Wedoany.com Report on Mar 16th, The American quantum computing company Quantinuum has successfully implemented a high-rate quantum error correction code on its 98-qubit Helios trapped-ion processor. This technology utilizes iceberg quantum error detection and a two-level cascaded iceberg quantum error correction code, generating 94 error-detecting logical qubits and 48 error-correcting logical qubits from 98 physical qubits.

The high-rate encoding achieves an error correction ratio of approximately 2:1 from physical to logical qubits and an error detection ratio close to 1:1, benefiting from the inherent all-to-all connectivity of the trapped-ion architecture. The logical qubits demonstrated error rates 10 to 100 times lower than physical qubits across multiple benchmarks, achieving performance "beyond break-even."

To attain this performance, the architecture employs code cascading technology, creating autonomous error correction capabilities with a code distance of 4 through layered error detection using iceberg codes. Benchmarking of logical components included state preparation and measurement, logical gate operations, and cycle benchmarking, confirming the effectiveness of error suppression during complex circuit execution.

The functionality of the encoded system was validated through a partially fault-tolerant quantum simulation of a three-dimensional XY model of quantum magnetism using 64 error-detecting logical qubits. The research team also generated a GHZ state with 94 logical qubits, achieving a state fidelity of 94.9%. These applications leveraged the processor's ability to execute non-local interactions, mapping the 3D material lattice geometry onto the physical qubit layout, thereby verifying the system's capability for large-scale logical computation.