Hamiltonian protection to stabilize to the encoding…
The storage and processing of quantum information are susceptible to external noise, resulting in computational errors that are inherently continuous A powerful method to suppress these effects is to use quantum error correction. Typically, quantum error correction is executed in discrete rounds where errors are digitized and detected by projective multi-qubit parity measurements. These stabilizer measurements are traditionally realized with entangling gates and projective measurement on ancillary qubits to complete a round of error correction. However, their gate structure makes them vulnerab…
We investigate the continuous quantum measurement of a superconducting qubit undergoing fluorescence. The fluorescence of the qubit is detected via a phase-preserving heterodyne measurement, giving the fluorescence quadrature signals as two continuous qubit readout results. By using the stochastic path integral approach to the measurement physics, we derive most likely paths between boundary conditions on the state, and compute approximate time correlation functions between all stochastic variables via diagrammatic perturbation theory. We focus on paths that increase in energy during the conti…
Quantum error correcting codes (QECC) are the key ingredients both for fault-tolerant quantum computation and quantum communication. Teleportation-based error correction (TEC) helps in detecting and correcting operational and erasure errors by performing X and Z measurements during teleportation. Here we demonstrate the TEC protocol for the detection and correction of a single bit-flip error by proposing a new quantum circuit. A single phase-flip error can also be detected and corrected using the above protocol. For the first time, we illustrate detection and correction of erasure error in the…
Quantum gates in topological quantum computation are performed by braiding non-Abelian anyons. These braiding processes can presumably be performed with very low error rates. However, to make a topological quantum computation architecture truly scalable, even rare errors need to be corrected. Error correction for non-Abelian anyons is complicated by the fact that it needs to be performed on a continuous basis and further errors may occur while we are correcting existing ones. Here, we provide the first study of this problem and prove its feasibility, establishing non-Abelian anyons as a viable…
Error-correcting codes are usually envisioned to counter errors by operating unitary corrections depending on the projective measurement results of some syndrome observables. We here propose a way to use them in a more integrated way, where the error correction is applied continuously and autonomously by an engineered environment. We focus on a proposal for the repetition code that counters bit-flip errors, and how to scale up the network encoding a logical quantum bit, towards stronger information protection. The challenge has been to devise a network architecture which allows to autonomously…
To build a universal quantum computer from fragile physical qubits, effective implementation of quantum error correction (QEC) is an essential requirement and a central challenge. Existing demonstrations of QEC are based on a schedule of discrete error syndrome measurements and adaptive recovery operations. These active routines are hardware intensive, prone to introducing and propagating errors, and expected to consume a vast majority of the processing power in a large-scale quantum computer. In principle, QEC can be realized autonomously and continuously by tailoring dissipation within the q…
In measurement-based quantum computing an algorithm is performed by measurements on highly-entangled resource states. To date, several implementations were demonstrated, all of them assuming perfect noise-free environments. Here we consider measurement-based information processing in the presence of noise and demonstrate quantum error detection. We implement the protocol using a four-qubit photonic cluster state, where we first encode a general qubit non-locally such that phase errors can be detected. We then read out the error syndrome and analyze the output states after decoding. Our demonst…
Most quantum error correcting codes are predicated on the assumption that there exists a reservoir of qubits in the state $\ket{0}$, which can be used as ancilla qubits to prepare multi-qubit logical states. In this report, we examine the consequences of relaxing this assumption, and propose a method to increase the fidelity produced by a given code when the ancilla qubits are initialized in mixed states, using the same number of qubits, at most doubling the number of gates. The procedure implemented consists of altering the encoding operator to include the inverse of the unitary operation use…
Although qubit coherence times and gate fidelities are continuously improving, logical encoding is essential to achieve fault tolerance in quantum computing. In most encoding schemes, correcting or tracking errors throughout the computation is necessary to implement a universal gate set without adding significant delays in the processor. Here we realize a classical control architecture for the fast extraction of errors based on multiple cycles of stabilizer measurements and subsequent correction. We demonstrate its application on a minimal bit-flip code with five transmon qubits, showing that …
We derive an effective equation of motion within the steady-state subspace of a large family of Markovian open systems (i.e., Lindbladians) due to perturbations of their Hamiltonians and system-bath couplings. Under mild and realistic conditions, competing dissipative processes destructively interfere without the need for fine-tuning and produce no dissipation within the steady-state subspace. In quantum error-correction, these effects imply that continuously error-correcting Lindbladians are robust to calibration errors, including miscalibrations consisting of operators undetectable by the co…
Canonical discrete quantum error correction (DQEC) schemes use projective von Neumann measurements on stabilizers to discretize the error syndromes into a finite set, and fast unitary gates are applied to recover the corrupted information. Quantum error correction (QEC) based on continuous measurement, known as continuous quantum error correction (CQEC), in principle, can be executed faster than DQEC and can also be resource efficient. However, CQEC requires meticulous filtering of noisy continuous measurement data to reliably extract error syndromes on the basis of which errors could be detec…
Quantum error correction plays an important role in fault-tolerant quantum information processing. It is usually difficult to experimentally realize quantum error correction, as it requires multiple qubits and quantum gates with high fidelity. Here we propose a simple quantum error-correcting code for the detected amplitude damping channel. The code requires only two qubits. We implement the encoding, the channel, and the recovery on an optical platform, the IBM Q System, and a nuclear magnetic resonance system. For all of these systems, the error correction advantage appears when the damping …
The tolerable erasure error rate for scalable quantum computation is shown to be at least 0.292, given standard scalability assumptions. This bound is obtained by implementing computations with generic stabilizer code teleportation steps that combine the necessary operations with error correction. An interesting consequence of the technique is that the only errors that affect the maximum tolerable error rate are storage and Bell measurement errors. If storage errors are negligible, then any detected Bell measurement error below 1/2 is permissible. Another consequence of the technique is that t…
We present a scheme for correcting qubit loss error while quantum computing with neutral atoms in an addressable optical lattice. The qubit loss is first detected using a quantum non-demolition measurement and then transformed into a standard qubit error by inserting a new atom in the vacated lattice site. The logical qubit, encoded here into four physical qubits with the Grassl-Beth-Pellizzari code, is reconstructed via a sequence of one projective measurement, two single-qubit gates, and three controlled-NOT operations. No ancillary qubits are required. Both quantum non-demolition and projec…
Scalable quantum computing and communication requires the protection of quantum information from the detrimental effects of decoherence and noise. Previous work tackling this problem has relied on the original circuit model for quantum computing. However, recently a family of entangled resources known as graph states has emerged as a versatile alternative for protecting quantum information. Depending on the graph's structure, errors can be detected and corrected in an efficient way using measurement-based techniques. In this article we report an experimental demonstration of error correction u…
Accurate methods of assessing the performance of quantum gates are extremely important. Quantum process tomography and randomized benchmarking are the current favored methods. Quantum process tomography gives detailed information, but significant approximations must be made to reduce this information to a form quantum error correction simulations can use. Randomized benchmarking typically outputs just a single number, the fidelity, giving no information on the structure of errors during the gate. Neither method is optimized to assess gate performance within an error detection circuit, where ga…
The cat code is a promising encoding scheme for bosonic quantum error correction as it allows for correction against losses--the dominant error mechanism in most bosonic systems. However, for losses to be detected efficiently without disturbing the encoded logical information, one needs to implement a parity measurement of the excitation number. While such a measurement has been demonstrated in the microwave regime using a superconducting transmon ancilla, it has remained unclear how it can be implemented in the optical regime. Here, we introduce a teleportation-based error-correction scheme f…
Quantum processing architectures that include multiple qubit modalities offer compelling strategies for high-fidelity operations and readout, quantum error correction, and a path for scaling to large system sizes. Such hybrid architectures have been realized for leading platforms, including superconducting circuits and trapped ions. Recently, a new approach for constructing large, coherent quantum processors has emerged based on arrays of individually trapped neutral atoms. However, these demonstrations have been limited to arrays of a single atomic element where the identical nature of the at…
It is shown how possible corrections to ordinary quantum mechanics described by the Lindblad equation might be detected by exploiting the great precision of atomic clocks.
The Generalized Uncertainty Principle (GUP) is a modification of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle predicted by several theories of quantum gravity. In this work, we compute GUP corrections to the well-known Jaynes-Cummings Model (JCM) with the aim of eventually observing quantum gravity effects in quantum optical systems. To this end, we first analytically solve the GUP-corrected JCM and obtain the corrected Rabi frequency in the quadratic GUP model. Following this, we calculate the effects of a dispersive interaction with light in a coherent state and show that this gives rise to photon-add…
A very interesting quantum mechanical effect is the emergence of gravity-induced interference, which has already been detected. This effect also shows us that gravity is at the quantum level not a purely geometric effect, the mass of the employed particles appears explicitly in the interference expression. In this work we will generalize some previous results. It will be shown that the introduction of a second order approximation in the propagator of a particle, immersed in the Earth's gravitational field, and whose coordinates are being continuously monitored, allows us to include, in the cor…
Active error decoding and correction of topological quantum codes - in particular the toric code - remains one of the most viable routes to large scale quantum information processing. In contrast, passive error correction relies on the natural physical dynamics of a system to protect encoded quantum information. However, the search is ongoing for a completely satisfactory passive scheme applicable to locally-interacting two-dimensional systems. Here, we investigate dynamical decoders that provide passive error correction by embedding the decoding process into local dynamics. We propose a speci…
