We show that universal quantum computation can be concretely made fault-tolerant without mid-circuit measurements. To this end, we introduce a measurement-free deformation protocol of the Bacon-Shor code to realize a logical gate. Combined with a fold-transversal logical Hadamard gate, this enables a universal set of fault-tolerant operations using only transversal gates and qubit permutations. For the purpose of benchmarking under circuit-level noise, we develop an efficient method to simulate non-Clifford circuits with a small number of Hadamard gates. Separately, we demonstrate that certain CSS codes can be concatenated without measurements or having to rely on a universal logical gate set. This is made possible by means of a resource-efficient gadget—termed the “disposable Toffoli gadget”—that realizes the error-correcting feedback. Then, under concatenation of the Bacon-Shor code, we observe a fault-tolerance threshold at a circuit-level depolarizing noise rate of approximately 0.12 % . Together, the deformation and concatenation protocols outline a blueprint for a fully fault-tolerant architecture without any feed-forward operation, particularly suited to state-of-the-art neutral-atom platforms.
We show that universal quantum computation can be concretely made fault-tolerant without mid-circuit measurements. To this end, we introduce a measurement-free deformation protocol of the Bacon-Shor code to realize a logical gate. Combined with a fold-transversal logical Hadamard gate, this enables a universal set of fault-tolerant operations using only transversal gates and qubit permutations. For the purpose of benchmarking under circuit-level noise, we develop an efficient method to simulate non-Clifford circuits with a small number of Hadamard gates. Separately, we demonstrate that certain CSS codes can be concatenated without measurements or having to rely on a universal logical gate set. This is made possible by means of a resource-efficient gadget—termed the “disposable Toffoli gadget”—that realizes the error-correcting feedback. Then, under concatenation of the Bacon-Shor code, we observe a fault-tolerance threshold at a circuit-level depolarizing noise rate of approximately 0.12 % . Together, the deformation and concatenation protocols outline a blueprint for a fully fault-tolerant architecture without any feed-forward operation, particularly suited to state-of-the-art neutral-atom platforms.
Quantum computers promise to solve computational problems that are inaccessible to classical machines. The reliable execution of large-scale quantum algorithms requires robust operations in the presence of noise. Quantum error correction addresses this challenge by encoding quantum information redundantly across several physical qubits, such that errors can be detected and corrected during a computation. However, no single error-correcting code intrinsically supports an inherently robust, fault-tolerant implementation of all gates needed for universal quantum computing. Moreover, most modern approaches to both quantum error correction and the implementation of universal logical operations on encoded qubits rely on mid-circuit measurements and feed-forward control. These types of operations are technologically demanding, often slow, and prone to high error rates, and they limit the overall success probability of quantum algorithms. In this thesis, we develop fault-tolerant protocols and circuits for quantum error correction and universal logical computation, with an emphasis on implementations compatible with current hardware systems. We first focus on fault-tolerant quantum error correction on small codes. By comparing different protocols, we identify trade-offs between compact circuit constructions and their robustness to noise. We then assess their practical performance by comparing numerical simulations of noisy circuits with experimental data. Beyond the preservation of encoded information, we study how universal logic can be implemented in a fault-tolerant manner on encoded qubits. A central approach considered in this thesis is code switching, in which logical information is transferred between two distinct error-correcting codes that support complementary sets of inherently fault-tolerant logical gates. In combination, these codes give access to a complete universal fault-tolerant logical gate set. In this thesis, we determine conditions that allow us to construct fault-tolerant protocols for code switching. We adapt these protocols to the capabilities of current hardware, thereby enabling the first experimental realization of universal fault-tolerant logic by means of code switching. However, the overall performance of these schemes is limited by slow and noisy mid-circuit measurements. To address this bottleneck, we construct a suite of measurement-free fault-tolerant universal operations that do not require any measurements during the execution of an algorithm. In this framework, error correction and logical operations are implemented coherently as part of the quantum circuit, without mid-circuit measurements or in-sequence classical control. We introduce measurement-free code-switching schemes that can be scaled to arbitrary code distances through concatenation, and which thereby provide, in principle, arbitrarily strong error suppression. We further tailor our approach to the capabilities of current trapped-ion quantum processors. New circuit constructions support the first experimental implementation of a logical quantum algorithm without mid-circuit measurements, demonstrated through Grover's search on three encoded qubits. Together, the results of this thesis expand the toolbox for early fault-tolerant quantum computation. They show how protocols for quantum error correction and universal logical gates can be designed without mid-circuit measurements with realistic hardware constraints in mind, opening new pathways towards universal quantum logic.
Reliable execution of large-scale quantum algorithms requires robust underlying operations and this challenge is addressed by quantum error correction (QEC). Most modern QEC protocols rely on measurements and feed-forward operations, which are experimentally demanding, and often slow and prone to high error rates. Additionally, no single error-correcting code intrinsically supports the full set of logical operations required for universal quantum computing, resulting in an increased operational overhead. In this work, we present a complete toolbox for fault-tolerant universal quantum computing without the need for measurements during algorithm execution by combining the strategies of code switching and concatenation. To this end, we develop new fault-tolerant, measurement-free protocols to transfer encoded information between 2D and 3D color codes, which offer complementary and in combination universal sets of robust logical gates. We identify experimentally realistic regimes where these protocols surpass state-of-the-art measurement-based approaches. Moreover, we extend the scheme to higher-distance codes by concatenating the 2D color code with itself and by integrating code switching for operations that lack a natively fault-tolerant implementation. Our measurement-free approach thereby provides a practical and scalable pathway for universal quantum computing on state-of-the-art quantum processors.
Quantum computing relies on quantum error correction for high-fidelity logical operations, but scaling to achieve near-term quantum utility is highly resource-intensive. High-rate quantum LDPC codes can reduce error correction overhead, yet realizing high-rate fault-tolerant computation with these codes remains a central challenge. Apart of the lattice surgery approach, standard schemes for realizing logical gates have so far been restricted to performing global operations on all logical qubits at the same time. Another approach relies on low-rate code switching methods. In this work, we introduce a gate-based protocol for addressable single- and multi-qubit Clifford operations on individual logical qubits encoded within one or more quantum LDPC codes. Our scheme leverages logical transversal operations via an auxiliary Bacon-Shor code to perform logical operations with constant time overhead enabled by teleportation. We demonstrate the implementation of an overcomplete logical Clifford gate set and perform numerical simulations to evaluate the error-correction performance of our protocol. Finally, we observe that our scheme can be integrated with magic state cultivation protocols to achieve universal, gate-based, and fully addressable quantum computation.
Reliable execution of large-scale quantum algorithms requires robust underlying operations, which is addressed by quantum error correction (QEC). Most modern QEC protocols rely on measurements and feed-forward operations, which are experimentally demanding and often prone to high error rates. Additionally, no single-error-correcting code intrinsically supports the full set of logical operations required for universal quantum computing. In this work, we present a complete toolbox for fault-tolerant universal quantum computing without measurements during algorithm execution by combining the strategies of code switching and concatenation. We develop fault-tolerant, measurement-free protocols to transfer encoded information between 2D and 3D color codes that offer complementary and, in combination, universal sets of robust logical gates. Moreover, we extend the scheme to higher-distance codes by concatenating the 2D color code and integrating code switching for operations lacking a natively fault-tolerant implementation. Our measurement-free approach thereby provides a practical and scalable pathway for universal quantum computing on state-of-the-art quantum processors.
As existing approaches to get around the restriction of the no-go theorem generally exhibit high ancillary qubit overhead costs, we propose a scheme for universal fault-tolerant quantum computation by using the pieceable fault-tolerant protocol and code switching techniques. In additional, by utilizing the construction of the pieceable fault-tolerant circuit, we adopt a decoding strategy based on a deep-neural-network algorithm to improve the error threshold of the non-Clifford logical gate circuit. We describe our universal construction in detail with a two-level nonuniform concatenated 25-qubit code and perform numerical simulations to analyze the depolarizing noise threshold of a given universal gate set with this code. The resources required to implement this universal gate set are also estimated to further demonstrate the efficiency of our scheme. We compare these results with the existing universal concatenation methods and conclude that our method outperforms them in terms of the lower bound of the error threshold and qubit resource overhead.
Quantum error correction (QEC) [1,2] is essential for the realization of large-scale quantum computers [3,4]. However, due to the complexity of operating on the encoded ‘logical’ qubits [5,6], understanding the physical principles for building fault-tolerant quantum devices and combining them into efficient architectures is an outstanding scientific challenge. Here we utilize reconfigurable arrays of up to 448 neutral atoms to implement the key elements of a universal, fault-tolerant quantum processing architecture and experimentally explore their underlying working mechanisms. We first employ surface codes to study how repeated QEC suppresses errors [6,7], demonstrating 2.14(13)x below-threshold performance in a four-round characterization circuit by leveraging atom loss detection and machine learning decoding [8,9]. We then investigate logical entanglement using transversal gates and lattice surgery [10–12], and extend it to universal logic through transversal teleportation with 3D [[15,1,3]] codes [13,14], enabling arbitrary-angle synthesis with polylogarithmic overhead [5,15]. Finally, we develop mid-circuit qubit re-use [16], increasing experimental cycle rates by two orders of magnitude and enabling deep-circuit protocols with dozens of logical qubits and hundreds of logical teleportations [17–20] with [[7,1,3]] and high-rate [[16,6,4]] codes while maintaining constant internal entropy. Our experiments reveal key principles for efficient architecture design, involving the interplay between quantum logic & entropy removal, judiciously using physical entanglement in logic gates & magic state generation, and leveraging teleportations for universality & physical qubit reset. These results establish foundations for scalable, universal error-corrected processing and its practical implementation with neutral atom systems.