Implementing logical operations in the surface code

Quantum processors have recently demonstrated error correction below the surface code threshold, achieving exponential suppression of logical errors with increasing code size. These results, supported by memory experiments, highlight the potential of the surface code for fault-tolerant quantum computation. However, realizing this potential requires implementing logical operations beyond memory. Lattice surgery is a powerful method to implement logical operations in planar architectures. We present preliminary experimental results testing surface code lattice surgery on a superconducting quantum processor.