New circuits and an open source decoder for the color code

We present two new color code circuits: one inspired by superdense coding and the other based on a middle-out strategy where the color code state appears halfway between measurements. We also present ``Chromobius’', an open source implementation of the möbius color code decoder. Using Chromobius, we show our new circuits reduce the performance gap between color codes and surface codes. Under uniform depolarizing noise with a noise strength of $0.1\mathrm{\%}$, the middle-out color code circuit achieves a teraquop footprint of 1250 qubits (vs 650 for surface codes decoded by correlated matching). Finally, we highlight that Chromobius decodes toric color codes better when given less information, suggesting there’s substantial room for improvement in color code decoders.