We develop a protocol for continuous operation of a quantum error correcting code for protection of coherent evolution due to an encoded Hamiltonian against environmental errors, using the three-qubit bit-flip code and bit-flip errors as a canonical example. To detect errors in real time, we filter the output signals from continuous measurement of the error syndrome operators and use a double thresholding protocol for error diagnosis, while correction of errors is done as in the conventional operation. We optimize our continuous operation protocol for evolution under quantum memory and under quantum annealing, by maximizing the fidelity between the target and actual logical states at a specified final time. In the case of quantum memory, we show that our continuous operation protocol yields a logical error rate that is slightly larger than the one obtained from using the optimal Wonham filter for error diagnosis while being simpler to implement. For quantum annealing, we show that our continuous quantum error correction protocol can significantly reduce the final logical state infidelity when the continuous measurements are sufficiently strong relative to the strength of the time-dependent Hamiltonian. We also show that this continuous quantum error correction protocol can reduce the time-to-solution relative to the value obtained from a classical parallelization scheme. These results suggest that a continuous implementation is suitable for quantum error correction in the presence of encoded time-dependent Hamiltonians, opening the possibility of many applications in quantum simulation and quantum annealing.

• Received 12 April 2020
• Accepted 9 March 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.103.042406