IBM Quantum Simulates Real Magnetic Material - Verified Against Physical Lab Data

IBM and the DOE's Quantum Science Center used a 50-qubit Heron processor to simulate the magnetic crystal KCuF3, with results verified directly against neutron scattering experiments at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. This is the first time a quantum computer's output has been benchmarked against real physical material data rather than a classical computer.

This demonstrates that current "noisy" quantum hardware is already delivering scientifically reliable results at utility scale - before full fault tolerance is achieved. IBM projects fault-tolerant systems by 2029.