Measuring error rates of mid-circuit measurements
Open accessAbstract
High-fidelity mid-circuit measurements, which read out the state of specific qubits in a multiqubit processor without destroying them or disrupting their neighbors, are a critical component for useful quantum computing. They enable fault-tolerant quantum error correction, dynamic circuits, and other paths to solving classically intractable problems. But there are few methods to assess their performance comprehensively. In this work, we address this gap by introducing the first randomized benchmarking protocol that measures the rate at which mid-circuit measurements induce errors in many-qubit circuits. Using this protocol, we detect and eliminate previously undetected measurement-induced crosstalk in a 20-qubit trapped-ion quantum computer. Then, we use the same protocol to measure the rate of measurement-induced crosstalk error on a 27-qubit IBM Q processor, and quantify how much of that error is eliminated by dynamical decoupling. Characterisation of quantum operations is fundamental in quantum technologies - quantum computing in particular - but there’s currently no reliably efficient method to assess mid-circuit measurements, which are a key component for subfields like quantum error correction. Here, the authors fill this gap, integrating MCMs into the framework of randomized benchmarking.
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An extension allowing for MCMRs was given in ref. 49, called quantum instrument randomized benchmarking.
“An extension allowing for MCMRs was given in ref. 49, called quantum instrument randomized benchmarking.”
From A 98-qubit trapped-ion quantum computer with all-to-all connectivity (2026) · cites this paper as [49]
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References 57 · Cited by 5
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- Authors
- Hothem, D., Hines, J., Baldwin, C., Gresh, D., Blume-Kohout, R., & Proctor, T.
- Affiliations
- Sandia National Laboratories California (US)
- Sandia National Laboratories (US)
- Quantinuum (United States) (US)
- Corresponding author
- Hothem, Daniel
- Venue
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-07-01
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 5761-5761
- ISSN
- 2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC12217855
- OpenAlex
- W4411881839
- Cited by
- 5
- References
- 57
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 1
- FWCI
- 2.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Nature Communications (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (cc-by)
- Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy (DENA0003525, 0003525)
- Office of the Director of National Intelligence
- Office of Science (DE-NA0003525)
- National Nuclear Security Administration (DENA-0003525)
- Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity
- Advanced Scientific Computing Research (DE-NA-0003525)
- Sandia National Laboratories (DE‐NA,0003525)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Quantum Computing Algorithms and Architecture
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Quantum Information and Cryptography
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics › Quantum many-body systems
- Keywords
- mid-circuit measurement, randomized benchmarking, trapped-ion quantum computing, dynamical decoupling, quantum error correction
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