Syndrome-Derived Error Rates as a Benchmark of Quantum Hardware

TL;DR

This paper proposes using syndrome-derived error rates from small quantum error correction circuits as a benchmark to evaluate and understand the error processes in quantum hardware, aiding the development of fault-tolerant quantum computing.

Contribution

It introduces a novel benchmarking method based on analyzing error rates from small repetition codes during syndrome measurements, providing detailed insights into qubit errors in quantum devices.

Findings

Error rates vary across qubits during syndrome measurements

Small repetition codes can effectively characterize hardware error profiles

The approach offers a detailed picture of errors in typical fault-tolerant circuits

Abstract

Quantum error correcting codes are designed to pinpoint exactly when and where errors occur in quantum circuits. This feature is the foundation of their primary task: to support fault-tolerant quantum computation. However, this feature could used as the basis of benchmarking: By analyzing the outputs of even small-scale quantum error correction circuits, a detailed picture can be constructed of error processes across a quantum device. Here we perform an example of such an analysis, using the results of small repetition codes to determine the error rate of each qubit while idle during a syndrome measurement. This provides an idea of the errors experienced by the qubits across a device while they are part of the kind of circuit that we expect to be typical in fault-tolerant quantum computers.