Presentation
Compilation Pipeline for Predicting Algorithmic Break-Even in an Early-Fault-Tolerant Surface Code Architecture
DescriptionRecent experimental progress in surface-code hardware, including
demonstrations of break-even logical memory on devices with up to
hundreds of physical qubits, has materially advanced the prospects
for fault-tolerant quantum computation. This progress creates ur-
gency for compilation workflows that directly target the forth-
coming generation of devices with thousands of physical qubits,
for which algorithm execution becomes practical. We develop a
pipeline for compiling logical algorithms to physical circuits imple-
menting lattice surgery on the surface code, and use this pipeline
to identify the requirements for achieving algorithmic break-even—
where quantum error correction improves the performance of a
quantum algorithm—for the quantum approximate optimization
algorithm (QAOA). Our pipeline integrates several open-source
software tools, and leverages recent advances in error-aware uni-
tary gate synthesis, high-fidelity magic-state production, and the
calculation of correlation surfaces in the surface code. We apply our
pipeline by performing classical simulations of physical Clifford
proxy circuits produced by our pipeline, and find that 5-qubit QAOA
can reach algorithmic break-even with 2517 physical qubits (surface
code distance 𝑑 = 11) at physical error rates of 𝑝 = 10−3, or 1737
physical qubits (𝑑 = 9) at 𝑝 = 5 × 10−4. Our work thereby identifies
conditions for achieving algorithmic break-even with near-term
quantum hardware and paves the way towards an end-to-end com-
piler for early-fault-tolerant surface code architectures
demonstrations of break-even logical memory on devices with up to
hundreds of physical qubits, has materially advanced the prospects
for fault-tolerant quantum computation. This progress creates ur-
gency for compilation workflows that directly target the forth-
coming generation of devices with thousands of physical qubits,
for which algorithm execution becomes practical. We develop a
pipeline for compiling logical algorithms to physical circuits imple-
menting lattice surgery on the surface code, and use this pipeline
to identify the requirements for achieving algorithmic break-even—
where quantum error correction improves the performance of a
quantum algorithm—for the quantum approximate optimization
algorithm (QAOA). Our pipeline integrates several open-source
software tools, and leverages recent advances in error-aware uni-
tary gate synthesis, high-fidelity magic-state production, and the
calculation of correlation surfaces in the surface code. We apply our
pipeline by performing classical simulations of physical Clifford
proxy circuits produced by our pipeline, and find that 5-qubit QAOA
can reach algorithmic break-even with 2517 physical qubits (surface
code distance 𝑑 = 11) at physical error rates of 𝑝 = 10−3, or 1737
physical qubits (𝑑 = 9) at 𝑝 = 5 × 10−4. Our work thereby identifies
conditions for achieving algorithmic break-even with near-term
quantum hardware and paves the way towards an end-to-end com-
piler for early-fault-tolerant surface code architectures
Event Type
Research Manuscript
TimeTuesday, July 282:47pm - 3:00pm PDT
LocationMtg Room 203AB