Quantum error correction beyond qubits (original) (raw)

Nature Physics volume 5, pages 541–546 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Quantum computation and communication rely on the ability to manipulate quantum states robustly and with high fidelity. To protect fragile quantum-superposition states from corruption through so-called decoherence noise, some form of error correction is needed. Therefore, the discovery of quantum error correction1,2 (QEC) was a key step to turn the field of quantum information from an academic curiosity into a developing technology. Here, we present an experimental implementation of a QEC code for quantum information encoded in continuous variables, based on entanglement among nine optical beams3. This nine-wave-packet adaptation of Shor’s original nine-qubit scheme1 enables, at least in principle, full quantum error correction against an arbitrary single-beam error.

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Figure 1: Schematic diagram for the nine-wave-packet quantum error-correction code operation (ref. 3) for correcting an arbitrary error occurring in any one of the nine channels.

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Figure 2: Experimental set-up of the nine-wave-packet quantum error correction.

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Figure 3: Error syndrome measurement results.

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Figure 4: Results of quantum-error-correction procedure.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partly supported by SCF, GIA, G-COE and PFN commissioned by the MEXT of Japan, and the Research Foundation for Opto-Science and Technology. S.L.B. appreciated discussions with Netta Cohen. P.v.L. acknowledges the DFG for financial support under the Emmy Noether programme. A.F. acknowledges Y. Takeno for preparing the figures. P.v.L. thanks Gerd Leuchs for useful discussions.

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Author notes

  1. Takao Aoki
    Present address: Current address: Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Physics and Quantum Phase Electronics Center, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan
    Takao Aoki, Go Takahashi, Tadashi Kajiya, Jun-ichi Yoshikawa & Akira Furusawa
  2. CREST, Japan Science and Technology (JST) Agency, 5, Sanbancho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102-0075, Japan
    Go Takahashi, Tadashi Kajiya, Jun-ichi Yoshikawa & Akira Furusawa
  3. Computer Science, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
    Samuel L. Braunstein
  4. Optical Quantum Information Theory Group, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light and Institute of Theoretical Physics I, Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Staudtstr.7/B2, 91058 Erlangen, Germany
    Peter van Loock

Authors

  1. Takao Aoki
  2. Go Takahashi
  3. Tadashi Kajiya
  4. Jun-ichi Yoshikawa
  5. Samuel L. Braunstein
  6. Peter van Loock
  7. Akira Furusawa

Contributions

Project planning: T.A., A.F. Experimental work: T.A., G.T., T.K., J.Y. Theoretical work: S.L.B., P.v.L., A.F.

Corresponding author

Correspondence toAkira Furusawa.

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Aoki, T., Takahashi, G., Kajiya, T. et al. Quantum error correction beyond qubits.Nature Phys 5, 541–546 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1309

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