Superconducting quantum circuits at the surface code threshold for fault tolerance.
A quantum computer can solve hard problems, such as prime factoring, database searching and quantum simulation, at the cost of needing to protect fragile quantum states from error. Quantum error correction provides this protection by distributing a logical state among many physical quantum bits (qubits) by means of quantum entanglement. Superconductivity is a useful phenomenon in this regard, because it allows the construction of large quantum circuits and is compatible with microfabrication. For superconducting qubits, the surface code approach to quantum computing is a natural choice for error correction, because it uses only nearest-neighbour coupling and rapidly cycled entangling gates. The gate fidelity requirements are modest: the per-step fidelity threshold is only about 99 per cent. Here we demonstrate a universal set of logic gates in a superconducting multi-qubit processor, achieving an average single-qubit gate fidelity of 99.92 per cent and a two-qubit gate fidelity of up to 99.4 per cent. This places Josephson quantum computing at the fault-tolerance threshold for surface code error correction. Our quantum processor is a first step towards the surface code, using five qubits arranged in a linear array with nearest-neighbour coupling. As a further demonstration, we construct a five-qubit Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state using the complete circuit and full set of gates. The results demonstrate that Josephson quantum computing is a high-fidelity technology, with a clear path to scaling up to large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum circuits.
1] Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA [2].
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Barends
1] Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA [2].
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Kelly
Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
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Megrant
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of California, Riverside, California 92521, USA.
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Veitia
Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
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Sank
Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
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Jeffrey
Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
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White
Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
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Mutus
1] Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA [2] Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology, School of Physics, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia.
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Fowler
Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
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Campbell
Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
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Chen
Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
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Chen
Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
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Chiaro
Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
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Dunsworth
Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
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Neill
Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
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O'Malley
Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
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Roushan
Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
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Vainsencher
Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
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Wenner
Department of Electrical Engineering, University of California, Riverside, California 92521, USA.
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Korotkov
Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
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Cleland
Department of Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA.
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Martinis