Demonstration of dynamic surface codes

A remarkable characteristic of quantum computing is the potential for reliable computation despite faulty qubits. This can be achieved through quantum error correction, which is typically implemented by repeatedly applying static syndrome checks, permitting correction of logical information. Recently, the development of time-dynamic approaches to error correction has enabled different codes and implementations that do not rely on static syndrome measurements. Here we experimentally demonstrate three time-dynamic implementations of the surface code, each offering a distinct solution to hardware design challenges faced by surface code realizations. First, we embed the surface code on a hexagonal lattice, reducing the necessary couplings per qubit from four to three. Second, we walk a surface code, swapping the role of data and measure qubits each round, achieving error correction with built-in removal of accumulated non-computational errors. Finally, we realize the surface code using iSWAP gates instead of the traditional CNOT, extending the set of viable gates for error correction without additional overhead. We measure the error suppression factor when scaling from distance-3 to distance-5 codes of Λ35,hex = 2.15(2), Λ35,walk = 1.69(6) and Λ35,iSWAP = 1.56(2), achieving state-of-the-art error suppression for each. Our work demonstrates that dynamic circuit approaches meet the demands for fault tolerance and enable alternative strategies for scalable hardware design. Typical quantum error correcting codes assign fixed roles to the underlying physical qubits. Now the performance benefits of alternative, dynamic error correction schemes have been demonstrated on a superconducting quantum processor.

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Journal
Nature Physics
Published
2025-10-17
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-025-03070-w
Citations
8
Primary Topic
Advanced Data Storage Technologies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
11.90
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article

Demonstration of dynamic surface codes

Rebecca Potter, Leigh S. Martin, Aaron Shorter, Shannon X. Wang et al.
8 citations
Nature Physics
Advanced Data Storage Technologies
11.90
article

Demonstration of dynamic surface codes

Rebecca Potter, Leigh S. Martin, Aaron Shorter, Shannon X. Wang, Vadim Smelyanskiy, Noah Shutty, Eisuke Tomita, Catherine Vollgraff Heidweiller, Wing Yan Li, Bicheng Ying, Jeremy Hilton, Paula Heu, J. Kelly, Austin G. Fowler, Rajeev Acharya, Juan Campero, Hartmut Neven, William P. Livingston, Brooks Foxen, Frank Arute, Michael Broughton, Hsin-Yuan Huang, Orion Martin, Alfredo G. Torres, Anthony Cabrera, Kristoffer Ottosson, Dar Gilboa, Sean Demura, Ben Curtin, Z. Jamie Yao, Alex Greene, Tan Ha, Nicholas Zobrist, Leslie Flores Burgos, Eliott Rosenberg, Jonathan A. Gross, Adam Zalcman, Hui Kang, Alexander T. Lill, Bob B. Buckley, Brian Lester, Anthony Nguyen, Sayan Das, Jarrod R. McClean, William J. Huggins, Mostafa Khezri, P. Yeh, Alex Opremcak, Justin Vargas, Agnetta Y. Cleland, Laura de Lorenzo, Aaron Szasz, Alec Eickbusch, Paul Conner, Monica Hansen, Brandon W. Langley, Ashley Huff, Tim Burger, William Giang, Steve Habegger, Alexander N. Korotkov, Salvatore Mandrà, David Landhuis, Douglas Thor, Liang-Ying Chih, Ryan K. Orosco, Vinicius S. Ferreira, Michael C. Hamilton, Raja Gosula, A. Megrant, Andreas Bengtsson, Seon Ho Kim, Chaitali Joshi, Michael Newman, Roberto Collins, Ilya Drozdov, Alexander Del Toro Barba, Henry F. Schurkus, Juhwan Yoo, Tanuj Khattar, B. Chiaro, Michael J. Shearn, Nicholas Bushnell, George Sterling, A. Pizzuto, John Mark Kreikebaum, Paul V. Klimov, M. Ansmann, Kevin J. Satzinger, Matthew P. Harrigan, Ramis Movassagh, Matt McEwen, Xiaoxuan Jin, Charles Neill, Noureldin Yosri, Abraham Asfaw, Ebrahim Forati, A. Kabel, Kim-Ming Lau, Ryan Babbush, Matthew J. Reagor, Jenna Bovaird, Loïck Le Guevel, Georg Aigeldinger, Amir H. Karamlou, Gonzalo Cerruela García, Mustafa Mert Torunbalcı, Ningfeng Zhu, Sergio Boixo, Élie Genois, Dvir Kafri, Fedor Kostritsa, Brayden Ware, Alexandre Bourassa, Oscar Higgott, Aditya Locharla, Reza Molavi, Bryce Kobrin, Enrico Rossi, Dave Bacon, Alexander L. Crook, Kannan Sankaragomathi, Alexander Bilmes, Volodymyr Sivak, Vladislav D. Kurilovich, Agustín Di Paolo, A. Dunsworth, P. Roushan, Alexis Morvan, Ganesh Ramachandran, Suhas Ganjam, Pavol Juhás, Joseph C. Bardin, Grayson Young, M. Neeley, Bryan W. K. Woo, Juan Atalaya, Christopher Warren, Gabrielle Roberts, Kunal Arya, Kostyantyn Kechedzhi, Brian Burkett, Jahan Claes, Hung-Shen Chang, Madison Woodson, Shirin Montazeri, Sean D. Harrington, Ashley A. Ellsworth, Murray Nguyen, Trond I. Andersen, Alejandro Grajales Dau, Robert Gasca, Laleh Aghababaie Beni, Trupti Khaire, Justin Ledford, Daniel Lundahl, Sid Madhuk, Cameron Maxfield, Orion Pritchard, Jordan Suchard, Alex Sztein, Abeer Vaishnav, Sergey Vdovichev, Steven Waltman, Brett Buchea, Aviv Moshe Elbag, Mahmoud Elzouka, Dietrich Graumann, Stephen Heslin, Jiang Zhang, Cheng Xing, Yu Chen, Kenneth Lee, Yaxing Zhang, T. White, Zijun Chen, David M. Rhodes, Catherine Erickson, Josh Cogan, Evan Jeffrey, Spencer Small, W. Clarke Smith, Seneca Meeks, Tiano Lange-Dei, Vladimir Shvarts, Erik Lucero, Craig Gidney, Cody Jones, Guifré Vidal, Aaron Lunt, Sofia Springer, David A. Bowers, Leon Brill, Kevin C. Miao, Paul Donohoe, Chia-Hung Ni, Brian Ballard, David A. Browne, William Courtney, Chris Quintana, Sebastian Molina, Kristi Wong, Travis Weidel, Logan Oas, Jonathan Waltz, Ross Alcaraz, Reno Hiltermann
article en
8 citations

Abstract

A remarkable characteristic of quantum computing is the potential for reliable computation despite faulty qubits. This can be achieved through quantum error correction, which is typically implemented by repeatedly applying static syndrome checks, permitting correction of logical information. Recently, the development of time-dynamic approaches to error correction has enabled different codes and implementations that do not rely on static syndrome measurements. Here we experimentally demonstrate three time-dynamic implementations of the surface code, each offering a distinct solution to hardware design challenges faced by surface code realizations. First, we embed the surface code on a hexagonal lattice, reducing the necessary couplings per qubit from four to three. Second, we walk a surface code, swapping the role of data and measure qubits each round, achieving error correction with built-in removal of accumulated non-computational errors. Finally, we realize the surface code using iSWAP gates instead of the traditional CNOT, extending the set of viable gates for error correction without additional overhead. We measure the error suppression factor when scaling from distance-3 to distance-5 codes of Λ35,hex = 2.15(2), Λ35,walk = 1.69(6) and Λ35,iSWAP = 1.56(2), achieving state-of-the-art error suppression for each. Our work demonstrates that dynamic circuit approaches meet the demands for fault tolerance and enable alternative strategies for scalable hardware design. Typical quantum error correcting codes assign fixed roles to the underlying physical qubits. Now the performance benefits of alternative, dynamic error correction schemes have been demonstrated on a superconducting quantum processor.

Nature PhysicsVol. 21(12)
Google (United States) (US), University of Connecticut (US), University of Massachusetts Amherst (US), Auburn University (US)
Openalex Percentile: Top 2%
Advanced Data Storage Technologies
11.90
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