QCVV for Fault Tolerance

Overview

The field of quantum computing is moving rapidly, and while we are still in the era of noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) computers, the focus is turning to fault tolerant quantum error correction (FTQEC). Quantum error correction (QEC) enables building low-error logical qubits out of noisy physical qubits, as long as the error rate of each physical qubit is below some fault-tolerant threshold. Quantum characterization, verification, and validation (QCVV) enables the precise measurement of the errors in quantum gates, and QCVV experiments demonstrate that, while large-scale FTQEC is still many years away, contemporary quantum gates are approaching the thresholds for many QEC codes, such as the surface code. However, it is currently unclear how to best use QCVV methods to measure progress towards FTQEC, or how the information gained from QCVV experiments --- about the error processes in quantum gates --- can be leveraged to optimize FTQEC schemes. The goal of this workshop is to provide a platform for discussing QCVV for FTQEC. We will highlight recent developments in QCVV that extend QCVV methods into the relevant regimes for FTQEC, discuss how to compare physical error rates with thresholds for fault tolerance, how FTQEC schemes might be optimized by leveraging information from experimental QCVV, and how we can quantify the performance of early and full-scale FT quantum computers. We will bring together a wide range of experts in the field with expertise in QCVV theory and experiment, current hardware, QEC theory, and application benchmarks. We intend this workshop to be an open platform for discourse, and we hope that it will spur future collaborations between the QEC and QCVV communities that result in enhanced FTQEC schemes and improved QCVV methods.

Venue

Location: Bellevue, Washington Hyatt Regency Bellevue on Seattle’s Eastside.

Date: Fri, Sep 22, 2023

Time: 10:00-16:30 Pacific Time (PDT) — UTC-7

Duration: 4.5 hours (3 x 1.5 hours)

Workshop Details

Session I: Adapting existing QCVV methods for the fault-tolerant regime.

Session II: Designing better QCVV methods for QEC codes. Benchmarking future fault-tolerant quantum

computers.

Session III: Open discussion.

Workshop Structure

Each 90 min. session of this workshop will be divided into three parts:

1) For the first part of each session, one of the organizers will deliver opening remarks relevant to the topic of each session (∼ 10 min.). The remarks may feature some relevant research from the organizer, but will mainly focus on framing the topic of the session and provoking discussion.

2) The second part will feature short (∼ 5 – 10 min.) presentations by each of the panels (totaling ∼ 40 min.).

3) The final part will feature a panel discussion moderated by the organizers (∼ 40 min.). The organizers will ask targeted questions to facilitate discourse between the panelists, and will elicit questions from other attendees in the audience

Workshop Panelists

Session I:

Robin Blume-Kohout (Sandia National Labs)
Luke Govia (IBM)
Yuval Sanders (University of Technology Sydney)
Ken Brown (Duke University)
Pavithran Iyer (Xanadu)

Session II:

Joel Wallman (Keysight Quantum)
Julian Kelly (Google)
Stephen Bartlett (University of Sydney)
Natalie Brown (Quantinuum)
Liang Jiang (University of Chicago)

Session II:

Open discussion
Questions that we didn't have time to answer in previous sessions
Discussion about potential to write a workshop paper

Workshop Organizers

Akel Hashim is a researcher at the Quantum Nanoelectronics Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. His work focuses on implementing novel QCVV methods, quantum error mitigation, and improving the performance of noisy superconducting quantum hardware. He received his PhD in 2022 in Applied Physics at the University of California, Berkeley, advised by Irfan Siddiqi, where he led a number of different research collaborations at the Advanced Quantum Testbed at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab.

Ravi K. Naik is a Research Scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and measurement lead at the Advanced Quantum Testbed. His current research efforts include the implementation, characterization, and optimization of novel controls on superconducting qubit processors, as well as studying the effects of noise and error on the compilation and execution of quantum algorithms and simulation. He received his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago for his research with Professor David Schuster on multimode circuit quantum electrodynamics.

Timothy Proctor is a Principal Member of the Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories. He researches QCVV methods at Sandia’s Quantum Performance Laboratory (QPL). Timothy leads the QPL’s development of quantum computer benchmarks, and his current research interests include applying machine learning and advanced statistical techniques to problems in QCVV. Timothy is the recipient of a Department of Energy Early Career Award, and he received his Ph.D. in 2016 from the University of Leeds, UK.

Pranav Gokhale is the VP of Quantum Software at Infleqtion. Previously, he was the CEO and Co- founder of Super.tech, which was acquired by Infleqtion. He received his PhD in quantum computation at UChicago, where he was advised by Fred Chong. Pranav’s work focuses on breaking the abstraction barrier between quantum hardware and software, with the aim of realizing practical applications sooner than otherwise possible.

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