Current benchmarks for midcircuit measurements (MCMs) are limited in scalability or the types of error they can quantify, necessitating new techniques for quantifying MCM performance. Here, we introduce a theory for learning stochastic Pauli noise in MCMs and use it to create MCM cycle benchmarking, a scalable method for benchmarking MCMs. MCM cycle benchmarking extracts detailed information about the rates of errors in randomly compiled layers of MCMs and Clifford gates, and we demonstrate how its results can be used to quantify correlated errors during MCMs on current quantum hardware. Our method can be integrated with existing Pauli noise learning techniques to scalably characterize the errors in wide classes of circuits containing MCMs.
Current benchmarks for midcircuit measurements (MCMs) are limited in scalability or the types of error they can quantify, necessitating new techniques for quantifying MCM performance. Here, we introduce a theory for learning stochastic Pauli noise in MCMs and use it to create MCM cycle benchmarking, a scalable method for benchmarking MCMs. MCM cycle benchmarking extracts detailed information about the rates of errors in randomly compiled layers of MCMs and Clifford gates, and we demonstrate how its results can be used to quantify correlated errors during MCMs on current quantum hardware. Our method can be integrated with existing Pauli noise learning techniques to scalably characterize the errors in wide classes of circuits containing MCMs.
Noise characterization of multi-qubit entangling Clifford operations is a key practical bottleneck for quantum error mitigation and for the calibration, validation, and optimization of quantum error-correction protocols, especially in the presence of state preparation and measurement (SPAM) errors. Although cycle benchmarking can isolate some Pauli error components, it cannot resolve the problem of coupled error parameters, which leads to unlearnable degrees of freedom even in simple noisy gates, not to mention general n-qubit Clifford gates. Here we introduce mid-circuit-measurement-based generalized cycle benchmarking, a framework that makes otherwise unidentifiable Pauli fidelities and non-Markovian noise learnable via repeated measurements and classical post-processing. Applying the deferred feed-forward principle to generalized cycle benchmarking, we show that an insertion of mid-circuit measurements can reverse Pauli cycles induced by a general Clifford gate. This fact enables us to reveal a Pauli-noise learnability condition for Clifford gates. Assuming sufficient state preparation quality, we numerically demonstrate the feasibility of characterizing the previously unlearnable noise components. We implement the protocol on superconducting quantum processing units and validate its effectiveness in disambiguating the coupled noise components, benchmarked against conventional tomography. Finally, we observe consistent measurement-induced bit-flip bias and non-Markovian correlations, which define a range of applicability for the Pauli noise model and the proposed noise-characterization protocol.
Midcircuit measurements (MCMs) are crucial ingredients in the development of fault-tolerant quantum computation. While there have been rapid experimental progresses in realizing MCMs, a systematic method for characterizing noisy MCMs is still under exploration. In this work, we develop a cycle benchmarking (CB)-type algorithm to characterize noisy MCMs. The key idea is to use a joint Fourier transform on the classical and quantum registers and then estimate parameters in the Fourier space, analogous to Pauli fidelities used in CB-type algorithms for characterizing the Pauli-noise channel of Clifford gates. Furthermore, we develop a theory of the noise learnability of MCMs, which determines what information can be learned about the noise model (in the presence of state preparation and terminating measurement noise) and what cannot, which shows that all learnable information can be learned using our algorithm. As an application, we show how to use the learned information to test the independence between measurement noise and state-preparation noise in an MCM. Finally, we conduct numerical simulations to illustrate the practical applicability of the algorithm. Similar to other CB-type algorithms, we expect the algorithm to provide a useful toolkit that is of experimental interest.
High-fidelity mid-circuit measurements, which read out the state of specific qubits in a multiqubit processor without destroying them or disrupting their neighbors, are a critical component for useful quantum computing. They enable fault-tolerant quantum error correction, dynamic circuits, and other paths to solving classically intractable problems. But there are few methods to assess their performance comprehensively. In this work, we address this gap by introducing the first randomized benchmarking protocol that measures the rate at which mid-circuit measurements induce errors in many-qubit circuits. Using this protocol, we detect and eliminate previously undetected measurement-induced crosstalk in a 20-qubit trapped-ion quantum computer. Then, we use the same protocol to measure the rate of measurement-induced crosstalk error on a 27-qubit IBM Q processor, and quantify how much of that error is eliminated by dynamical decoupling. Characterisation of quantum operations is fundamental in quantum technologies - quantum computing in particular - but there’s currently no reliably efficient method to assess mid-circuit measurements, which are a key component for subfields like quantum error correction. Here, the authors fill this gap, integrating MCMs into the framework of randomized benchmarking.
Accurate noise characterization is essential for reliable quantum computation. Effective Pauli noise models have emerged as powerful tools, offering a detailed description of the error processes with a manageable number of parameters, which guarantees the scalability of the characterization procedure. However, a fundamental limitation in the learnability of Pauli eigenvalues impedes a full high-accuracy characterization of both general and effective Pauli noise models, thereby restricting, e.g., the performance of noise-aware error mitigation techniques. We introduce multilayer cycle benchmarking (MLCB), an enhanced characterization protocol that improves the learnability associated with effective Pauli noise models by jointly analyzing multiple layers of Clifford gates. We show a simple experimental implementation and demonstrate that, in realistic scenarios, MLCB can reduce unlearnable noise degrees of freedom by up to 75 % , improving the accuracy of sparse Pauli-Lindblad noise models and boosting the performance of error mitigation techniques like probabilistic error cancellation. Our results highlight MLCB as a scalable, practical tool for precise noise characterization and improved quantum computation.
Abstract Mid-circuit measurements are a key component in many quantum information computing protocols, including quantum error correction, fault-tolerant logical operations, and measurement based quantum computing. As such, techniques to quickly and efficiently characterize or benchmark their performance are of great interest. Beyond the measured qubit, it is also relevant to determine what, if any, impact mid-circuit measurement has on adjacent, unmeasured, spectator qubits. Here, we present a mid-circuit measurement benchmarking suite developed from the ubiquitous paradigm of randomized benchmarking. We show how our benchmarking suite can be used to both detect as well as quantify errors on both measured and spectator qubits, including measurement-induced errors on spectator qubits and entangling errors between measured and spectator qubits. We demonstrate the scalability of our suite by simultaneously characterizing mid-circuit measurement on multiple qubits from an IBM Quantum Falcon device, and support our experimental results with numerical simulations. Further, using a mid-circuit measurement tomography protocol we establish the nature of the errors identified by our benchmarking suite.
Accurate modeling of midcircuit measurements (MCMs) is essential for dynamic-circuit operations such as syndrome extraction, measurement-based reset, and the separation of state-preparation and measurement error. Unlike terminal measurement, a noisy MCM both produces a classical outcome and alters the incoming quantum state, thereby influencing subsequent circuit operations. This makes conventional confusion-matrix or fidelity-level characterization insufficient. Here, we introduce an efficient, self-consistent protocol for learning a single-qubit Z-twirled MCM instrument, retaining the readout-backaction correlations and excitation-decay asymmetry that are erased in Pauli-error descriptions. Remarkably, readout bit strings from only three repeated MCMs on a maximally mixed input determine all learnable parameters of the reduced instrument, up to a single unidentifiable gauge degree of freedom. Physicality constraints convert this nonidentifiability into narrow, gauge-aware error intervals. Implemented on IBM superconducting processors, the learned instrument improves Pauli-observable prediction by ∼100× over a conventional confusion-matrix model and reveals a T1-decay dominated backaction. Our protocol provides a compact characterization layer for state-preparation and measurement error separation, reset optimization, and noise-aware quantum error correction.