Key facts
- Magic state cultivation reduced errors by about 40 times on Google's Willow processor.
- The technique achieved a record logical fidelity of 99.99% for T-states.
- The experiment used at most 54 of Willow's 105 qubits.
Google Quantum AI announced Thursday a significant advancement in quantum computing, detailing in a Science paper how its Willow processor utilized a technique called magic state cultivation to reduce errors by approximately 40 times. This method achieved a record logical fidelity of 99.99% for magic states, which are essential resources for running useful quantum programs. The breakthrough addresses a major bottleneck in quantum computing, as producing these states has historically consumed up to 95% of a quantum computer's capacity. While the current experiment used a fraction of the processor's qubits and did not achieve the error rates needed for code-breaking, Google sees this as a critical step toward making quantum computers more practical for tasks like drug design and materials science, and eventually for breaking current encryption standards.