In a recent announcement, Microsoft, in collaboration with the independent integrated quantum computing firm Quantinuum, has revealed the creation of a quantum computer with unprecedented reliability. Researchers report running over 14,000 independent computing routines on Quantinuum's H2 quantum processor without encountering any errors. Its error-correction capability could potentially pave the way towards more practical quantum computing in the near future.
"What we've accomplished is incredibly exciting because we've demonstrated that error correction is repeatable, effective, and highly reliable," said Krysta Svore, Senior Quantum Development Lead at Microsoft.
Experts have long anticipated the arrival of practical quantum computers capable of tackling computations too complex for classical computers. While quantum computing is steadily advancing in scale and complexity, truly practical quantum computers have yet to be fully realized. One significant hurdle to achieving this is the inherent susceptibility to errors in all contemporary quantum computers.
Researchers have found that capturing and correcting errors algorithmically during computations poses significant technical challenges. While classical computers also encounter errors, they can be mitigated by backing up the information being processed and encoding error correction into the program. However, this method doesn't apply to quantum computing as quantum information cannot be copied.
As a result, researchers from Microsoft and Quantinuum distributed error correction across connected quantum bits to create logical qubits. They utilized 30 quantum bits to create 4 logical qubits.
Svore explained that the creation of these logical qubits enabled error-free or fault-tolerant experiments to be repeated. While individual quantum bits are susceptible to disturbances, at the level of logical qubits, researchers can perform repetitive checks and corrections.
Researchers noted that this approach has been highly successful, with the error rate of the 4 logical qubits being only 0.125% compared to 800 individual quantum bits not grouped together. This means that while up to 800 errors may occur in ungrouped quantum bits, only one error occurs in the production of logical qubits.
"The reduction in logical error rate by a factor of 800 compared to the physical error rate is a significant advancement in this field, bringing us one step closer to fault-tolerant quantum computing," remarked Mark Saffman from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who was not involved in the study.
Jennifer Strabley, Senior Director of Product Management at Quantinuum, stated that the hardware developed by the research team is well-suited for new experiments due to its high degree of control over quantum bits and its record-low error rate for a quantum computer to date.
