Projects
NISQEC: Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum Error Correction

NISQEC: Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum Error Correction

Duration
2026 - 2030

Quantum computers are expected to solve some complex problems more efficiently than classical computing, such as factoring large numbers in cryptography. The quantum revolution is slowly gathering pace, with the NISQ era playing an important stepping stone towards fully fault-tolerant quantum computing (FTQC). The "noisy" nature of NISQ systems presents a considerable challenge, as quantum information is notoriously error-prone when any quantum system interacts with its physical environment. These errors restrict the size of robust quantum systems that can be built unless quantum error correction (QEC) is employed to mitigate hardware noise. QEC is a crucial enabler, unlocking the commercial potential of various quantum technologies beyond FTQC, including quantum communications, quantum sensing and simulation, and quantum memories. Our project, Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum Error Correction (NISQEC), will advance QEC capabilities for the NISQ era.

The quality of QEC is characterized using two key metrics: code rate and error threshold. The code rate reflects the "cost" of a QECC by quantifying how many physical qubits are required to encode a certain number of information-carrying qubits. A higher code rate indicates more efficient storage and processing of quantum information. The other key metric, the error threshold, defines the maximum permissible physical error rate (the level of environmental noise) for which a QECC's LER outperforms the case without error correction. A higher error threshold of a QECC indicates better overall performance.

The NISQEC project aims to establish fundamental FBL coding limits on LER—or, equivalently, error threshold—for a variety of quantum noise models. By tackling challenges in both quantum and classical information encoding paradigms, we leverage our deep expertise in classical FBL IT and coding theory to develop rigorous theoretical bounds and practical, efficient coding schemes.

Funding

This project is funded through the Research council of Norway's funding scheme “Researcher projects for ICT Renewal and Development” (forskningsradet.no).

Funded by the research council of Norway logo

Partners

  • Simula UiB (Norway), coordinator
  • Nokia Bell Labs (USA)
  • The National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (Taiwan)
  • The Universidad Carlos III (Spain)

Affiliated contacts