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An introduction to the surface code
by Andrew N Cleland
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Submission summary
| Authors (as registered SciPost users): | Andrew Cleland |
| Submission information | |
|---|---|
| Preprint Link: | scipost_202202_00013v1 (pdf) |
| Date submitted: | 2022-02-08 15:20 |
| Submitted by: | Cleland, Andrew |
| Submitted to: | SciPost Physics Lecture Notes |
| Ontological classification | |
|---|---|
| Academic field: | Physics |
| Specialties: |
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| Approaches: | Theoretical, Experimental |
Abstract
This chapter provides an introduction to the surface code, discussing details about how physical qubits are connected and operated to create logical qubits, how errors are handled, and what performance metrics are needed to generate logical qubits with performance that exceeds their underlying physical qubit performance.
Current status:
Reports on this Submission
Anonymous Report 1 on 2022-3-22 (Invited Report)
- Cite as: Anonymous, Report on arXiv:scipost_202202_00013v1, delivered 2022-03-22, doi: 10.21468/SciPost.Report.4745
Report
This manuscript offers a pedagogical introduction to the surface code for quantum error correction and discusses its main building blocks: how logical qubits are defined, how logical operations can be performed on it, and what is the degree of protection it offers. This review is very impressive as it requires very little prerequisite knowledge, and yet gives a deep and technical understanding of the workings of the surface code. The more complex intricacies are not glossed over, but explained clearly in a way that is easy to follow even for non-experts.
Overall, this manuscript is systematic, pedagogical, and clear, and covers a topic that is central to the current experimental efforts to realize a quantum computer. Therefore, I gladly recommend it for publication at SciPost.
I have made a note marking minor corrections and comments that may be potentially confusing, which is linked to the report.