Quantum error correction enables the preservation of logical qubits with a lower logical error rate than the physical error rate, with performance depending on the decoding method. Traditional decoding approaches rely on the binarization ("hardening") of readout data, thereby ign
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Quantum error correction enables the preservation of logical qubits with a lower logical error rate than the physical error rate, with performance depending on the decoding method. Traditional decoding approaches rely on the binarization ("hardening") of readout data, thereby ignoring valuable information embedded in the analog ("soft") readout signal. We present experimental results showcasing the advantages of incorporating soft information into the decoding process of a distance-3 (d=3) bit-flip surface code with flux-tunable transmons.@en