Analysis of optical loss thresholds in the fusion-based quantum computing architecture

Abstract

Bell state measurements (BSMs) play a significant role in quantum information and quantum computing, in particular in fusion-based quantum computing (FBQC). The FBQC model is a framework for universal quantum computing, provided that we are able to perform entangling measurements, called fusions, on qubits within small entangled resource states. Here, we analyze the usage of different linear-optical BSM circuits as fusions in the FBQC schemes and numerically evaluate hardware requirements for fault-tolerance in this framework. We examine and compare the performance of several BSM circuits with varying additional resources and estimate the requirements on losses for every component of the linear-optical realization of fusions under which errors in fusion networks caused by these losses can be corrected. Our results show that fault-tolerant quantum computing in the FBQC model is possible with currently achievable levels of optical losses in an integrated photonic implementation, provided that we can create and detect single photons of the resource states with a total marginal efficiency higher than 0.973.