Goutam Paul

Decoders are a critical component of fault-tolerant quantum computing. They must identify errors based on syndrome measurements to correct quantum states. While finding the optimal correction is NP-hard and thus extremely difficult, approximate decoders with faster runtime often rely on uncontrolled heuristics. In this work, we propose a family of hierarchical quantum decoders with a tunable trade-off between speed and accuracy while retaining guarantees of optimality. We use the Lasserre Sum-of-Squares (SOS) hierarchy from optimization theory to relax the decoding problem. This approach creates a sequence of Semidefinite Programs (SDPs). Lower levels of the hierarchy are faster but approximate, while higher levels are slower but more accurate. We demonstrate that even low levels of this hierarchy significantly outperform standard Linear Programming relaxations. Our results on rotated surface codes and honeycomb color codes show that the SOS decoder approaches the performance of exact decoding. We find that Levels 2 and 3 of our hierarchy perform nearly as well as the exact solver. We analyze the convergence using rank-loop criteria and compare the method against other relaxation schemes. This work bridges the gap between fast heuristics and rigorous optimal decoding.

We present two Device Independent Quantum Random Number Generator (DI-QRNG) protocols using two self-testing methodologies in Preparation \& Measure (P\&M) scenario. These two methodologies are the variants of two well known non-local games, namely CHSH and pseudo-telepathy games, in P\&M framework. We exploit them as distinguishers in black-box settings to differentiate the classical and the quantum paradigms and hence to certify the Device Independence. The first self-test was proposed by Tavakoli et al. (Phys. Rev. A, 2018). We show that this is actually a P\&M variant of the CHSH game. Then based on this self-test, we design our first DI-QRNG protocol. We also propose a new self-testing methodology, which is the first of its kind that is reducible from pseudo-telepathy game in P\&M framework. Based on this new self-test, we design our second DI-QRNG protocol.

In this paper, we propose a new theoretical scheme for quantum secure direct communication (QSDC) with user authentication. Different from the previous QSDC protocols, the present protocol uses only one orthogonal basis of single-qubit states to encode the secret message. Moreover, this is a one-time and one-way communication protocol, which uses qubits prepared in a randomly chosen arbitrary basis, to transmit the secret message. We discuss the security of the proposed protocol against some common attacks and show that no eavesdropper can get any information from the quantum and classical channels. We have also studied the performance of this protocol under realistic device noise. We have executed the protocol in the IBMQ Armonk device and proposed a repetition code-based protection scheme that requires minimal overhead.