A reliable quantum computer will be built out of unreliable components and therefore needs to use quantum error correction. Quantum error correction requires both an experimental platform in which the components are good enough to benefit from quantum error correction as well a particular quantum error correction scheme or architecture provided by theoretical analysis. Research in this project is focused on developing quantum error correction schemes for the experimental platform of superconducting devices and qubits. Our first project is aimed at providing theory support for realising the standard (so-called "surface code") scheme on current and near-term superconducting hardware. Our second objective is to develop a viable, possibly superior, alternative to this standard surface code scheme based on similar superconducting hardware. Our third objective is focused on longer-term research which becomes relevant when quantum error correction is an experimental reality. This last strand aims at developing more efficient methods for processing error information and developing protocols which save on spatial and temporal quantum resources to enact quantum logic.
Building a reliable quantum computer is important for society since it requires building a radically different computer technology. This computer technology can be fundamentally faster than current hardware for certain computational problems. It is expected that the development of this quantum computer technology will have broad technological impact as it requires innovations in many ancillary technologies, e.g. fast and accurate low-temperature control electronics, information processing and chip development. The experimental realisation of quantum error correction is expected to be ground-breaking from a fundamental point of view as it shows that quantum mechanics can govern the behavior of genuinely macroscopic systems made out of many components.
