Quantum error correction: from its beginnings to modern developments

Speaker: Eleanor Rieffel
Affiliation: University of Queensland

Abstract

Shor’s polynomial-time quantum algorithm for factoring is widely credited as moving quantum computing from an intriguing but obscure possibility to a field of mainstream interest. Without the introduction of quantum error correction, thought by many leading figures to be impossible, Shor’s algorithm would have remained a mathematical curiosity. Quantum error correction is now one of the most mature areas of quantum information processing, while still a vibrant area of research in which major breakthroughs continue to be made. This talk will begin with an introduction to quantum error correction, including some history that frames evolving views on quantum error correction. I will start by defining stabilizer codes, providing an overview of the powerful stabilizer formalism. I will move from stabilizer codes to subsystem codes, defining them generally and giving the Bacon-Shor subsystem codes as an example. The last part of the talk will discuss a much newer type of code, dynamical or Floquet, codes, providing a glimpse of the Floquet Bacon-Shor code, discovered in joint work with M. Sohaib Alam. This work is part of a larger program aiming to understand the design space for Floquet codes. The talk will conclude with some open questions.