Abstract Executing quantum algorithms on error-corrected logical qubits is a critical step for scalable quantum computing, but the requisite numbers of qubits and physical error rates are demanding for current experimental hardware. Recently, the development of error correcting codes tailored to particular physical noise models has helped relax these requirements. In this work, we propose a qubit encoding and gate protocol for 171 Yb neutral atom qubits that converts the dominant physical errors into erasures, that is, errors in known locations. The key idea is to encode qubits in a metastable electronic level, such that gate errors predominantly result in transitions to disjoint subspaces whose populations can be continuously monitored via fluorescence. We estimate that 98% of errors can be converted into erasures. We quantify the benefit of this approach via circuit-level simulations of the surface code, finding a threshold increase from 0.937% to 4.15%. We also observe a larger code distance near the threshold, leading to a faster decrease in the logical error rate for the same number of physical qubits, which is important for near-term implementations. Erasure conversion should benefit any error correcting code, and may also be applied to design new gates and encodings in other qubit platforms.
Abstract Executing quantum algorithms on error-corrected logical qubits is a critical step for scalable quantum computing, but the requisite numbers of qubits and physical error rates are demanding for current experimental hardware. Recently, the development of error correcting codes tailored to particular physical noise models has helped relax these requirements. In this work, we propose a qubit encoding and gate protocol for 171 Yb neutral atom qubits that converts the dominant physical errors into erasures, that is, errors in known locations. The key idea is to encode qubits in a metastable electronic level, such that gate errors predominantly result in transitions to disjoint subspaces whose populations can be continuously monitored via fluorescence. We estimate that 98% of errors can be converted into erasures. We quantify the benefit of this approach via circuit-level simulations of the surface code, finding a threshold increase from 0.937% to 4.15%. We also observe a larger code distance near the threshold, leading to a faster decrease in the logical error rate for the same number of physical qubits, which is important for near-term implementations. Erasure conversion should benefit any error correcting code, and may also be applied to design new gates and encodings in other qubit platforms.
Erasures, or errors with known locations, are a more favorable type of error for quantum error-correcting codes than Pauli errors.Converting physical noise into erasures can significantly improve the performance of quantum error correction.Here, we apply the idea of performing erasure conversion by encoding qubits into metastable atomic states, proposed by Wu, Kolkowitz, Puri, and Thompson [Nat.Comm.13, 4657 (2022)], to trapped ions.We suggest an erasure-conversion scheme for metastable trapped-ion qubits and develop a detailed model of various types of errors.We then compare the logical performance of ground and metastable qubits on the surface code under various physical constraints and conclude that metastable qubits may outperform ground qubits when the achievable laser power is higher for metastable qubits.
Quantum computing experiments are transitioning from running on physical qubits to using encoded, logical qubits. Fault-tolerant computation can identify and correct errors, and has the potential to enable the dramatically reduced logical error rates required for valuable algorithms. However, it requires flexible control of high-fidelity operations performed on large numbers of qubits. We demonstrate fault-tolerant quantum computation on a quantum processor with 256 qubits, each an individual neutral Ytterbium atom. The operations are designed so that key error sources convert to atom loss, which can be detected by imaging. Full connectivity is enabled by atom movement. We demonstrate the entanglement of 24 logical qubits encoded into 48 atoms, at once catching errors and correcting for, on average 1.8, lost atoms. We also implement the Bernstein-Vazirani algorithm with up to 28 logical qubits encoded into 112 atoms, showing better-than-physical error rates. In both cases, "erasure conversion," changing errors into a form that can be detected independently from qubit state, improves circuit performance. These results begin to clear a path for achieving scientific quantum advantage with a programmable neutral atom quantum processor.
The requirements for fault-tolerant quantum error correction can be simplified by leveraging structure in the noise of the underlying hardware.In this work, we identify a new type of structured noise motivated by neutral-atom qubits, biased erasure errors, which arises when qubit errors are dominated by detectable leakage from only one of the computational states of the qubit.We study the performance of this model using gate-level simulations of the XZZX surface code.Using the predicted erasure fraction and bias of metastable 171 Yb qubits, we find a threshold of 8.2% for two-qubit gate errors, which is 1.9 times higher than the threshold for unbiased erasures and 7.5 times higher than the threshold for depolarizing errors.Surprisingly, the improved threshold is achieved without bias-preserving controlled-NOT gates and, instead, results from the lower noise entropy in this model.We also introduce an XZZX cluster state construction for measurement-based error correction, hybrid fusion, that is optimized for this noise model.By combining fusion operations and deterministic entangling gates, this construction preserves the intrinsic symmetry of the XZZX code, leading to a higher threshold of 10.3% and enabling the use of rectangular codes with fewer qubits.We discuss a potential physical implementation using a single plane of atoms and movable tweezers.
Programmable neutral atom arrays show great promise for fault-tolerant quantum computing. A dominant physical error on this platform is qubit leakage and loss, notably decay errors from the Rydberg state during two-qubit gates. Such leakage events are particularly detrimental as they propagate, generating correlated errors that severely degrade the effective error distance of quantum error correction codes. Here, we present a novel approach to address Rydberg decay errors leveraging measurement-based quantum computation. Our scheme strategically exploits the inherent geometric structure of topological cluster states and only uses final leakage detection information to locate propagated errors originating from Rydberg decay. This eliminates the need for complex and atom-species-specific midcircuit leakage detection, offering broader applicability, e.g., to the well-established Rb atom platform. We demonstrate a high error threshold of 3.65% per cz gate for pure Rydberg decay and achieve a favorable error distance d_{e}≈d. Our method compares favorably with state-of-the-art erasure conversion protocols in the subthreshold performance, offering comparable or marginally larger logical error rates while significantly reducing experimental overhead.
Abstract Minimizing and understanding errors is critical for quantum science, both in noisy intermediate scale quantum (NISQ) devices 1 and for the quest towards fault-tolerant quantum computation 2,3 . Rydberg arrays have emerged as a prominent platform in this context 4 with impressive system sizes 5,6 and proposals suggesting how error-correction thresholds could be significantly improved by detecting leakage errors with single-atom resolution 7,8 , a form of erasure error conversion 9–12 . However, two-qubit entanglement fidelities in Rydberg atom arrays 13,14 have lagged behind competitors 15,16 and this type of erasure conversion is yet to be realized for matter-based qubits in general. Here we demonstrate both erasure conversion and high-fidelity Bell state generation using a Rydberg quantum simulator 5,6,17,18 . When excising data with erasure errors observed via fast imaging of alkaline-earth atoms 19–22 , we achieve a Bell state fidelity of ≥0.9971−13+10 ≥ 0.997 1 − 13 + 10 , which improves to ≥0.9985−12+7 ≥ 0.998 5 − 12 + 7 when correcting for remaining state-preparation errors. We further apply erasure conversion in a quantum simulation experiment for quasi-adiabatic preparation of long-range order across a quantum phase transition, and reveal the otherwise hidden impact of these errors on the simulation outcome. Our work demonstrates the capability for Rydberg-based entanglement to reach fidelities in the 0.999 regime, with higher fidelities a question of technical improvements, and shows how erasure conversion can be utilized in NISQ devices. These techniques could be translated directly to quantum-error-correction codes with the addition of long-lived qubits 7,22–24 .
Identifying the best families of quantum error correction (QEC) codes for near-term experiments is key to enabling fault-tolerant quantum computing. Ideally, such codes should have low overhead in qubit number, high physical error thresholds, and moderate requirements on qubit connectivity to simplify experiments, while allowing for high logical error suppression. Quantum low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes have been recently shown to provide a path towards QEC with low qubit overhead and small logical error probabilities. Here, we demonstrate that when the dominant errors are erasures, as can be engineered in different quantum computing architectures, quantum LDPC codes additionally provide high thresholds and even stronger logical error suppression in parameter regimes that are accessible to current experiments. Using large-scale QEC numerical simulations, we benchmark the performance of two families of high-rate quantum LDPC codes, namely the so-called Clifford-deformed La-cross codes and the bivariate bicycle codes, under a noise model strongly biased towards erasure errors. Both codes outperform the surface code by offering up to orders of magnitude lower logical error probabilities. Interestingly, we find that this decrease in the logical error probability may not be accompanied by an increase in the code threshold, as different QEC codes benefit differently from large erasure fractions. While here we focus on neutral atom qubits, the results also hold for other quantum platforms, such as trapped ions and superconducting qubits, for which erasure conversion has been demonstrated.