Magic state cultivation on a superconducting quantum processor

2025/12/15 by Emma Rosenfeld, Craig Gidney, Rosenfeld, Emma +598 · 3 voices · 12 citations
Computer Science · #Fidelity #MAGIC (telescope) #Quantum #Quantum Computing Algorithms and Architecture #Quantum Information and Cryptography #Quantum computer #Quantum error correction #Quantum information #Quantum state #Quantum-Dot Cellular Automata #State (computer science)

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2512.13908

published in arXiv (Cornell University) (Cornell University)

openalex publication_date 2025/12/15 · openalex created_date 2025/12/18 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Fault-tolerant quantum computing requires a universal gate set, but the necessary non-Clifford gates represent a significant resource cost for most quantum error correction architectures. Magic state cultivation offers an efficient alternative to resource-intensive distillation protocols; however, testing the proposal's assumptions represents a challenging departure from quantum memory experiments. We present an experimental study of magic state cultivation on a superconducting quantum processor. We implement cultivation, including code-switching into a surface code, and develop a fault-tolerant measurement protocol to bound the magic state fidelity. Cultivation reduces the error by a factor of 40, with a state fidelity of 0.9999(1) (retaining 8% of attempts). Our results experimentally establish magic state cultivation as a viable solution to one of quantum computing's most significant challenges.

Citations

• Verifiable Quantum Advantage via Optimized DQI Circuits
• How to factor 2048 bit RSA integers with less than a million noisy qubits
• Experimental demonstration of logical magic state distillation
• Scaling and logic in the colour code on a superconducting quantum processor
• Quantum error correction below the surface code threshold

Cited by

• Towards logical entanglement creation in trivalent planar architectures
• Machine-learned syndrome post-selection for reliable quantum error correction
• Quantum-classical crossover in fault-tolerant quantum dynamics simulation
• SOFT: a high-performance simulator for universal fault-tolerant quantum circuits
• Reinforcement Learning Control of Quantum Error Correction
• Finding diagonal logical gates in CSS codes and circuits
• Hardware-Tailored Resource Estimation for Magic-State Distillation on Silicon Spin Qubits
• Magic Steady State Production: Non-Hermitian and Stochastic pathways
• Leveraging Phase Polynomials for Quantum Circuit Optimization
• The Pangaea Architecture: Fault-Tolerant Heterogeneous Topological Codes via a Quantum Bus
• Quantum error correction at ultra-low overhead
• Cultivating logical catalysts for fault-tolerant dyadic phase rotations
• Vine Codes: Low-Overhead Quantum LDPC Codes on a Planar Square Grid
• Mitigating Classical Resource Costs in Quantum Error Correction via Generalized qLDPC Predecoding
• A \boldsymbol2d × d × d Spacetime Volume Implementation of a Logical S Gate in the Surface Code

Discussions

• We did some experimental testing of magic state cultivation! arxiv.org/abs/2512.13908 A ~1e-4 end2end infidelity is tricky to measure with tomography, so we checked it vs more cultivation. The full es [bsky, 22 points, 1 comments]
• Hmm, came across this concept of a "magic state" in QM again... arxiv.org/abs/2512.13908 Maybe I should understand what it is. [bsky, 1 points, 1 comments]
• A new approach from Google Quantum AI, known as "magic cultivation" offers an encouraging new perspective on the problem. Our team also demonstrated this result experimentally: arxiv.org/pdf/2512.1390 [bsky, 1 points, 1 comments]

Related

• Experimental Demonstration of High-Fidelity Logical Magic States from Code Switching
• Logical Magic State Preparation with Fidelity Beyond the Distillation Threshold on a Superconducting Quantum Processor
• A magic state's fidelity can be superior to the operations that created it
• Encoding a magic state with beyond break-even fidelity
• Magic State Injection on IBM Quantum Processors Above the Distillation Threshold