Loss tolerance in one-way quantum computation via counterfactual error correction
Michael Varnava, Daniel E. Browne, Terry Rudolph
备注：
Published version - much revised and with a new title. Here we now focus solely on the general aspects of the protocol - a much expanded and improved discussion of its application in linear optical quantum computation can now be found in quant-ph/0702044
We introduce a scheme for fault tolerantly dealing with losses (or other "leakage" errors) in cluster state computation that can tolerate up to 50% qubit loss. This is achieved passively using an adaptive strategy of measurement - no coherent measurements or coherent correction is required. Since the scheme relies on inferring information about what would have been the outcome of a measurement had one been able to carry it out, we call this "counterfactual" error correction.
I give an overview of the basic concepts behind quantum error correction and quantum fault tolerance. This includes the quantum error correction conditions, stabilizer codes, CSS codes, transversal gates, fault-tolerant error correction, and the threshold theorem.
In order to build a scalable quantum computer error correction will be required to reduce the impact of errors. Implementing error correction in the framework of measurement based computation manifests itself as the construction of fault tolerant cluster states (FTCSs). While any 2-dimensional stabilizer code can be used to construct a FTCS through the process of foliation, here we find FTCSs that cannot be constructed through foliation of a stabilizer code, and identify new examples of self-dual codes that can still be implemented in a 2-dimensional physical architecture.
The Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill (GKP) encoding of a qubit within an oscillator is particularly appealing for fault-tolerant quantum computing with bosons because Gaussian operations on encoded Pauli eigenstates enable Clifford quantum computing with error correction. We show that applying GKP error correction to Gaussian input states, such as vacuum, produces distillable magic states, achieving universality without additional non-Gaussian elements. Fault tolerance is possible with sufficient squeezing and low enough external noise. Thus, Gaussian operations are sufficient for fault-tolerant, uni…
It is hard to achieve a theoretical quantum advantage on NISQ devices. Besides the attempts to reduce error using error mitigation and dynamical decoupling, small quantum error correction and fault-tolerant schemes that reduce the high overhead of traditional schemes have also been proposed. According to the recent advancements in fault tolerance, it is possible to minimize the number of ancillary qubits using flags. While implementing those schemes is still impossible, it is worthwhile to bridge the gap between the NISQ era and the FTQC era. Here, we introduce a benchmarking method to test fa…
In this paper we introduce a universal operator theoretic framework for quantum fault tolerance. This incorporates a top-down approach that implements a system-level criterion based on specification of the full system dynamics, applied at every level of error correction concatenation. This leads to more accurate determinations of error thresholds than could previously be obtained. This is demonstrated both formally and with an explicit numerical example. The basis for our approach is the Quantum Computer Condition (QCC), an inequality governing the evolution of a quantum computer. We show that…
Gottesman, Kitaev and Preskill have proposed a scheme to encode a qubit in a harmonic oscillator, which is called the GKP code. It is designed to be resistant to small shift errors contained in momentum and position quadratures. Thus there's some intrinsic fault tolerance of the GKP code. In this thesis,we propose a method to utilize all the information contained in the continuous shifts, not just simply map a GKP-encoded qubit to a normal qubit. This method enables us to do maximum-likelihood decisions and thus increase fault-tolerance of the GKP code. This thesis shows that the continuous na…
In general, fault-tolerant quantum error correction (FTQEC) procedures are designed to detect, correct, and be fault-tolerant against errors occurring within the qubit subspace. But in some qubit implementations, additional "leakage" errors can occur in which the system leaves this subspace, and standard FTQEC procedures may not be fault-tolerant against such errors. Generic methods for achieving fault-tolerance against leakage are costly in terms of resources. In this paper we demonstrate that for a leakage model common to many photonic gate implementations, FTQEC can be implemented with far …
It is not so well-known that measurement-free quantum error correction protocols can be designed to achieve fault-tolerant quantum computing. Despite the potential advantages of using such protocols in terms of the relaxation of accuracy, speed and addressing requirements on the measurement process, they have usually been overlooked because they are expected to yield a very bad threshold as compared to error correction protocols which use measurements. Here we show that this is not the case. We design fault-tolerant circuits for the 9 qubit Bacon-Shor code and find a threshold for gates and pr…
We discuss how the presence of gauge sub-systems in the Bacon-Shor code [D. Bacon, Phys. Rev. A 73, 012340 (2006)] leads to remarkably simple and efficient methods for fault-tolerant error correction (FTEC). Most notably, FTEC does not require entangled ancillary states and it can be implemented with nearest-neighbor two-qubit measurements. By using these methods, we prove a lower bound on the quantum accuracy threshold, 1.94 \times 10^{-4} for adversarial stochastic noise, that improves previous lower bounds by nearly an order of magnitude.
Quantum systems, in general, output data that cannot be simulated efficiently by a classical computer, and hence is useful for solving certain mathematical problems and simulating quantum many-body systems. This also implies, unfortunately, that verification of the output of the quantum systems is not so trivial, since predicting the output is exponentially hard. As another problem, quantum system is very delicate for noise and thus needs error correction. Here we propose a framework for verification of the output of fault-tolerant quantum computation in the measurement-based model. Contrast t…
A quantum computer -- i.e., a computer capable of manipulating data in quantum superposition -- would find applications including factoring, quantum simulation and tests of basic quantum theory. Since quantum superpositions are fragile, the major hurdle in building such a computer is overcoming noise. Developed over the last couple of years, new schemes for achieving fault tolerance based on error detection, rather than error correction, appear to tolerate as much as 3-6% noise per gate -- an order of magnitude better than previous procedures. But proof techniques could not show that these pro…
We use a combination of analytical and numerical techniques to calculate the noise threshold and resource requirements for a linear optical quantum computing scheme based on parity-state encoding. Parity-state encoding is used at the lowest level of code concatenation in order to efficiently correct errors arising from the inherent nondeterminism of two-qubit linear-optical gates. When combined with teleported error-correction (using either a Steane or Golay code) at higher levels of concatenation, the parity-state scheme is found to achieve a saving of approximately three orders of magnitude …
This is a comprehensive review on fault-tolerant topological quantum computation with the surface codes. The basic concepts and useful tools underlying fault-tolerant quantum computation, such as universal quantum computation, stabilizer formalism, and measurement-based quantum computation, are also provided in a pedagogical way. Topological quantum computation by brading the defects on the surface code is explained in both circuit-based and measurement-based models in such a way that their relation is clear. The interdisciplinary connections between quantum error correction codes and subjects…
Quantum error correction is necessary to perform large-scale quantum computations in the presence of noise and decoherence. As a result, several aspects of quantum error correction have already been explored. These have been primarily studies of quantum memory[1, 2], an important first step towards quantum computation, where the objective is to increase the lifetime of the encoded quantum information. Additionally, several works have explored the implementation of logical gates[3-5]. In this work we study a next step - fault-tolerantly implementing quantum circuits. We choose the $[[4, 1, 2]]$…
Fault-tolerant (FT) computation by using quantum error correction (QEC) is essential for realizing large-scale quantum algorithms. Devices are expected to have enough qubits to demonstrate aspects of fault tolerance in the near future. However, these near-term quantum processors will only contain a small amount of noisy qubits and allow limited qubit connectivity. Fault-tolerant schemes that not only have low qubit overhead but also comply with geometrical interaction constraints are therefore necessary. In this work, we combine flag fault tolerance with quantum circuit mapping, to enable an e…
We discuss error-correction properties for families of quantum low-density parity check (LDPC) codes with relative distance that tends to zero in the limit of large blocklength. In particular, we show that any family of LDPC codes, quantum or classical, where distance scales as a positive power of the block length, $d \propto n^α$, $α>0$, can correct all errors with certainty if the error rate per (qu)bit is sufficiently small. We specifically analyze the case of LDPC version of the quantum hypergraph-product codes recently suggested by Tillich and Zémor. These codes are a finite-rate generali…
Quantum error correction (QEC) and fault-tolerant quantum computation represent one of the most vital theoretical aspect of quantum information processing. It was well known from the early developments of this exciting field that the fragility of coherent quantum systems would be a catastrophic obstacle to the development of large scale quantum computers. The introduction of quantum error correction in 1995 showed that active techniques could be employed to mitigate this fatal problem. However, quantum error correction and fault-tolerant computation is now a much larger field and many new code…
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 …
Fault-tolerant quantum computers which can solve hard problems rely on quantum error correction. One of the most promising error correction codes is the surface code, which requires universal gate fidelities exceeding the error correction threshold of 99 per cent. Among many qubit platforms, only superconducting circuits, trapped ions, and nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond have delivered those requirements. Electron spin qubits in silicon are particularly promising for a large-scale quantum computer due to their nanofabrication capability, but the two-qubit gate fidelity has been limited to …
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）
Attaining fault tolerance while maintaining low overhead is one of the main challenges in a practical implementation of quantum circuits. One major technique that can overcome this problem is the flag technique, in which high-weight errors arising from a few faults can be detected by a few ancillas and distinguished using subsequent syndrome measurements. The technique can be further improved using the fact that for some families of codes, errors of any weight are logically equivalent if they have the same syndrome and weight parity, as previously shown in [Phys. Rev. A 104, 042410 (2021)]. In…
We develop a generalized theory of quantum error correction (QEC) that applies to any linear map, in particular maps that are not completely positive (CP). This theory describes entanglement-assisted QEC for invertible noise maps, which we use to provides an example of the physical implementation of non-CP recovery maps. We argue that a consistent map-based theory of fault-tolerant QEC (whether Markovian or not) requires linear, non-CP maps, and that this impacts the value of the fault-tolerance threshold.
Discrete-modulated continuous-variable quantum key distribution with homodyne detection is widely recognized for its ease of implementation, efficiency with respect to error correction, and its compatibility with modern optical communication devices. However, recent studies report that the application of homodyne detection obtains poor tolerance to excess noise and insufficient transmission distance, hence seriously restricting the large-scale deployment of quantum secure communication networks. In this paper, we propose a homodyne detection protocol using the quadrature phase shift keying tec…
Quantum information processors promise fast algorithms for problems inaccessible to classical computers. But since qubits are noisy and error-prone, they will depend on fault-tolerant quantum error correction (FTQEC) to compute reliably. Quantum error correction can protect against general noise if -- and only if -- the error in each physical qubit operation is smaller than a certain threshold. The threshold for general errors is quantified by their diamond norm. Until now, qubits have been assessed primarily by randomized benchmarking, which reports a different "error rate" that is not sensit…
We discuss a simple variant of the one-way quantum computing model [R. Raussendorf and H.-J. Briegel, PRL 86, 5188, 2001], called the Pauli measurement model, where measurements are restricted to be along the eigenbases of the Pauli X and Y operators, while auxiliary qubits can be prepared both in the $\ket{+_{π\over 4}}:={1/\sqrt{2}}(\ket{0}+e^{i{π\over 4}}\ket{1})$ state, and the usual $\ket{+}:={1/ \sqrt{2}}(\ket{0}+\ket{1})$ state. We prove the universality of this quantum computation model, and establish a standardization procedure which permits all entanglement and state preparation to b…
In this introduction we motivate and explain the ``decoding'' and ``subsystems'' view of quantum error correction. We explain how quantum noise in QIP can be described and classified, and summarize the requirements that need to be satisfied for fault tolerance. Considering the capabilities of currently available quantum technology, the requirements appear daunting. But the idea of ``subsystems'' shows that these requirements can be met in many different, and often unexpected ways.
The surface code is a prominent topological error-correcting code exhibiting high fault-tolerance accuracy thresholds. Conventional schemes for error correction with the surface code place qubits on a planar grid and assume native CNOT gates between the data qubits with nearest-neighbor ancilla qubits. Here, we present surface code error-correction schemes using $\textit{only}$ Pauli measurements on single qubits and on pairs of nearest-neighbor qubits. In particular, we provide several qubit layouts that offer favorable trade-offs between qubit overhead, circuit depth and connectivity degree.…
A major challenge for quantum computation in ion trap systems is scalable integration of error correction and fault tolerance. We analyze a distributed architecture with rapid high fidelity local control within nodes and entangled links between nodes alleviating long-distance transport. We demonstrate fault-tolerant operator measurements which are used for error correction and non-local gates. This scheme is readily applied to linear ion traps which cannot be scaled up beyond a few ions per individual trap but which have access to a probabilistic entanglement mechanism. A proof-of-concept syst…
Towards fault-tolerance with universal phase-error-transparent gates for high-spin cat codes
Nanyang Technological University（南洋理工大学）；National University of Singapore（新加坡国立大学）；Centre for Quantum Technologies, National University of Singapore（新加坡国立大学量子技术中心）；Institute of Materials Research & Engineering (IMRE), Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A*STAR)（科学技术研究局材料研究与工程研究所）
The purpose of this little survey is to give a simple description of the main approaches to quantum error correction and quantum fault-tolerance. Our goal is to convey the necessary intuitions both for the problems and their solutions in this area. After characterising quantum errors we present several error-correction schemes and outline the elements of a full fledged fault-tolerant computation, which works error-free even though all of its components can be faulty. We also mention alternative approaches to error-correction, so called error-avoiding or decoherence-free schemes. Technical deta…
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}…
We construct two simple error correction schemes adapted to amplitude damping noise for Bacon-Shor codes and investigate their prospects for fault-tolerant implementation. Both consist solely of Clifford gates and require far fewer qubits, relative to the standard method, to achieve correction to a desired order in the damping rate. The first, employing one-bit teleportation and single-qubit measurements, needs only one fourth as many physical qubits, while the second, using just stabilizer measurements and Pauli corrections, needs only half. We show that existing fault-tolerance methods can b…
Reliable qubits are difficult to engineer, but standard fault-tolerance schemes use seven or more physical qubits to encode each logical qubit, with still more qubits required for error correction. The large overhead makes it hard to experiment with fault-tolerance schemes with multiple encoded qubits. The 15-qubit Hamming code protects seven encoded qubits to distance three. We give fault-tolerant procedures for applying arbitrary Clifford operations on these encoded qubits, using only two extra qubits, 17 total. In particular, individual encoded qubits within the code block can be targeted. …
Noise rates in quantum computing experiments have dropped dramatically, but reliable qubits remain precious. Fault-tolerance schemes with minimal qubit overhead are therefore essential. We introduce fault-tolerant error-correction procedures that use only two ancilla qubits. The procedures are based on adding "flags" to catch the faults that can lead to correlated errors on the data. They work for various distance-three codes. In particular, our scheme allows one to test the [[5,1,3]] code, the smallest error-correcting code, using only seven qubits total. Our techniques also apply to the [[7,…
Topological quantum error correction codes are currently among the most promising candidates for efficiently dealing with the decoherence effects inherently present in quantum devices. Numerically, their theoretical error threshold can be calculated by mapping the underlying quantum problem to a related classical statistical-mechanical spin system with quenched disorder. Here, we present results for the general fault-tolerant regime, where we consider both qubit and measurement errors. However, unlike in previous studies, here we vary the strength of the different error sources independently. …
Resource-adaptive distributed fault tolerance with very noisy Bell pairs
University of Bremen（不来梅大学）；École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)（洛桑联邦理工学院）；University of Oxford（牛津大学）；German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence GmbH（德国人工智能研究中心有限公司）
We simulate the implementation of a T-gate, or $\fracπ{8}$-gate, for a [7,1,3] encoded logical qubit in a non-equiprobable error environment. We demonstrate that the use of certain non-fault tolerant methods in the implementation may nevertheless enable reliable quantum computation while reducing basic resource consumption. Reliability is determined by calculating gate fidelities for the one-qubit logical gate. Specifically, we show that despite using a non-fault tolerant procedures in constructing a logical zero ancilla to implement the T-gate the gate fidelity of the logical gate, after perf…
The use of analog classical systems for computation is generally thought to be a difficult proposition due to the susceptibility of these devices to noise and the lack of a clear framework for achieving fault-tolerance. We present experimental results for the application of quantum error correction (QEC) techniques to a prototype analog computational device called a quantum emulation device. It is shown that for the gates tested (transversal $Z$, $X$ and $SH$) there is a marked improvement in the performance characteristics of the gate operations following error correction using the 5-Qubit Pe…
Active quantum error correction using qubit stabilizer codes has emerged as a promising, but experimentally challenging, engineering program for building a universal quantum computer. In this review we consider the formalism of qubit stabilizer and subsystem stabilizer codes and their possible use in protecting quantum information in a quantum memory. We review the theory of fault-tolerance and quantum error-correction, discuss examples of various codes and code constructions, the general quantum error correction conditions, the noise threshold, the special role played by Clifford gates and th…
The main ideas of quantum error correction are introduced. These are encoding, extraction of syndromes, error operators, and code construction. It is shown that general noise and relaxation of a set of 2-state quantum systems can always be understood as a combination of Pauli operators acting on the system. Each quantum error correcting code allows a subset of these errors to be corrected. In many situations the noise is such that the remaining uncorrectable errors are unlikely to arise, and hence quantum error correction has a high probability of success. In order to achieve the best noise to…
