CryoZip: An Efficient Cryogenic Compressor for Quantum Error Correction Syndromes

2026-06-29

AI Summary

This work addresses the bandwidth and power bottlenecks at the 4K-to-room-temperature interface in fault-tolerant quantum computing, caused by the transmission of quantum error correction (QEC) syndrome data. To overcome these challenges, the authors propose CryoZip, a cryogenic cross-stack compression framework that integrates a lightweight QEC pre-decoder with a novel sliding-window compression architecture. This design efficiently compresses sparse syndrome vectors under circuit-level noise while meeting stringent decoding latency constraints. Implemented in 22nm FDSOI technology at 4K, CryoZip achieves up to 48× compression and 4–26× energy savings. When combined with the pre-decoder, it reduces interface bandwidth requirements by over 14,238× and delivers a 42× improvement in overall energy efficiency.

Abstract

Scaling fault tolerant quantum computing is increasingly constrained by the limited bandwidth and power budget across the 4 K to room temperature (RT) interface. We present CryoZip, a cross stack cryogenic compression framework that cooperates with a lightweight cryogenic quantum error correction (QEC) predecoder to reduce 4 K to RT syndrome transmission under realistic, circuit level noise. CryoZip targets sparse syndrome vectors with a sliding window compression architecture sized under strict decoding latency constraints to maximize energy efficiency. We implement and evaluate the design in 22 nm FDSOI characterized at 4 K, using vector based power, performance, and area analysis to obtain realistic hardware data. CryoZip achieves up to 48x compression, 1.8x higher than state of the art compressors, across various QEC codes while delivering 4 to 26x energy savings. When paired with a QEC predecoder, it yields over 14,238x bandwidth reduction, while energy savings rise to 42x when accounting for realistic QEC interface overheads.

Problem

• quantum error correction
• cryogenic compression
• syndrome transmission
• bandwidth constraint
• power budget

Innovation

• cryogenic compression
• quantum error correction
• syndrome compression
• sliding window architecture
• energy-efficient hardware