IonQ, a leading quantum computing company, has achieved a significant milestone in quantum networking by demonstrating ion-photon entanglement in a commercial setting. This achievement allows for future quantum systems to communicate and transfer information between each other. Pat Tang, Vice President of Research & Development at IonQ, said this brings them closer to achieving commercial quantum advantage. The company’s research team successfully routed photons from an ion qubit to specialized detection optics, a crucial step towards developing photonic interconnect protocols for quantum computing applications. IonQ’s quantum systems are available through Amazon Braket, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.
IonQ’s Progress in Quantum Networking Development
IonQ, a company in the quantum computing industry, has recently announced a significant achievement in its research and development efforts. The team has successfully generated photons entangled with ions consistently and repeatedly. This accomplishment is a crucial step toward developing future quantum networks, as it allows for the potential communication and transfer of information between quantum systems.
IonQ’s Ion-Photon Entanglement: A Commercial First
This achievement is particularly noteworthy as it is the first known commercial demonstration of ion-photon entanglement outside academic environments. The ability to entangle ions and photons is a key technical milestone in developing quantum networking and photonic interconnects. These advancements will be crucial in enabling IonQ to deliver significantly higher computational power in next-generation systems.
Quantum Networking: The Next Step in Quantum Computing
The research team at IonQ demonstrated the generation and collection of single photons from an ion qubit, and successfully routed those photons to specialized detection optics. This process was used to verify ion-photon entanglement across the network. This work is a critical first step towards developing photonic interconnect protocols for quantum computing applications running across multiple quantum processing units (QPUs).
Quantum Networks vs Classical Supercomputers
In contrast to classical supercomputers, which distribute workloads across multiple cores and processors to operate in parallel, quantum networks entangle cores to form a single, more powerful quantum computer capable of running complex algorithms. Photonic interconnects will lead to integrated computation across quantum networks, not just communication between siloed parts, as seen in classical setups.
IonQ’s Efforts Towards Building Quantum Network Infrastructure
IonQ has been actively working towards building the infrastructure needed to support a future quantum network. The company acquired Canada-based startup Entangled Networks in the past year to expand IonQ’s expertise for running computations across multiple distributed quantum processors. Additionally, the company developed its Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) relationship with a $25.5M deal to deploy two quantum computing systems for quantum networking research and development.
IonQ’s Quantum Systems and Their Availability
IonQ’s quantum systems are available through the cloud on Amazon Braket, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud, as well as through direct API access. The company’s current generation quantum computer, IonQ Forte, boasts 35 algorithmic qubits. IonQ’s innovative technology and rapid growth have been recognized in Fast Company’s 2023 Next Big Things in Tech List and Deloitte’s 2023 Technology Fast 500™ List.