Towards practical qubit computation using approximate error-correcting grid states

Encoding a qubit in the continuous degrees of freedom of an oscillator is a significant pursuit of quantum computation. One advantageous way to achieve this is through the Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill (GKP) grid states, whose symmetries allow for the correction of any small continuous error on the oscillator. Unfortunately, ideal grid states have infinite energy, so it is important to find finite-energy approximations that are realistic, practical, and useful for applications. In the first half of the paper we investigate the impact of imperfect GKP states on computational circuits independently of the physical architecture. To this end we analyze the behaviour of the physical and logical content of normalizable GKP states through several figures of merit, employing a recently-developed modular subsystem decomposition. By tracking the errors that enter into the computational circuit due to the imperfections in the GKP states, we are able to gauge the utility of these states for NISQ (Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum) devices. In the second half, we focus on a state preparation approach in the photonic domain wherein photon-number-resolving measurements on some modes of Gaussian states produce non-Gaussian states in the others. We produce detailed numerical results for the preparation of GKP states along with estimating the resource requirements in practical settings and probing the quality of the resulting states with the tools we develop.