A magic state is an ancillary quantum state prepared in advance to enable operations outside a quantum computer’s native instruction set, supporting universal fault-tolerant computation.
Universal computation requirement:
Clifford gates alone are not sufficient for universal quantum computation.
Non-Clifford operations (e.g., the T gate) are required.
In most architectures, a fault-tolerant T gate cannot be implemented efficiently.
Magic state role:
Special states (like ∣𝑇⟩) are prepared and then consumed to mimic the operation of a T gate.
This process enables universal computation while maintaining fault tolerance.
Processes involved:
Magic state preparation → Creating ancillary states.
Magic state distillation → Refining noisy states into high-fidelity ones.
Magic state injection → Using the prepared state within a circuit to implement non-Clifford gates.
