The design of translation symmetric bosonic codes, e.g., Gottesmann-Kitaev-Preskill and squeezed cat codes, is robust against photon loss, but the computation accuracy is limited by the available squeezing level. Here, we introduce the \textit{projective squeezing} (PS) method for computing outcomes for a higher squeezing level by revealing that a linear combination of displacement operators with periodic displacement values constitutes the smeared projector onto the better code space; we also show the analytical relationship between the increased squeezing level and the projection probability. We introduce concrete implementation methods for PS based on linear-combination-of-unitaries and virtual quantum error detection. We also numerically verify our analytical arguments and show that our protocol can mitigate the effect of photon loss.
The design of translation symmetric bosonic codes, e.g., Gottesmann-Kitaev-Preskill and squeezed cat codes, is robust against photon loss, but the computation accuracy is limited by the available squeezing level. Here, we introduce the \textit{projective squeezing} (PS) method for computing outcomes for a higher squeezing level by revealing that a linear combination of displacement operators with periodic displacement values constitutes the smeared projector onto the better code space; we also show the analytical relationship between the increased squeezing level and the projection probability. We introduce concrete implementation methods for PS based on linear-combination-of-unitaries and virtual quantum error detection. We also numerically verify our analytical arguments and show that our protocol can mitigate the effect of photon loss.
Continuous-variable (CV) quantum computing is a promising candidate for quantum computation because it can, even with one mode, utilize infinite-dimensional Hilbert spaces and can efficiently handle continuous values. Although photonic platforms have been considered as a leading platform for CV computation, hybrid systems that use both qubits and bosonic modes, e.g., superconducting hardware, have shown significant advances because they can prepare non-Gaussian states by utilizing the nonlinear interaction between the qubits and the bosonic modes. However, the size of hybrid hardware is currently restricted. Moreover, the fidelity of the non-Gaussian state is also restricted. This work extends the projective squeezing method to establish a formalism for projecting quantum states onto the states that are unitary-transformed from the squeezed vacuum at the expense of the sampling cost. Based on this formalism, we propose methods for simulating larger quantum devices and projecting states onto the cubic phase state, a typical non-Gaussian state, with a higher squeezing level and higher nonlinearity. To make implementation practical, we can, by leveraging the interactions in hybrid systems of qubits and bosonic modes, apply the smeared projector by using either the linear-combination-of-unitaries or virtual quantum error detection algorithms. We numerically verify the performance of our methods and show that projection can suppress the effect of photon-loss errors.
We introduce a family of bosonic quantum error-correcting codes built as a rotation-symmetric superposition of squeezed vacuum states, which promise protection against both loss and dephasing noise channels. The robustness of these "squeezed-vacuum codes" arises from being arranged at evenly spaced angles in phase-space, and simultaneously in evenly spaced photon-number support n≡2k(mod2m). We present simple preparation circuits: a two-legged code using a Hadamard-conditional-squeezing-Hadamard sequence on an ancilla qubit, and for general "m-legged" codewords using sequences of conditional rotations. The performance of these codes is evaluated against loss and dephasing noises using the Knill-Laflamme violation function and benchmarked against cat codes. As the number m of squeezed-vacuum states in a code increases, the code exhibits improved loss tolerance at the cost of higher dephasing sensitivity. We outline implementations in circuit QED and trapped-ion platforms, where high-fidelity Gaussian operations and conditional controls are available or under active development. These results help establish squeezed-vacuum codes as practical, hardware-ready, members of the bosonic codes class.
Bosonic quantum codes redundantly encode quantum information in the states of a quantum harmonic oscillator, making it possible to detect and correct errors. Schr\"odinger cat codes---based on the superposition of two coherent states with opposite displacements---can correct phase-flip errors induced by dephasing, but they are vulnerable to bit-flip errors induced by particle loss. Here, we develop a bosonic quantum code relying on squeezed cat states, i.e., cat states made of a linear superposition of displaced-squeezed states. Squeezed cat states allow to partially correct errors caused by particle loss, while at the same time improving the protection against dephasing. We present a comprehensive analysis of the squeezed cat code, including protocols for code generation and elementary quantum gates. We characterize the effect of both particle loss and dephasing and develop an optimal recovery protocol that is suitable to be implemented on currently available quantum hardware. We show that with moderate squeezing, and using typical parameters of state-of-the-art quantum hardware platforms, the squeezed cat code has a resilience to particle loss errors that significantly outperforms that of the conventional cat code.
The Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill encoding has emerged as a leading candidate for fault-tolerant quantum computation with continuous variables. For photonic architectures, the major challenge is preparing high-quality resource states, which can be deterministically synthesised from many large-amplitude cat states. Thus far, only modest-sized optical cat states have been prepared experimentally, and the implemented methods are highly probabilistic. We propose an all-optical scheme utilising quantum non-demolition interactions and photon-number measurements to prepare large-amplitude cat states with near-unity probability. Importantly, no particular photon-number outcome is postselected: all outcomes contribute to the accumulated photon number, with the protocol repeated until a required threshold is reached. We demonstrate that the scheme is robust to realistic levels of photon-loss, the dominant source of error in optical systems. Our results highlight the power of active Gaussian operations for state preparation and pave the way for efficient quantum error correction using bosonic codes.
The rotation symmetric bosonic code (RSBC) is a unified framework of practical bosonic codes that have rotation symmetries, such as cat codes and binomial codes. While cat and binomial codes achieve the breakeven point in which the coherence time of the encoded qubits exceeds that of unencoded qubits, the state preparation fidelity needs to be improved for practical quantum computing. Concerning this problem, we investigate the framework of symmetry expansion, a class of quantum error mitigation that virtually projects the state onto the noise-free symmetric subspace by exploiting the system's intrinsic symmetries and postprocessing of measurement outcomes. Although symmetry expansion has been limited to error mitigation of quantum states immediately before measurement, we successfully generalize symmetry expansion for state preparation. Then, we consider two types of stabilization: photon number and phase stabilization. Photon number stabilization can be performed by leveraging the rotation operators. On the other hand, the phase errors can be suppressed via the extension towards phase direction by leveraging the recently proposed projective squeezing method. To implement our method, we use an ancilla qubit and a randomly generated controlled gate between the bosonic code states and the ancilla qubit. Our novel error mitigation method will significantly enhance computation accuracy in the near-term bosonic quantum computing.
Realistic preparation of Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill (GKP) states, the prime candidates for quantum computation with bosonic systems, is inevitably burdened by photon loss. We show how taking this loss into account can lead to more robust quantum states, thereby diminishing its negative influence. Using GKP squeezing as an operational figure of merit, we formulate a loss-aware optimization procedure based on the ground state representation of GKP states. Numerical simulations for square, hexagonal, and asymmetric GKP states show that the optimal preparation generally requires a different initial grid spacing than that of the desired ideal code state. For symmetric and hexagonal lattices, the optimal parameters asymptotically follow the simple scaling relation. The optimized states exhibit better GKP squeezing and greater resilience to losses. These results provide a simple and experimentally relevant strategy for improving realistic photonic GKP state preparation in the presence of known photon loss.