Fault-Tolerant Thresholds for the Surface Code in Excess of 5% under Biased Noise

David K. Tuckett, Stephen D. Bartlett, Steven T. Flammia, and Benjamin J. Brown
Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 130501 – Published 30 March 2020
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Abstract

Noise in quantum computing is countered with quantum error correction. Achieving optimal performance will require tailoring codes and decoding algorithms to account for features of realistic noise, such as the common situation where the noise is biased towards dephasing. Here we introduce an efficient high-threshold decoder for a noise-tailored surface code based on minimum-weight perfect matching. The decoder exploits the symmetries of its syndrome under the action of biased noise and generalizes to the fault-tolerant regime where measurements are unreliable. Using this decoder, we obtain fault-tolerant thresholds in excess of 6% for a phenomenological noise model in the limit where dephasing dominates. These gains persist even for modest noise biases: we find a threshold of 5% in an experimentally relevant regime where dephasing errors occur at a rate 100 times greater than bit-flip errors.

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  • Received 20 August 2019
  • Accepted 10 March 2020

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.130501

© 2020 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Quantum Information, Science & Technology

Authors & Affiliations

David K. Tuckett, Stephen D. Bartlett, Steven T. Flammia, and Benjamin J. Brown

  • Centre for Engineered Quantum Systems, School of Physics, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia

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Issue

Vol. 124, Iss. 13 — 3 April 2020

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