Quantum Error Correction with Superpositions of Squeezed Fock States

Abstract: Bosonic codes, leveraging infinite-dimensional Hilbert spaces for redundancy, offer great potential for encoding quantum information. However, the realization of a practical continuous-variable bosonic code that can simultaneously correct both single-photon loss and dephasing errors remains elusive, primarily due to the absence of exactly orthogonal codewords and the lack of an experiment-friendly state preparation scheme. Here, we propose a code based on the superposition of squeezed Fock states with an error-correcting capability that scales as $\propto\exp(-7r)$, where $r$ is the squeezing level. The codewords remain orthogonal at all squeezing levels. The Pauli-X operator acts as a rotation in phase space is an error-transparent gate, preventing correctable errors from propagating outside the code space during logical operations. In particular, this code achieves high-precision error correction for both single-photon loss and dephasing, even at moderate squeezing levels. Building on this code, we develop quantum error correction schemes that exceed the break-even threshold, supported by analytical derivations of all necessary quantum gates. Our code offers a competitive alternative to previous encodings for quantum computation using continuous bosonic qubits.