Awesome Quantum Computing Experiments: Benchmarking Experimental Progress Towards Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computation

TL;DR

This paper reviews and benchmarks recent experimental progress in quantum computing across various platforms, highlighting improvements in physical qubit metrics and quantum error correction implementations towards fault-tolerant quantum computation.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive benchmarking of physical and logical quantum computing advancements, analyzing trends and challenges across multiple hardware platforms.

Findings

Exponential improvements in coherence times and qubit counts over two decades.

Progress in implementing quantum error correction codes like surface and color codes.

Identification of persistent challenges towards scalable fault-tolerant quantum computing.

Abstract

Achieving fault-tolerant quantum computation (FTQC) demands simultaneous progress in physical qubit performance and quantum error correction (QEC). This work reviews and benchmarks experimental advancements towards FTQC across leading platforms, including trapped ions, superconducting circuits, neutral atoms, NV centers, and semiconductors. We analyze key physical metrics like coherence times, entanglement error, and system size (qubit count), fitting observed exponential trends to characterize multi-order-of-magnitude improvements over the past two decades. At the logical level, we survey the implementation landscape of QEC codes, tracking realized parameters $[[n, k, d]]$ and complexity from early demonstrations to recent surface and color code experiments. Synthesizing these physical and logical benchmarks reveals substantial progress enabled by underlying hardware improvements, while also outlining persistent challenges towards scalable FTQC. The experimental databases and analysis code underpinning this review are publicly available at https://github.com/francois-marie/awesome-quantum-computing-experiments.