Channel-adapted quantum error correction

Quantum error correction (QEC) is an essential concept for any quantum information processing device. Typically, QEC is designed with minimal assumptions about the noise process; this generic assumption exacts a high cost in efficiency and performance. We examine QEC methods that are adapted to the physical noise model. In physical systems, errors are not likely to be arbitrary; rather we will have reasonable models for the structure of quantum decoherence. We may choose quantum error correcting codes and recovery operations that specifically target the most likely errors. This can increase QEC performance and also reduce the required overhead. We present a convex optimization method to determine the optimal (in terms of average entanglement fidelity) recovery operation for a given channel, encoding, and information source. This is solvable via a semidefinite program (SDP). We derive an analytic solution to the optimal recovery for the case of stabilizer codes, the completely mixed input source, and channels characterized by Pauli group errors. We present computational algorithms to generate near-optimal recovery operations structured to begin with a projective syndrome measurement.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Fletcher, Andrew Stephen

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Peter W. Shor and Moe Z. Win.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/40497

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/40497