🔷 Logical vs Physical Qubits
Discover how error correction transforms fragile qubits into reliable quantum information
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0 / 5 completed🔷 The Foundation of Fault Tolerance
In quantum computing, not all qubits are created equal. Physical qubits are the actual quantum systems we manipulate—fragile, error-prone, and subject to decoherence. Logical qubits are abstract, error-protected quantum information encoded across multiple physical qubits using quantum error correction.
💡 The Critical Distinction
This distinction is fundamental to practical quantum computing. While a physical qubit might have an error rate of 0.1%, a logical qubit can achieve error rates below 10⁻¹⁵—a billion times more reliable. This transformation is what makes large-scale quantum computation possible.
🎯 What You'll Learn
🌟 The Big Picture
When we talk about building a "1000-qubit quantum computer," we need to ask: logical or physical?
- •1000 physical qubits → ~10-50 logical qubits (with error correction)
- •1000 logical qubits → ~10,000-1,000,000 physical qubits needed
- •Current quantum computers have ~100-1000 physical qubits but zero error-corrected logical qubits