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arXiv:2108.10645 · IEEE Transactions on Quantum Engineering

On the Logical Error Rate of Sparse Quantum Codes

Patricio Fuentes, Josu Etxezarreta Martínez, Pedro M. Crespo, Javier Garcia‐Frias

Published Jan 1, 2022• 8 citations
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Abstract

The quantum paradigm presents a phenomenon known as degeneracy that can potentially improve the performance of quantum error correcting codes. However, the effects of this mechanism are sometimes ignored when evaluating the performance of sparse quantum codes and the logical error rate is not always correctly reported. In this paper, we discuss previously existing methods to compute the logical error rate and we present an efficient coset-based method inspired by classical coding strategies to estimate degenerate errors and distinguish them from logical errors. Additionally, we show that the proposed method presents a computational advantage for the family of Calderbank-Shor-Steane (CSS) codes. We use this method to prove that degenerate errors are frequent in a specific family of sparse quantum codes, which stresses the importance of accurately reporting their performance. Our results also reveal that the modified decoding strategies proposed in the literature are an important tool to improve the performance of sparse quantum codes.

DOI
10.1109/tqe.2022.3196609

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The quantum paradigm presents a phenomenon known as degeneracy that can potentially improve the performance of quantum error correcting codes. However, the effects of this mechanism are sometimes ignored when evaluating the performance of sparse quantum codes and the logical error rate is not always correctly reported. In this paper, we discuss previously existing methods to compute the logical error rate and we present an efficient coset-based method inspired by classical coding strategies to estimate degenerate errors and distinguish them from logical errors. Additionally, we show that the proposed method presents a computational advantage for the family of Calderbank-Shor-Steane (CSS) codes. We use this method to prove that degenerate errors are frequent in a specific family of sparse quantum codes, which stresses the importance of accurately reporting their performance. Our results also reveal that the modified decoding strategies proposed in the literature are an important tool to improve the performance of sparse quantum codes.
Quantum computers herald the arrival of a new era in which previously intractable computational problems will be solved efficiently. However, quantum technology is held down by decoherence, a phenomenon that is omnipresent in the quantum paradigm and that renders quantum information useless when left unchecked. The science of quantum error correction, a discipline that seeks to combine and protect quantum information from the effects of decoherence using structures known as codes, has arisen to meet this challenge. Stabilizer codes, a particular subclass of quantum codes, have enabled fast progress in the field of quantum error correction by allowing parallels to be drawn with the widely studied field of classical error correction. This has resulted in the construction of the quantum counterparts of well-known capacity-approaching classical codes like sparse codes and quantum turbo codes. However, quantum codes obtained in this manner do not entirely evoke the stupendous error correcting abilities of their classical counterparts. This occurs because classical strategies ignore important differences between the quantum and classical paradigms, an issue that needs to be addressed if quantum error correction is to succeed in its battle with decoherence. In this dissertation we study a phenomenon exclusive to the quantum paradigm, known as degeneracy, and its effects on the performance of sparse quantum codes. Furthermore, we also analyze and present methods to improve the performance of a specific family of sparse quantum codes in various different scenarios.
Quantum error correction is essential for building scalable quantum computers. Within the stabilizer formalism, the Calderbank-Shor-Steane framework constructs quantum codes from pairs of classical linear codes. A distinctive feature in this setting is degeneracy, where multiple equivalent error estimates exist-a phenomenon that has no classical counterpart, and the lack of a meaningful classical coding-theoretic interpretation of which has remained a gap in the literature. In this paper, we demonstrate that degeneracy is closely related to the classical operation of shortening of a linear block code. Interestingly, the shortening here takes place at the decoder rather than at the encoder. Leveraging this insight, we present a parallel decoding scheme for quantum low-density parity-check codes, which we term impulse decoding, that significantly outperforms belief propagation with ordered statistics decoding, as well as several other existing techniques, under both code-capacity and circuit-level noise, with significantly lesser complexity. We then present another algorithm based on decoding of residual errors, which when combined with impulse decoding achieves further performance improvement under circuit-level noise.
A method for concatenating quantum error-correcting codes is presented. The method is applicable to a wide class of quantum error-correcting codes known as Calderbank-Shor-Steane (CSS) codes. As a result, codes that achieve a high rate in the Shannon theoretic sense and that are decodable in polynomial time are presented. The rate is the highest among those known to be achievable by CSS codes. Moreover, the best known lower bound on the greatest minimum distance of codes constructible in polynomial time is improved for a wide range.
Quantum low-density generator matrix (QLDGM) codes based on Calderbank-Steane-Shor (CSS) constructions have shown unprecedented error correction capabilities, displaying much improved performance in comparison to other sparse-graph codes. However, the nature of CSS designs and the manner in which they must be decoded limit the performance that is attainable with codes that are based on this construction. This motivates the search for quantum code design strategies capable of avoiding the drawbacks associated with CSS codes. In this article, we introduce non-CSS quantum code constructions based on classical LDGM codes. The proposed codes are derived from CSS QLDGM designs by performing specific row operations on their quantum parity check matrices to modify the associated decoding graphs. The application of this method results in performance improvements in comparison to CSS QLDGM codes, while also allowing for greater flexibility in the design process. The proposed non-CSS QLDGM scheme outperforms the best quantum low-density parity check codes that have appeared in the literature.
A method for concatenating quantum error-correcting codes is presented. The method is applicable to a wide class of quantum error-correcting codes known as Calderbank-Shor-Steane (CSS) codes. As a result, codes that achieve a high rate in the Shannon-theoretic sense and that are decodable in polynomial time are presented. The rate is the highest among those known to be achievable by CSS codes. Moreover, the best known lower bound on the greatest minimum distance of codes constructible in polynomial time is improved for a wide range.