University of Maryland postdoc Yu Shi (ECE Ph.D. ’23) has been published as first author in PRX Quantum, a physical review journal produced by the American Physical Society (APS). His research was completed in collaboration with Dr. Ashlesha Patil, a scientist at PsiQuantum under the guidance of UMD Clark Distinguished Chair Professor Saikat Guha.

The basis of the paper, titled Stabilizer Entanglement Distillation and Efficient Fault-Tolerant Encoders, provides a framework for code-based distillation of quantum entanglement.

Quantum entanglement is essential in quantum information processing, but it is a noise-sensitive resource. Through his research, Shi presented a method for applying classical error-correcting codes to quantum entanglement distillation. Additionally, Shi has developed a measurement-based method that reduces circuity depth for entanglement distillation protocols based on stabilizer codes. Building this framework is a vital component for efficient quantum communication and fault-tolerant computing.

A key innovation noted in the paper is a constant-depth decoder, which uses single-qubit measurements to transform logical qubits into physical ones. This results in streamlined entanglement distillation for advanced codes such as quantum convolutional and quantum low-density parity-check (QLDPC) codes.

Shi is a member of the Photonic Quantum Systems Group (PhoQuS) at the University of Maryland College Park. The group is led by Professor Saikat Guha, who joined UMD in 2024 from the University of Arizona. The group conducts research in quantum information theory through quantum optics and experimental system designs for attaining quantum precision limits of photonic information processing.

PRX Quantum is a highly selective journal in quantum information science and technology. It publishes works in multidisciplinary fields that showcases techniques, experiments, theory and understanding within the quantum community while supporting and encouraging the development of quantum research.