A key challenge in fault-tolerant quantum computing is synthesising and optimising circuits in a noisy environment, as traditional techniques often fail to account for the effect of noise on circuits. In this work, we propose and numerically verify a framework for designing fault-tolerant quantum circuits that are correct by construction. The framework starts with idealised specifications of fault-tolerant gadgets and refines them using provably sound basic transformations. To reason about manipulating circuits while preserving their error correction properties, we define fault equivalence; two circuits are considered fault-equivalent if all undetectable faults on one circuit have a corresponding fault on the other. This guarantees that the effect of undetectable faults on both circuits is the same. We argue that fault equivalence is a concept that is already implicitly present in the literature. Many problems, such as state preparation and syndrome extraction, can be naturally expressed as finding an implementable circuit that is fault-equivalent to an idealized specification. To utilize fault equivalence in a computationally tractable manner, we adapt the ZX calculus, a diagrammatic language for quantum computing. We restrict its rewrite system to not only preserve the underlying linear map but also fault equivalence, i.e. the circuit's behaviour under noise. Enabled by our framework, we verify, optimise, and synthesise new and efficient circuits for syndrome extraction and cat state preparation. We confirm the improved performance of our optimised circuits in simulation. We anticipate that fault equivalence can capture and unify different approaches in fault-tolerant quantum computing, paving the way for an end-to-end circuit compilation framework.
A key challenge in fault-tolerant quantum computing is synthesising and optimising circuits in a noisy environment, as traditional techniques often fail to account for the effect of noise on circuits. In this work, we propose and numerically verify a framework for designing fault-tolerant quantum circuits that are correct by construction. The framework starts with idealised specifications of fault-tolerant gadgets and refines them using provably sound basic transformations. To reason about manipulating circuits while preserving their error correction properties, we define fault equivalence; two circuits are considered fault-equivalent if all undetectable faults on one circuit have a corresponding fault on the other. This guarantees that the effect of undetectable faults on both circuits is the same. We argue that fault equivalence is a concept that is already implicitly present in the literature. Many problems, such as state preparation and syndrome extraction, can be naturally expressed as finding an implementable circuit that is fault-equivalent to an idealized specification. To utilize fault equivalence in a computationally tractable manner, we adapt the ZX calculus, a diagrammatic language for quantum computing. We restrict its rewrite system to not only preserve the underlying linear map but also fault equivalence, i.e. the circuit's behaviour under noise. Enabled by our framework, we verify, optimise, and synthesise new and efficient circuits for syndrome extraction and cat state preparation. We confirm the improved performance of our optimised circuits in simulation. We anticipate that fault equivalence can capture and unify different approaches in fault-tolerant quantum computing, paving the way for an end-to-end circuit compilation framework.
This thesis is concerned with certain theoretical problems that arise naturally in the context of fault-tolerant quantum computation. Fault-tolerance can be defined as the art of building reliable devices from unreliable components, and is of particular importance for quantum computers that aim to precisely control the dynamics of extremely sensitive quantum systems. A model of quantum computation is a specification of the basic building blocks by which a quantum computation is implemented. The best known model is the quantum circuit model, where computations are implemented by means of unitary quantum gates that are applied to two-level quantum systems known as qubits. In a physical implementation of a quantum circuit, the gates and qubits will inevitably be affected by noise. Fault-tolerant quantum circuits are designed to be resilient against the effects of this noise, provided that it is not too strong. Fault-tolerance in the quantum circuit model is well developed thanks to the theory of quantum error-correcting codes. These codes allow for the correction of small numbers of errors introduced by a variety of noise processes. In a fault-tolerant quantum circuit, qubits are replaced with encoded qubits, and quantum gates with encoded gates that are immediately followed by special quantum circuits for error correction. Provided the rate at which errors occur is below a constant threshold value, the accumulation of errors can be checked so that the correct output of the computation correctly determined. The threshold acts as both a measure of how good the design of a quantum circuit is, and also as a target for experimenters aiming to implement quantum circuits. Much current research in quantum computation is aimed at designing quantum circuits that increase the noise threshold, hopefully to the point where it becomes within the reach of experimenters. A fault-tolerant encoded quantum gate must limit the propagation of errors so that the code’s corrective capabilities are not overwhelmed. It is not so easy to design encoded gates that satisfy this property, and to date only a finite handful of such gates are known. In a faulttolerant quantum circuit, all quantum gates must be decomposed or compiled in terms of those that may be implemented fault-tolerantly. In the first part of this thesis, we present two results that may be applied to this problem of gate compilation. The first is a generic method based on the Solovay-Kitaev theorem that may be applied to all quantum gates, but is most effective for those that act on single qubits. We present the Solovay-Kitaev theorem in its simples known form as an algorithm, together with novel constructions that can be used to implement it. Following this we give a two specialized methods for two-qubit gate decomposition, based on the Cartan decomposition of the Lie group SU(4). The cluster-state model of computation is an alternative to the quantum circuit model, and makes use of quantum measurements and highly entangled cluster-states to implement a quantum computation. The fault-tolerant techniques developed for quantum circuits are not immediately applicable in this model, so in order for it to be a realistic candidate for performing computations we prove that such techniques are possible. In the second part of the thesis we prove that constant fault-tolerance thresholds may be achieved in the cluster-state model, and in particular in an adaption to an optical implementation. Following this we design a complete error correction scheme for optical cluster-state computation, and numerically determine the threshold of this model in the face of the dominant noise models likely to affect such an implementation.
To ensure resilience against the unavoidable noise in quantum computers, quantum information needs to be encoded using an error-correcting code, and circuits must have a particular structure to be fault-tolerant. Compilation of fault-tolerant quantum circuits is thus inherently different from the non-fault-tolerant case. However, automated fault-tolerant compilation methods are widely underexplored, and most known constructions are obtained manually for specific codes only. In this work, we focus on the problem of automatically synthesizing fault-tolerant circuits for the deterministic initialization of an encoded state for a broad class of quantum codes that are realizable on current and near-term hardware. To this end, we utilize methods based on techniques from classical circuit design, such as satisfiability solving, resulting in tools for the synthesis of (optimal) fault-tolerant state preparation circuits for near-term quantum codes. We demonstrate the correct fault-tolerant behavior of the synthesized circuits using circuit-level noise simulations. We provide all routines as open-source software as part of the Munich Quantum Toolkit (MQT) at https://github.com/cdatum/mqt-qecc.
Quantum error-correcting codes, such as subspace, subsystem, and Floquet codes, are typically constructed within the stabilizer formalism, which does not fully capture the idea of fault-tolerance needed for practical quantum computing applications. In this work, we explore the remarkably powerful formalism of detector error models, which fully captures fault-tolerance at the circuit level. We introduce the detector error model formalism in a pedagogical manner and provide several examples. Additionally, we apply the formalism to three different levels of abstraction in the engineering cycle of fault-tolerant circuit designs: finding robust syndrome extraction circuits, identifying efficient measurement schedules, and constructing fault-tolerant procedures. We enhance the surface code's resistance to measurement errors, devise short measurement schedules for color codes, and implement a more efficient fault-tolerant method for measuring logical operators.
Quantum computing is an emerging technology in which quantum mechanical properties are suitably utilized to perform certain compute-intensive operations faster than classical computers. Quantum algorithms are designed as a combination of quantum circuits that each require a large number of quantum gates, which is a challenge considering the limited number of qubit resources available in quantum computing systems. Our work proposes a technique to optimize quantum arithmetic algorithms by reducing the hardware resources and the number of qubits based on ZX calculus. We have utilised ZX calculus rewrite rules for the optimization of fault-tolerant quantum multiplier circuits where we are able to achieve a significant reduction in the number of ancilla bits and T-gates as compared to the originally required numbers to achieve fault-tolerance. Our work is the first step in the series of arithmetic circuit optimization using graphical rewrite tools and it paves the way for advancing the optimization of various complex quantum circuits and establishing the potential for new applications of the same.
This paper presents a novel approach to designing fault-tolerant quantum circuits utilizing quantum error-correcting codes. The core claim is to develop a method capable of significantly reducing error rates within quantum circuits while achieving high reliability for quantum computation. This is achieved through the integration of theoretical concepts from quantum error-correcting codes with practical circuit design considerations. The proposed methodology focuses on designing quantum circuit architectures that effectively correct errors and enhance overall circuit resilience. The primary innovation lies in extending the application of quantum error-correcting codes, traditionally utilized in quantum communication, to the domain of quantum circuit design, thereby bolstering the inherent error correction capabilities of quantum computing. The presented framework outlines a systematic approach to constructing robust quantum circuits, paving the way for more reliable and scalable quantum computation. This work provides a foundational understanding of how error-correcting codes can be strategically employed to mitigate the detrimental effects of noise in quantum systems.
Quantum error-correcting codes, such as subspace, subsystem, and Floquet codes, are typically constructed within the stabilizer formalism, which does not fully capture the idea of fault tolerance needed for practical quantum computing applications. In this work, we explore the remarkably powerful formalism of detector error models, which fully captures fault-tolerance at the circuit level. We introduce the detector error model formalism in a pedagogical manner and provide several examples. Additionally, we apply the formalism to three different levels of abstraction in the engineering cycle of fault-tolerant circuit designs: finding robust syndrome extraction circuits, identifying efficient measurement schedules, and constructing fault-tolerant procedures. We enhance the surface code's resistance to measurement errors, devise short measurement schedules for color codes, and implement a more efficient fault-tolerant method for measuring logical operators.