The Sussex based company, Universal Quantum (UQ) is driving the development of Ion Trap Quantum Computing. Spun out from Sussex University and led by leaders in the Quantum field, Universal Quantum has gained traction and has expanded from a university setting to its own industrial setting and new lab where it aims to build truly “universal” quantum computers, hence the moniker.
One of the aims of the company is to make a million qubit ion trap system functional, something that current technologies require vast amounts of electronics and control systems cannot facilitate. Making such an aim possible is the development of a number of technologies from the stable of UQ. Here are just a small smattering of what UQ is working on:
- Mild Cooling Technology – This means that devices can work at much higher temperatures that competing or other Ion trap systems. Still cold, but not around absolute zero!
- Trapped Ions – Important for a number of technical reasons, but Ion trap devices are thought to be some of the most promising qubits and are being explored by a number of companies such as Honeywell.
- Electronic Qubit Control. Making control of the qubits simpler in comparison to other technologies using lasers to control.
- Modularization. In scaling up it has modularised its process to make machines that should be able to process millions of qubits.
Led by Sebastian Weidt and Winfried Hensinger. UQ has already made waves by achieving funding for the venture and the company is continuing to expand and hire researchers and developers to build out the science and technology. But it’s not just Hardware. The company is busy building up their software stack and architectural stack as it pushes on all fronts.
