Quantum computing becomes viable when a quantum state can be preserved from environmentally-induced error. If quantum bits (qubits) are sufficiently reliable, errors are sparse and quantum error correction (QEC) 1-6 is capable of identifying and correcting them. Adding more qubits improves the preservation by guaranteeing increasingly larger clusters of errors will not cause logical failure -a key requirement for large-scale systems. Using QEC to extend the qubit lifetime remains one of the outstanding experimental challenges in quantum computing. Here, we report the protection of classical states from environmental bit-flip errors and demonstrate the suppression of these errors with increasing system size. We use a linear array of nine qubits, which is a natural precursor of the twodimensional surface code QEC scheme 7 , and track errors as they occur by repeatedly performing projective quantum non-demolition (QND) parity measurements. Relative to a single physical qubit, we reduce the failure rate in retrieving an input state by a factor of 2.7 for five qubits and a factor of 8.5 for nine qubits after eight cycles. Additionally, we tomographically verify preservation of the non-classical Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) state. The successful suppression of environmentally-induced errors strongly motivates further research into the many exciting challenges associated with building a large-scale superconducting quantum computer.The ability to withstand multiple errors during computation is a critical aspect of error correction. We define n-th order fault-tolerance to mean that any combination of n errors is tolerable. Previous experiments based on nuclear magnetic resonance 8,9 , ion traps 10 , and superconducting circuits [11][12][13] have demonstrated multi-qubit states that are first-order tolerant to one type of error. Recently, experiments with ion traps and superconducting circuits have shown the simultaneous detection of multiple types of errors 14,15 . The above hallmark experiments demonstrate error correction in a single round; however, quantum information must be preserved throughout computation using multiple error correction cycles. The basics of repeating cycles have been shown in ion traps 16 and superconducting circuits 17 . Until now, it has been an open challenge to combine these elements to make the information stored in a quantum system robust against errors which intrinsically arise from the environment.The key to detecting errors in quantum information is to perform QND parity measurements. In the surface code, this is done by arranging qubits in a chequerboard pattern -with data qubits corresponding to the white, and measure qubits to the black squares (see Fig. 1) -and using these ancilla measure qubits to repetitively perform parity measurements to detect bit-flip (X) and phase-flip (Ẑ) errors 7 . A square chequerboard with (4n + 1) 2 qubits is n-th order fault tolerant, meaning at least n+1 errors must occur to cause failure in preserving a state if fidelities are above a threshold. W...

We have embedded an artificial atom, a superconducting transmon qubit, in an open transmission line and investigated the strong scattering of incident microwave photons (∼6  GHz). When an input coherent state, with an average photon number N≪1 is on resonance with the artificial atom, we observe extinction of up to 99.6% in the forward propagating field. We use two-tone spectroscopy to study scattering from excited states and we observe electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT). We then use EIT to make a single-photon router, where we can control to what output port an incoming signal is delivered. The maximum on-off ratio is around 99% with a rise and fall time on the order of nanoseconds, consistent with theoretical expectations. The router can easily be extended to have multiple output ports and it can be viewed as a rudimentary quantum node, an important step towards building quantum information networks.

One of the key applications of quantum information is simulating nature. Fermions are ubiquitous in nature, appearing in condensed matter systems, chemistry and high energy physics. However, universally simulating their interactions is arguably one of the largest challenges, because of the difficulties arising from anticommutativity. Here we use digital methods to construct the required arbitrary interactions, and perform quantum simulation of up to four fermionic modes with a superconducting quantum circuit. We employ in excess of 300 quantum logic gates, and reach fidelities that are consistent with a simple model of uncorrelated errors. The presented approach is in principle scalable to a larger number of modes, and arbitrary spatial dimensions.

We investigate the effective interaction between two microwave fields, mediated by a transmon-type superconducting artificial atom which is strongly coupled to a coplanar transmission line. The interaction between the fields and atom produces an effective cross-Kerr coupling. We demonstrate average cross-Kerr phase shifts of up to 20 degrees per photon with both coherent microwave fields at the single-photon level. Our results provide an important step toward quantum applications with propagating microwave photons.

We present a method for optimizing quantum control in experimental systems, using a subset of randomized benchmarking measurements to rapidly infer error. This is demonstrated to improve single- and two-qubit gates, minimize gate bleedthrough, where a gate mechanism can cause errors on subsequent gates, and identify control crosstalk in superconducting qubits. This method is able to correct parameters so that control errors no longer dominate and is suitable for automated and closed-loop optimization of experimental systems.