Researchers at the University of Sydney, in collaboration with IBM, have reported a significant breakthrough in correcting quantum errors: the survival rate of logical kubits has been raised from less than 90% to 96% per correction cycle. The experiment was conducted on a 156-cubic-core IBM Quantum Heron r2 superconductor processor.

The main obstacle to stable operation of quantum machines is what scientists call "noise of the still" - the degradation of the condition of kubits during intermediate measurements necessary for internal checks of the system. While some components of the CPU undergo diagnostics, others lose coherence, which leads to new malfunctions. To solve the problem, physicists completely redesigned error correction scheme architecture by radically reducing the time of forced computation pauses.

The project manager and director of Sydney Nano, Stephen Bartlett, emphasized that the verification process occurs multiple times at each stage of computation, and the forced simpleness of the remaining elements remains a serious barrier to the transition to fail-resistant quantum computing (FTQC). Although the result is obtained in a laboratory environment on one processor, it is crucial for the scalability of the technology. IBM previously announced plans to achieve the first confirmed cases of quantum advantage by the end of 2026.