In its effort to achieve fault tolerant quantum computing, Microsoft on Thursday unveiled its new error-correcting code, which uses four-dimensional geometric codes to help reliably transmit information.
The 4D geometric codes developed by Microsoft stabilize the physical qubits a quantum computer uses to process information. Once stabilized, these physical qubits will act as a network to compose logical qubits, thanks to the 4D codes’ ability to quickly find and correct errors in the qubits as they compute volumes of data.
Alongside neutral atom hardware created in collaboration with Atom Computing, the 4D codes will serve as the foundational architecture of Microsoft’s fault-tolerant quantum computer. According to results from a simulation outlined in a set of research papers, the implementation of these codes results in a 1,000-fold error rate reduction.
“These powerful codes can reduce the error rates of physical qubits by orders of magnitude to reach the level required for quantum circuits to operate reliably,” a press release said.
The family of 4D codes are now available in Microsoft’s cloud-based quantum computing platform.
Microsoft’s announcement comes after IBM unveiled low density parity check codes as its error correction method of choice. Prior to Microsoft’s announcement regarding the 4D codes, it also unveiled its Majorama 1 supercomputing chip to help scale its computational capabilities to a million viable qubits.
Microsoft is also participating in the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency’s ongoing effort to invest in multiple methods and see which will be the first viable path towards fault-tolerance in quantum computing.
