Single-shot quantum error correction with the three-dimensional subsystem toric code

Abstract: We introduce a new topological quantum code, the three-dimensional subsystem toric code (3D STC), which is a generalization of the stabilizer toric code. The 3D STC can be realized by measuring geometrically-local parity checks of weight at most three on the cubic lattice with open boundary conditions. We prove that single-shot quantum error correction (QEC) is possible with the 3D STC, i.e., one round of local parity-check measurements suffices to perform reliable QEC even in the presence of measurement errors. We also propose an efficient single-shot QEC strategy for the 3D STC and investigate its performance. In particular, we numerically estimate the resulting storage threshold against independent bit-flip, phase-flip and measurement errors to be $p_\text{STC} \approx 1.045\%$. Such a high threshold together with local parity-check measurements of small weight make the 3D STC particularly appealing for realizing fault-tolerant quantum computing.