2024/03/20 by Ivan Pogorelov, Pogorelov, Ivan, Friederike Butt +11 · 15 citations
Computer Science · Engineering · #Distributed and Parallel Computing Systems #Distributed systems and fault tolerance #FOS: Physical sciences #Quantum Physics (quant-ph) #Radiation Effects in Electronics
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2403.13732
openalex publication_date 2024/03/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Quantum error correction is a crucial tool for mitigating hardware errors in quantum computers by encoding logical information into multiple physical qubits. However, no single error-correcting code allows for an intrinsically fault-tolerant implementation of all the gates needed for universal quantum computing [1-3]. One way to tackle this problem is to switch between two suitable error-correcting codes, while preserving the encoded logical information, which in combination give access to a fault-tolerant universal gate set [4-6]. In this work, we present the first experimental implementation of fault-tolerant code switching between two codes. One is the seven-qubit color code [7], which features fault-tolerant CNOT and H quantum gates, while the other one, the 10-qubit code [8], allows for a fault-tolerant T-gate implementation. Together they form a complementary universal gate set. Building on essential code switching building blocks, we construct logical circuits and prepare 12 different logical states which are not accessible natively in a fault-tolerant way within a single code. Finally, we use code switching to entangle two logical qubits employing the full universal gate set in a single logical quantum circuit. Our results experimentally open up a new route towards deterministic control over logical qubits with low auxiliary qubit overhead, not relying on the probabilistic preparation of resource states.