Fault-Tolerant QLDPC Syndrome Measurement via LDGM Encoding

Abstract: We propose the use of certain low-density generator-matrix (LDGM) codes as syndrome measurement (SM) codes for quantum low-density parity check (QLDPC) codes. We use an efficient progressive-edge-growth-like algorithm to create LDGM SM codes with column and row weights that result in measured stabilizers that have constant weight, thus preserving the desirable properties of the underlying QLDPC code. This process allows for control over stabilizer weights and SM code distance, resulting in significantly better performance than repeated syndrome extraction and allowing for both higher distances and fewer syndrome measurements. We implement these SM codes on a distance-5 rotated surface code, and show that this procedure results in a lower probability of logical error. As syndrome measurements performed are a reasonable metric for the time a circuit takes to implement, we conclude that these LDGM codes allow for improved implementation of QLDPC codes without sacrificing the low weights of the syndrome measurements performed.