Minimizing the Number of Code Switching Operations in Fault-Tolerant Quantum Circuits
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Abstract
Fault-tolerant quantum computers rely on Quantum Error-Correcting Codes (QECCs) to protect information from noise. However, no single error-correcting code supports a fully transversal and therefore fault-tolerant implementation of all gates required for universal quantum computation. Code switching addresses this limitation by moving quantum information between different codes that, together, support a universal gate set. Unfortunately, each switch is costly-adding time and space overhead and increasing the logical error rate. Minimizing the number of switching operations is, therefore, essential for quantum computations using code switching. In this work, we study the problem of minimizing the number of code switches required to run a given quantum circuit. We show that this problem can be solved efficiently in polynomial time by reducing it to a minimum-cut instance on a graph derived from the circuit. Our formulation is flexible and can incorporate additional considerations, such as reducing depth overhead by preferring switches during idle periods or biasing the compilation to favor one code over another. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first automated approach for compiling and optimizing code-switching-based quantum computations at the logical level.