The Physical Review Letters study used 40 qubits on IBM's Heron processor, with teams from Purdue, Oak Ridge and IBM leading the work.
A mid-circuit measurement algorithm reduced complexity to O(N), enabling circuits nearly 100 layers deep and about 1,900 two-qubit gates on noisy hardware.
The simulation reproduced ballistic, diffusive and superdiffusive regimes, matched data from KCuF3 quantum magnets, and could aid spintronics and future studies of 2D and thermal transport.
As quantum simulations advance, are we on the cusp of a revolution in energy-efficient electronics?
Can quantum computers now design revolutionary materials that classical supercomputers have failed to discover?
Breakthrough Quantum Simulation of Ballistic, Diffusive, and Superdiffusive Spin Transport Using Mid-Circuit Measurements
Overview
In April 2026, the Quantum Science Center and collaborators achieved the first digital quantum simulation of spin transport in a 1D Heisenberg spin chain using IBM's 40-qubit Heron processor. This breakthrough was enabled by a novel noise-robust algorithm using mid-circuit measurements, overcoming limitations of traditional methods and allowing deep quantum circuits with linear scaling. The team also integrated classical high-performance computing and leveraged interdisciplinary collaboration to realize the simulation. Validated against experimental data, the simulation revealed key spin transport regimes and opened new paths for designing energy-efficient spintronic devices and advancing quantum materials research, despite ongoing challenges in scaling and hardware improvements.