Aosai Zhang, Haipeng Xie, Yu Gao, Jia-Nan Yang, Zehang Bao, Zitian Zhu, Jiachen Chen, Ning Wang, Chuanyu Zhang, Jiarun Zhong, Shibo Xu, Ke Wang, Yaozu Wu, Feitong Jin, Xuhao Zhu, Yiren Zou, Ziqi Tan, Zhengyi Cui, Fanhao Shen, Tingting Li, et al (15) (Jan 17 2025).
Abstract: A long-standing challenge in quantum computing is developing technologies to overcome the inevitable noise in qubits. To enable meaningful applications in the early stages of fault-tolerant quantum computing, devising methods to suppress post-correction logical failures is becoming increasingly crucial. In this work, we propose and experimentally demonstrate the application of zero-noise extrapolation, a practical quantum error mitigation technique, to error correction circuits on state-of-the-art superconducting processors. By amplifying the noise on physical qubits, the circuits yield outcomes that exhibit a predictable dependence on noise strength, following a polynomial function determined by the code distance. This property enables the effective application of polynomial extrapolation to mitigate logical errors. Our experiments demonstrate a universal reduction in logical errors across various quantum circuits, including fault-tolerant circuits of repetition and surface codes. We observe a favorable performance in multi-round error correction circuits, indicating that this method remains effective when the circuit depth increases. These results advance the frontier of quantum error suppression technologies, opening a practical way to achieve reliable quantum computing in the early fault-tolerant era.
