Quantinuum researchers used error-correction methods to improve information storage reliability on the Helios-1 quantum computer. David Hayes and colleagues demonstrated the lowest error rate for logical qubits during the experiment.
The Helios-1 system contains 98 qubits, each based on an ion controlled with lasers and electromagnetic fields. The team applied a type of computer coding called "color code" to turn qubits logical.
Qubits made as few as 5 errors for every 1,000,000 uses. For a simple, error-corrected mathematical operation, the error rate was roughly 7 errors for 100,000 qubit uses.
The error rate diminished 12-fold when the team increased a logical qubit’s size from 7 to 19 physical qubits. The error rate diminished further when the physical qubit count rose from 19 to 37.
Murphy Niu at the University of California, Santa Barbara stated the experiment is a major step towards scalable fault-tolerant quantum computing. John Preskill at the California Institute of Technology dubbed a computer capable of a million reliable quantum operations a "megaquop" machine.
Thomas Wong at Creighton University in Nebraska stated that roughly 100 logical qubits would be needed for known useful applications of megaquop machines. Quantinuum is building a next quantum computer called Sol, which will be nearly 2 times as large as Helios-1.
Hayes said, "It’s super exciting." Hayes added, "We are doing all of our homework up front."
Steven Flammia at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University said, "This is definitely an impressive technical advance."
