提出可实时运行的神经量子纠错解码方案,解决精度与延迟的矛盾。
Rethink the Role of Neural Decoders in Quantum Error Correction

- 统一五类神经解码器架构,设计端到端压缩流程
- 在FPGA上实现微秒级延迟,支持距离d=9的表面码
- 发现数据量比结构复杂度更影响性能,量化是实时关键
量子误差校正(QEC)对实现量子优势至关重要,解码是其核心算法。尽管神经解码器作为数据驱动范式展现出潜力,但实际部署仍受限于精度与延迟间的根本权衡,通常在微秒量级。本文重新审视表面码解码中神经解码器的作用,在明确的精度-延迟约束下,考虑代码距离最高达d=9(161个物理量子比特)。我们统一并重设计了代表性神经解码器为五种架构范式,并开发端到端压缩管道以评估其在FPGA硬件上的可部署性与性能。系统实验揭示了若干此前未被充分探索的见解:(i) 近期解码性能更多由数据规模决定而非架构复杂度;(ii) 适当的归纳偏置对实现高解码精度至关重要;(iii) INT4量化是满足FPGA上微秒级延迟要求的前提。这些发现为可扩展、实时的神经量子误差校正解码提供了具体指导。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Quantum error correction (QEC) is essential for enabling quantum advantages, with decoding as a central algorithmic primitive. Owing to its importance and intrinsic difficulty, substantial effort has been made to QEC decoder design, among which neural decoders have recently emerged as a promising data-driven paradigm. Despite this progress, practical deployment remains hindered by a fundamental accuracy-latency tradeoff, often on the microsecond timescale. To address this challenge, here we revisit neural decoders for surface-code decoding under explicit accuracy-latency constraints, considering code distances up to d=9 (161 physical qubits). We unify and redesign representative neural decoders into five architectural paradigms and develop an end-to-end compression pipeline to evaluate their deployability and performance on FPGA hardware. Through systematic experiments, we reveal several previously underexplored insights: (i) near-term decoding performance is driven more by data scale than architectural complexity; (ii) appropriate inductive bias is essential for achieving high decoding accuracy; and (iii) INT4 quantization is a prerequisite for meeting microsecond-scale latency requirements on FPGAs. Together, these findings provide concrete guidance toward scalable and real-time neural QEC decoding.
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