Autonomous quantum error correction beyond break-even and its metrological application

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Ni, Zhongchu, Hu, Ling, Cai, Yanyan, Zhang, Libo, Mai, Jiasheng, Deng, Xiaowei, Zheng, Pan, Liu, Song, Zheng, Shi-Biao, Xu, Yuan, Yu, Dapeng
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Ni, Zhongchu
Hu, Ling
Cai, Yanyan
Zhang, Libo
Mai, Jiasheng
Deng, Xiaowei
Zheng, Pan
Liu, Song
Zheng, Shi-Biao
Xu, Yuan
Yu, Dapeng
author_facet Ni, Zhongchu
Hu, Ling
Cai, Yanyan
Zhang, Libo
Mai, Jiasheng
Deng, Xiaowei
Zheng, Pan
Liu, Song
Zheng, Shi-Biao
Xu, Yuan
Yu, Dapeng
contents The ability to extend the lifetime of a logical qubit beyond that of the best physical qubit available within the same system, i.e., the break-even point, is a prerequisite for building practical quantum computers. So far, this point has been exceeded through active quantum error correction (QEC) protocols, where a logical error is corrected by measuring its syndrome and then performing an adaptive correcting operation. Autonomous QEC (AQEC), without the need for such resource-consuming measurement-feedback control, has been demonstrated in several experiments, but none of which has unambiguously reached the break-even point. Here, we present an unambiguous demonstration of beyond-break-even AQEC in a circuit quantum electrodynamics system, where a photonic logical qubit encoded in a superconducting microwave cavity is protected against photon loss through autonomous error correction, enabled by engineered dissipation. Under the AQEC protection, the logical qubit achieves a lifetime surpassing that of the best physical qubit available in the system by 18\%. We further employ this AQEC protocol to enhance the precision for measuring a slight frequency shift, achieving a metrological gain of 6.3 dB over that using the most robust Fock-state superposition. These results illustrate that the demonstrated AQEC procedure not only represents a crucial step towards fault-tolerant quantum computation but also offers advantages for building robust quantum sensors.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2509_26042
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Autonomous quantum error correction beyond break-even and its metrological application
Ni, Zhongchu
Hu, Ling
Cai, Yanyan
Zhang, Libo
Mai, Jiasheng
Deng, Xiaowei
Zheng, Pan
Liu, Song
Zheng, Shi-Biao
Xu, Yuan
Yu, Dapeng
Quantum Physics
The ability to extend the lifetime of a logical qubit beyond that of the best physical qubit available within the same system, i.e., the break-even point, is a prerequisite for building practical quantum computers. So far, this point has been exceeded through active quantum error correction (QEC) protocols, where a logical error is corrected by measuring its syndrome and then performing an adaptive correcting operation. Autonomous QEC (AQEC), without the need for such resource-consuming measurement-feedback control, has been demonstrated in several experiments, but none of which has unambiguously reached the break-even point. Here, we present an unambiguous demonstration of beyond-break-even AQEC in a circuit quantum electrodynamics system, where a photonic logical qubit encoded in a superconducting microwave cavity is protected against photon loss through autonomous error correction, enabled by engineered dissipation. Under the AQEC protection, the logical qubit achieves a lifetime surpassing that of the best physical qubit available in the system by 18\%. We further employ this AQEC protocol to enhance the precision for measuring a slight frequency shift, achieving a metrological gain of 6.3 dB over that using the most robust Fock-state superposition. These results illustrate that the demonstrated AQEC procedure not only represents a crucial step towards fault-tolerant quantum computation but also offers advantages for building robust quantum sensors.
title Autonomous quantum error correction beyond break-even and its metrological application
topic Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.26042