Experiments with the 4D Surface Code on a QCCD Quantum Computer

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the first experimental implementation of single-shot quantum error correction using the 4D surface code on a trapped-ion quantum computer, showing its advantages over 2D codes in fault-tolerant memory.

Contribution

It provides the first experimental demonstration of single-shot error correction with the 4D surface code on a real quantum device, comparing its performance to 2D codes.

Findings

4D surface code matches or outperforms 2D code in memory experiments

First experimental demonstration of single-shot quantum error correction

Shows potential for faster fault-tolerant quantum computations

Abstract

Single-shot quantum error correction has the potential to speed up quantum computations by removing the need for multiple rounds of syndrome extraction in order to be fault-tolerant. Using Quantinuum's H2 trapped-ion quantum computer, we implement the [[33,1,4]] 4D surface code and perform the first experimental demonstration of single-shot quantum error correction with bare ancilla qubits. We conduct memory experiments comparing the 2D and 4D surface codes and find that despite differences in qubit use and syndrome extraction circuit depth, the 4D surface code matches or outperforms the 2D surface code in both the fault-tolerant and single-shot regimes.