Search arXivSearch

arXiv · 2510.26078

The Fast for the Curious: How to accelerate fault-tolerant quantum applications

Abstract

We evaluate strategies for reducing the run time of fault-tolerant quantum computations, targeting practical utility in scientific or industrial workflows. Delivering a technology with broad impact requires scaling devices, while also maintaining acceptable run times for computations. Optimizing logical clock speed may require moving beyond current strategies, and adopting methods that trade faster run time for increased qubit counts or engineering complexity. We discuss how the co-design of hardware, fault tolerance, and algorithmic subroutines can reduce run times. We illustrate a selection of these topics with resource estimates for simulating the Fermi-Hubbard model.

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Sam McArdle, Alexander M. Dalzell, Aleksander Kubica, Fernando G. S. L. Brandão. 2025-10-30. The Fast for the Curious: How to accelerate fault-tolerant quantum applications. https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.26078

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

Iteratively decoded magic state distillation

We present numerical simulation results for the 7-to-1 and 15-to-1 state distillation circuits, constructed using transversal CNOTs acting on multiple surface code patches. The distillation circuits are decoded iteratively using the method outlined in [arXiv:2407.20976]. We show that, with a re-configurable qubit architecture, we can perform fast magic state distillation in $\sim\mathcal{O}(1)$ code cycles. We confirm that both circuits suppress an injected input logical error rate $p$ to $\mathcal{O}(p^3)$ in the presence of additional circuit-level noise. This is done with two types of stabiliser proxies, distilling logical $|-\rangle$ and $|Y\rangle$ states, the latter is the intended state of the 7-to-1 circuit while a stabiliser-proxy for the 15-to-1 circuit. We then also provide numerical evidences for actual $|T\rangle$ state distillation using the 15-to-1 circuit with a faulty-$T$ measurement, leveraging recent near-Clifford simulation tools. Finally, we outline how ZX-calculus and Pauli webs can be used to benchmark stabiliser proxies for these distillation circuits.

quant-ph

Enhanced measurements on quantum computers via the simultaneous probing of non-commuting Pauli operators

Measuring the state of quantum computers is a highly non-trivial task, with implications for virtually all quantum algorithms. A promising avenue is multi-copy schemes, where identical copies of a quantum state are measured jointly so that all Pauli operators within the considered observable can be simultaneously assessed. Here, we present a first implementation of such a two-copy scheme in a measurement protocol. Based on Bayesian statistics, it accurately estimates not only the average of the desired observable but also the error en route. This enables an adaptive shot-allocation algorithm that preferentially samples the most uncertain Pauli terms. In regimes with many non-commuting Pauli operators, this ``double'' scheme can outperform the state-of-the-art measurement protocol in minimizing total shots for a given precision. We also numerically confirm the finding in previous theoretical works that the two-copy scheme incurs an overhead due to the square-root relationship between the variance of measured quantities and the number of measurement shots.

quant-ph

Thermodynamics of a phaseonium-driven optomechanical Otto engine

We study an optomechanical Otto engine whose working medium is a single-mode cavity driven by beams of coherently prepared three-level phaseonium atoms. The atoms are not thermal reservoirs in the Gibbs sense; rather, their populations and ground-state coherence set the detailed-balance ratio of the cavity collision map, so that the field relaxes to a Gibbs state at an operational apparent temperature. We combine the finite-time collision-model dynamics with radiation-pressure work extraction and compare three reservoir preparations: a thermal reference at the same apparent temperatures, an incoherent atomic beam with the same populations, and the coherent phaseonium beam. We show that the phaseonium isochore charges the cavity passively: the cavity ergotropy and energy-basis coherence remain zero up to numerical precision, while the state converges to the Gibbs fixed point selected by the apparent detailed balance. We further estimate lower bounds on the cost of preparing the atomic populations and coherence, showing that the relevant advantage of phaseonium is a resource-preparation tradeoff rather than a cost-free enhancement over a thermal bath at the same temperature. Finally, we assess the finite-time performance of a two-cavity cascade with additive mechanical work accounting. Over the investigated coherence-phase range, the cascade produces approximately $47\%$--$52\%$ more power than the single-cavity engine while requiring only $65\%$--$68\%$ of the hot and cold phaseonium atoms needed by two independent engines, resulting in a $9\%$--$15\%$ enhancement of power per injected atom over a complete cycle.

quant-ph