Quantum error correction

Quantum error correction (QEC) is used in quantum computing to protect quantum information from errors due to decoherence and other quantum noise. Quantum error correction is theorised as essential to achieve fault tolerant quantum computing that can reduce the effects of noise on stored quantum information, faulty quantum gates, faulty quantum preparation, and faulty measurements. This would allow algorithms of greater circuit depth. Classical error correction employs redundancy. The simplest albeit inefficient approach is the repetition code. The idea is to store the information multiple times, and—if these copies are later found to disagree—take a majority vote; e.g. suppose we copy a bit in the one state three times. Suppose further that a noisy error corrupts the three-bit state so that one of the copied bits is equal to zero but the other two are equal to one. Assuming that noisy errors are independent and occur with some sufficiently low probability p, it is most likely that the error is a single-bit error and the transmitted message is three ones. It is possible that a double-bit error occurs and the transmitted message is equal to three zeros, but this outcome is less likely than the above outcome. In this example, the logical information was a single bit in the one state, the physical information are the three copied bits, and determining what logical state is encoded in the physical state is called decoding. Similar to classical error correction, QEC codes do not always correctly decode logical qubits, but their use reduces the effect of noise. Copying quantum information is not possible due to the no-cloning theorem. This theorem seems to present an obstacle to formulating a theory of quantum error correction. But it is possible to spread the (logical) information of one qubit onto a highly entangled state of several (physical) qubits. Peter Shor first discovered this method of formulating a quantum error correcting code by storing the information of one qubit onto a highly entangled state of nine qubits.