Scientists achieve 'magic state' quantum computing breakthrough 20 years in the making — quantum computers can never be truly useful without it
In a world first, scientists have demonstrated an enigmatic phenomenon in quantum computing that could pave the way for fault-tolerant machines that are far more powerful than any supercomputer.
The process, called "magic state distillation," was first proposed 20 years ago, but its use in logical qubits has eluded scientists ever since. It has long been considered crucial for producing the high-quality resources, known as "magic states," needed to fulfill the full potential of quantum computers.
Magic states are quantum states prepared in advance, which are then consumed as resources by the most complex quantum algorithms. Without these resources, quantum computers cannot tap into the strange laws of quantum mechanics to process information in parallel.
Magic state distillation, meanwhile, is a filtering process by which the highest quality magic states are "purified" so they can be utilized by the most complex quantum algorithms.
This process has so far been possible on plain, error-prone physical qubits but not on logical qubits — groups of physical qubits that share the same data and are configured to detect and correct the errors that frequently disrupt quantum computing operations.
Because magic state distillation in logical qubits has not so far been possible, quantum computers that use logical qubits have not been theoretically able to outpace classical machines.
Related: What is quantum superposition and what does it mean for quantum computing?
Now, however, scientists with QuEra say they have demonstrated magic state distillation in practice for the first time on logical qubits. They outlined their findings in a new study published July 14 in the journal Nature.
"Quantum computers would not be able to fulfill their promise without this process of magic state distillation. It's a required milestone." Yuval Boger, chief commercial officer at QuEra, told Live Science in an interview. Boger was not personally involved in the research.
The path to fault-tolerant quantum computing
Quantum computers use qubits as their building blocks, and they use quantum logic — the set of rules and operations that govern how quantum information is processed — to run algorithms and process data. But the challenge is running incredibly complex algorithms while maintaining incredibly low error rates.
The trouble is that physical qubits are inherently "noisy," which means calculations are often disrupted by factors like temperature changes and electromagnetic radiation. That's why so much research has centered on quantum error correction (QEC).
Reducing errors — which occur at a rate of 1 in 1,000 in qubits versus 1 in 1 million, million in conventional bits — prevents disruptions and enables calculations to happen at pace. That's where logical qubits come in.
"For quantum computers to be useful, they need to run fairly long and sophisticated calculations. If the error rate is too high, then this calculation quickly turns into mush or to useless data," study lead author of the study Sergio Cantu, vice president of quantum systems at QuEra, told Live Science in an interview. "The entire goal of error correction is to lower this error rate so you could do a million calculations safely."
Logical qubits are collections of entangled physical qubits that share the same information and are based on the principle of redundancy. If one or more physical qubits in a logical qubit fail, the calculation isn't disrupted because the information exists elsewhere.
But logical qubits are extremely limited, the scientists said, because the error-correction codes applied to them can only run "Clifford gates" — basic operations in quantum circuits. These operations are foundational to quantum circuits, but they're so basic that they can be simulated on any supercomputer.
Only by tapping into high-quality magic states can scientists run "non-Clifford gates" and engage in true parallel processing. But generating these is extremely resource-intensive and expensive, and has thus far been unachievable in logical qubits.
In essence, relying on magic state distillation in physical qubits alone would never lead to quantum advantage. For that, we need to distill magic states in logical qubits directly.
Magic states pave the way for capabilities beyond supercomputing
"Magic states allow us to expand the number and the type of operations that we can do. So practically, any quantum algorithm that's of value would require magic states," Cantu said.
Generating magic states in physical qubits, as we have been doing, is a mixed bag — there are low-quality and high-quality magic states — and they need to be refined. Only then, can they fuel the most powerful programs and quantum algorithms.
In the study, using the Gemini neutral-atom quantum computer, the scientists distilled five imperfect magic states into a single, cleaner magic state. They performed this separately on a Distance-3 and a Distance-5 logical qubit, demonstrating that it scales with the quality of the logical qubit.
"A greater distance means better logical qubits. A Distance-2, for instance, means that you can detect an error but not correct it. Distance-3 means that you can detect and correct a single error. Distance-5 would mean that you can detect and correct up to two errors, and so on, and so on," Boger explained. "So the greater the distance, the higher fidelity of the qubit is — and we liken it to distilling crude oil into a jet fuel."
RELATED STORIES
—Small, room-temperature quantum computers that use light on the horizon after breakthrough, scientists say
—'Quantum AI' algorithms already outpace the fastest supercomputers, study says
—Scientists forge path to the first million-qubit processor for quantum computers after 'decade in the making' breakthrough
As a result of the distillation process, the fidelity of the final magic state exceeded that of any input. This proved that fault-tolerant magic state distillation worked in practice, the scientists said. This means that a quantum computer that uses both logical qubits and high-quality magic states to run non-Clifford gates is now possible.
"We're seeing sort of a shift from a few years ago," Boger said. "The challenge was: can quantum computers be built at all? Then it wasL can errors be detected and corrected? Us and Google and others have shown that, yes, that can be done. Now it's about: can we make these computers truly useful? And to make one computer truly useful, other than making them larger, you want them to be able to run programs that cannot be simulated on classical computers."
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


WIRED
7 minutes ago
- WIRED
South Korea Plans to Build a Base on the Moon
Jul 23, 2025 5:00 AM The country's newly formed space agency wants to establish a lunar base by 2045. An artist's illustration of a lunar base. Illustration:China, India, and Japan are not the only countries on the Asian continent looking to establish themselves in the fledgling space economy. South Korea also wants to be in the space race, and even plans for a presence beyond Earth's orbit, with ambitions to create its own lunar base within 20 years. At a public meeting held at the National Research Foundation of Korea on July 17, the South Korean AeroSpace Administration (KASA) released a roadmap proposing 'five core missions, including low-Earth orbit and microgravity exploration, lunar exploration, and solar and space science missions,' The Korean Times has reported. KASA had already proposed placing a robotic lander on the lunar surface by 2032, but the new master plan is much more ambitious, including the development of a new lunar lander by 2040, as well as the construction of a lunar economic base by 2045. The Republic of Korea is not starting from scratch in the field of lunar exploration. In mid-2022, the country launched Danuri, its first lunar probe, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Danuri reached lunar orbit later that year and is still in operation, studying the moon's natural resources with its suite of instruments. It is also intended to test space technology that will be used by KASA on future missions. This mission was part of the first phase of the Korean Lunar Exploration Program. Phase two includes the launch in 2032 of the aforementioned robotic module, as well as another lunar orbiter and a rover weighing 20 kilograms. This second phase will no longer rely on a SpaceX rocket or even a pad on US soil; rather, the mission will be launched using the country's KSLV-III rocket, which is still under development, from the Naro Space Center, located on the Republic of Korea's southern coast. The Korea Institute of Geosciences and Mineral Resources is assisting with preparations by deploying prototype lunar rovers in abandoned coal mines to evaluate technologies that could be used in upcoming space mining tasks. My KASA Is Your NASA KASA was created only recently, in May 2024, by the South Korean government, as a domestic version of NASA. It now oversees the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), which has handled development of the country's aerospace technologies since its establishment in 1989. Both KARI and the republic's national space research organization, the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, are now sub-agencies of KASA. With its new special agency and the backing of the private sector, South Korea is seeking to position itself among the top five countries in the field of space exploration. KASA also envisions landing a module on Mars in 2045, as well as the development of probes to monitor solar activity and improve space security, including, by 2035, the deployment of a solar observation satellite at the L4 Lagrange point (a stable position in space where small objects are held in place by the gravitational forces of the sun and Earth). South Korea, of course, is not the only country looking to build a lunar base by the middle of this century or to develop space economy infrastructure. Through the Artemis program, NASA intends to establish a lunar base within the next decade—if political conflicts do not derail that project. China, in collaboration with Russia and other countries, has also set a goal of building a lunar base by 2045. India also has its sights set on the moon, with plans for its own base on the surface by 2047. This story originally appeared on WIRED en Español and has been translated from Spanish.


Medscape
4 hours ago
- Medscape
Second Brain Alert: Gut Tags Your Nutrients
At first glance, 'trusting your gut' may seem intuitive, irrational, or even unscientific. However, science confirms that the digestive system is indeed 'sensitive'; it contains its own autonomic network, known as the enteric nervous system, comprising approximately 100 million nerve cells. A study in Nature revealed that the gut's own enteric nervous system can not only detect nutrients but also distinguish between them, showing that it is far smarter than once believed. New research led by KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium, researchers from the Translational Research in GastroIntestinal Disorders team shows that neurons in the intestinal wall respond to specific nutrients in a targeted manner. The study conducted on the intestinal tissue of mice showed that the intestine can differentiate between sugars, proteins, and fats. Each nutrient activates its own neurochemical network through reactions involving specific neurons. Using calcium imaging in the mouse jejunum, researchers found that nutrients activate specific groups of enteric neurons, but not directly. The epithelium, the surface tissue on the inside of the intestine, plays a key role in the detection of different nutrients. The tissue uses serotonin, a well-known neurotransmitter, to send signals to the nervous system. Signals move from the villus epithelium to the myenteric plexus and then to the submucosal plexus, revealing a clear communication pathway across the intestinal walls. 'What we're seeing is that the enteric nervous system doesn't just respond to pressure or stretching. It works in a much more targeted way depending on the specific nutrients in the intestine,' said Candice Fung, postdoctoral researcher and first author of the study. 'The precision with which the nervous system can differentiate between sugars, proteins, and fats proves how refined and intelligent this system is.' The LENS (Laboratory for Enteric Neuroscience) research group, led by Pieter Vanden Berghe, PhD, specialises in light microscopy for imaging live cells and tissues. Scientists use fluorescent markers that make neurons light up when activated. Thus, the processes in the enteric nervous system can be visualised in real time. 'When we talk about a 'gut feeling,' we shouldn't be dismissive when it comes to our digestive system and enteric nervous system. This research demonstrates a certain form of intelligence in the gut. This is why people sometimes refer to it as the 'second brain' or 'little brain.' But if you ask me, the enteric nervous system is too important and too sophisticated to be considered the 'little brother,'' said Berghe. This story was translated and adapted from MediQuality.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Why I prefer physical controls over touch panels on my headphones
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. I am currently putting the Nothing Headphone (1) through their paces, and one thing has stood out to me. The physical controls. The audio cues that play when changing volume or activating features could be a bit less... piercing, but using them with my fingers is so much more satisfying than the swiping touch panels of the competition. I've never made it a secret that I don't like touch controls on the best headphones, nor how much I far prefer actual, clicking buttons. But I've never gone into any kind of real detail about my preferences, and why they might matter to you, too. Touch shenanigans But first, why don't I like touch controls? It's all about ease of use, or the lack thereof, when it comes to touch panels on headphones. I don't like remembering three different sets of taps and swipes for different commands, or having to tap different parts of a panel to activate different features. It doesn't feel intuitive, nice under the finger, and often leads to miss-taps that leave me listening to something completely different than when I went to change the volume. Even the best touch panels on headphones can be terribly inaccurate as well, and sometimes aren't sensitive enough to read anything but a hefty jab of your finger. That's to say nothing about when it's raining — then they become all but completely useless. Yeah, buttons please. Pleasingly tactile Tactility is important. It's the whole reason we all use physical keyboards when we do any real typing, as opposed to tapping out a quick text on your phone screen. Why the buttons on your TV remote exist, and why you can't stop playing with those fidget toys that are covered with buttons and switches. Headphones, in my mind, are no different. When I reach up to my ear (which I can't see, given that my eyes are on the front of my head), physical controls are immediately easier to find than a nebulous touch panel. The 'satisfaction' factor is hard to overcome as well. There will always remain something far better about a clicking button than swiping your finger over a touch pad — it's human nature. When it gets cold When there's a chill in the air, I like to don some gloves to help keep my fingers lovely and toasty warm. I also like to listen to my tunes, my headphones snug under my woolly hat. But — oh no! A track I don't like plays in my artist radio, and now I need to skip it. My engloved fingers desire to remain warm, and because my woolly gloves don't have those ever-unreliable touch-sensitive tips that seem to rub off after three weeks of use, I have to take them off to operate my phone. Not happening — I can see my breath, I don't want frostbite. But the same problem arises with touch controls on headphones. The moment I raise my wool-wrapped fingers to my ears, I realize they're not going to cooperate with the headphones. Gloves off, music changed, and frostbite is setting in. So long, left index finger, you've been so good to me. Que an alternate day, when the same thing happens while I'm wearing enbuttoned headphones. Oh! I don't have to take my gloves off — the buttons work with my wool-covered fingers. Warm hands, no frostbite, my digits live to click headphones buttons for another day. A touch of premium One thing I've noticed (that I really like) is that the higher up the price scale you go with headphones, the more likely they are to forgo annoying touches and swipes in exchange for physical buttons. The AirPods Max, for example, pack in that wonderful volume dial and ANC key. The Dali IO-8 have their metal button roundel on the earcup. The Bowers & Wilkins PX7 S3 have the switches and buttons that lie on the outside of the right ear. They all feel more satisfying and they're much easier to use than the touchy-feely alternatives that you'll find on the likes of the Bose QuietComfort Ultra headphones or the Sony WH-1000XM5. More from Tom's Guide I tested out Sonos' new features, but one surprised me more than the others 6 top new movies to stream this week on Netflix, HBO Max, Hulu and more (July 15-21) I just tried the new Samsung DeX on the Galaxy Z Flip 7 to replace my laptop — here's the good and the bad