Loss-tolerant distributed lattice surgery using fusion networks

Abstract

Networking matter-based quantum processing units (QPUs) offers a promising route to scaling fault-tolerant quantum computers. This requires distributed logical operations to be performed across photonic links, where noise is characteristically different from and stronger than in local QPUs owing to photon loss and probabilistic linear-optical operations. Measurement- and fusion-based quantum computing are designed to be robust against loss and probabilistic photonic operations, suggesting they could complement circuit-based error correction at the interface between networked QPUs. We use ZX calculus transformations to construct hybrid syndrome extraction protocols and apply them to distributed rotated surface code lattice surgery, demonstrating that several protocols attain a $50\%$ interface-erasure threshold when local noise is absent, including circuit-based lattice surgery using fused Bell pairs and hybrid protocols using linear cluster states. Relative to a straight Bell-pair interface geometry, the hybrid protocols increase the merge-observable interface distance from $d+1$ to $2d+1$ and restore the perpendicular-observable interface distance from $\lfloor(d+1)/2\rfloor$ to $d$. We calculate how the threshold decreases when using truncated resource states and map correctable regions under resource-state errors, local circuit noise, and fusion erasure. We then convert these erasure thresholds into photon-loss thresholds and probe subthreshold performance using fusion boosting. At circuit and resource-state error rates of $10^{-3}$, local errors largely mask the interface-distance advantage. As local noise is reduced to $10^{-4}$ and below, the linear-chain protocols improve more rapidly with decreasing erasure, suggesting that interface distance enhancements are effective in low local noise regimes.