Nonuniform code concatenation for universal fault-tolerant quantum computing

Abstract

Using transversal gates is a straightforward and efficient technique for fault-tolerant quantum computing. Since transversal gates alone cannot be computationally universal, they must be combined with other approaches such as magic state distillation, code switching or code concatenation in order to achieve universality. In this paper we propose an alternative approach for universal fault-tolerant quantum computing mainly based on the code concatenation approach proposed in [PRL 112, 010505 (2014)] but in a non-uniform fashion. The proposed approach is described based on non-uniform concatenation of the 7-qubit Steane code with the 15-qubit Reed-Muller code as well as the 5-qubit code with the 15-qubit Reed-Muller code, which lead to two 49-qubit and 47-qubit codes, respectively. These codes can correct any arbitrary single physical error with the ability to perform a universal set of fault-tolerant gates, without using magic state distillation.