Zhuang Discusses 'Quantum Error Correction' in Physics World

ECE assistant professor Quntao Zhuang recently spoke with Physics World about the unexpected side effects of quantum error correction (QEC) protocols. According to the article, although QEC protocols are designed to keep quantum devices accurate by eliminating the headache of environmental noise, researchers have shown that QEC can also introduce bias into the output of quantum sensors. 

Zhuang says that we need more "realistic and nuanced theoretical models" of error correction to fully understand how to make quantum sensors most accurate.

“This work explores a problem that was overlooked in the past,” he says. “When you do error correction with operations that have a finite speed, there will be some side effects on how well you can estimate parameters in the system [where sensing is being done].”

However, a team of researchers from ETH Zurich in Switzerland and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology says that the combination of QEC and bias correction could help physicists "push their already extremely precise devices even further."