Lowering Connectivity Requirements For Bivariate Bicycle Codes Using Morphing Circuits

In Ref. [1], Bravyi et al. found examples of Bivariate Bicycle (BB) codes with similar logical performance to the surface code but with an improved encoding rate. In this work, we generalize a novel parity-check circuit design principle called morphing circuits and apply it to BB codes. We define a new family of BB codes whose parity check circuits require a qubit connectivity of degree five instead of six while maintaining their numerical performance. Logical input/output to an ancillary surface code is also possible in a biplanar layout. Finally, we develop a general framework for designing morphing circuits and present a sufficient condition for its applicability to two-block group algebra codes [1] S. Bravyi, A. W. Cross, J. M. Gambetta, D. Maslov, P. Rall, and T. J. Yoder, Nature 627, 778 (2024).