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arXiv:1709.02157 · Physical Review A

Passive quantum error correction of linear optics networks through error averaging

Ryan J. Marshman, Austin P. Lund, Peter P. Rohde, Timothy C. Ralph

Published Feb 15, 2018• 18 citations
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Abstract

We propose and investigate a method of error detection and noise correction for bosonic linear networks using a method of unitary averaging. The proposed error averaging does not rely on ancillary photons or control and feedforward correction circuits, remaining entirely passive in its operation. We construct a general mathematical framework for this technique and then give a series of proof of principle examples including numerical analysis. Two methods for the construction of averaging are then compared to determine the most effective manner of implementation and probe the related error thresholds. Finally we discuss some of the potential uses of this scheme.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.97.022324

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We propose and investigate a method of error detection and noise correction for bosonic linear networks using a method of unitary averaging. The proposed error averaging does not rely on ancillary photons or control and feedforward correction circuits, remaining entirely passive in its operation. We construct a general mathematical framework for this technique and then give a series of proof of principle examples including numerical analysis. Two methods for the construction of averaging are then compared to determine the most effective manner of implementation and probe the related error thresholds. Finally we discuss some of the potential uses of this scheme.
Error-detection and correction are necessary prerequisites for any scalable quantum computing architecture. Given the inevitability of unwanted physical noise in quantum systems and the propensity for errors to spread as computations proceed, computational outcomes can become substantially corrupted. This observation applies regardless of the choice of physical implementation. In the context of photonic quantum information processing, there has recently been much interest in passive linear optics quantum computing, which includes boson-sampling, as this model eliminates the highly-challenging requirements for feed-forward via fast, active control. That is, these systems are passive by definition. In usual scenarios, error detection and correction techniques are inherently active , making them incompatible with this model, arousing suspicion that physical error processes may be an insurmountable obstacle. Here we explore a photonic error-detection technique, based on W-state encoding of photonic qubits, which is entirely passive, based on post-selection, and compatible with these near-term photonic architectures of interest. We show that this W-state redundant encoding techniques enables the suppression of dephasing noise on photonic qubits via simple fan-out style operations, implemented by optical Fourier transform networks, which can be readily realised today. The protocol effectively maps dephasing noise into heralding failures, with zero failure probability in the ideal no-noise limit. We present our scheme in the context of a single photonic qubit passing through a noisy communication or quantum memory channel, which has not been generalised to the more general context of full quantum computation.
We consider quantum error-correction codes for multimode bosonic systems, such as optical fields, that are affected by amplitude damping. We demonstrate that the most accessible method of transforming optical systems with the help of passive linear networks has limited usefulness in preparing and manipulating such codes. These limitations stem directly from the recoverability condition for one-photon loss. We introduce a three-photon code protecting against the first order of amplitude damping, i.e., a single photon loss, and discuss its preparation using linear optics with single-photon sources and conditional detection. Quantum state and process tomography in the code subspace can be implemented using passive linear optics and photon counting. An experimental proof-of-principle demonstration of elements of the proposed quantum error correction scheme for a one-photon erasure lies well within present technological capabilities.
A significant hurdle for quantum information and processing using bosonic systems is stochastic phase errors which occur as the photons propagate through a channel. These errors will reduce the purity of states passing through the channel and therefore reduce the channels capacity. We present a scheme of passive linear optical unitary averaging for protecting unknown Gaussian states transmitted through an optical channel. The scheme reduces the effect of phase noise on purity, squeezing, and entanglement, thereby enhancing the channel via a probabilistic-error-correcting protocol. The scheme is robust to loss and typically succeeds with high probability. We provide both numerical simulations and analytical approximations tailored for relevant parameters with the improvement of practical and current technology. We also show the asymptotic nature of the protocol, highlighting both current and future relevance.
Sampling experiments provide a viable route to show quantum advantages of quantum devices over classical computers in well-defined computational tasks. However, quantum devices such as boson samplers are susceptible to various errors, including stochastic errors due to fabrication imperfections. These cause the implemented unitary operations to deviate randomly from their intended targets, following distributions with finite variance. Whilst full-scale quantum error correction remains challenging in the near term, quantum error mitigation schemes have been devised to estimate expectation values, but it is unclear how these schemes would work for sampling experiments. In this work, we demonstrate that, given access to multiple stochastic unitaries, it is possible to mitigate the effect of these errors in sampling experiments. We adopt the unitary averaging protocol which employs multiple stochastic boson samplers to generate a distribution that approximates the ideal boson sampler distribution as the number of samplers increases. We derive a rigorous upper bound on the trace distance between the output probability distributions induced by invertible vacuum-heralded networks based on the Schur-Weyl duality. This result can be seen concretely as an error mitigation scheme in sampling experiments against stochastic errors. On a broader level, it suggests a path towards understanding error mitigation for sampling experiments and developing analysis tools for photonic circuits incorporating measurements and feed-forward. We further provide other applications of unitary averaging, including its use in implementing the linear combination of unitaries and benchmarking fabrication repeatability in linear optics.
Cluster states are the essential resource used in the implementation of fusion-based quantum computation (FBQC). We introduce a method to generate high-fidelity optical cluster states by utilizing the concept of unitary averaging. This error-averaging technique is entirely passive and can be readily incorporated into the proposed PsiQuantum FBQC architecture. Using postselection and the redundant encoding of fusion gates, we observe an enhancement in the average fidelity of the output cluster state. As a generalization, we also show an improvement in the linear optical Bell-state measurement (BSM) success probability when the BSM is imperfect.