Extra QLunch: Vincent Steffan

Speaker: Vincent Steffan (Senior QEC Engineer at IQM Germany)

Title: Tile codes - high efficiency codes on a lattice with boundary

Abstract: 

Running real-life applications on Quantum Computers will require Quantum Error Correction (QEC). Two-dimensional local codes—such as the surface code—are among the most practical architectures due to their compatibility with physical hardware constraints of, for example, superconducting hardware. 

In this talk, we introduce Tile Codes, a simple yet powerful framework for constructing quantum codes that are local on a planar 2D lattice with open boundary conditions. Tile codes generalize the surface code by allowing greater flexibility in locality and stabilizer weight, while preserving geometric simplicity.

We will also discuss concrete ways of implementing certain instances of Tile Codes on superconducting hardware. 

This talk is based on https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/l4mx-l3xx and https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.14589.