Quantum Expectations: Understanding Quantum Computing Error Rates
This interactive educational tool helps you understand why low error rates and quantum error correction (QEC) are vital for practical quantum computing. JavaScript is required to use the interactive calculator.
Key Concepts
- Base Error Rate: The probability of an error occurring during a single quantum operation (typically 10⁻³ to 10⁻² for current hardware).
- Effective Error Rate: The cumulative probability that your quantum computation produces an incorrect result.
- Quantum Error Correction: Techniques using multiple physical qubits to create more reliable logical qubits. The surface code threshold is approximately 1.4%.
Current Quantum Hardware (2025)
- Trapped-Ion: ~98 qubits, 7.92×10⁻⁴ error rate
- Superconducting: ~156 qubits, 1.25×10⁻³ error rate
- Neutral Atom: ~260 qubits, 8×10⁻³ error rate
Example Requirements
- Factoring RSA-2048: ~1,399 logical qubits, 6.5×10⁹ Toffoli gates
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