Welcome to episode 48 of The New Quantum Era podcast! Another episode recorded at the APS Global Summit in March, today's special guest is true quantum pioneer, John Martinis, co-founder and CTO of QoLab, a superconducting qubit company seeking to build a million qubit device. In this enlightening conversation, we explore the strategic shifts, collaborative efforts, and technological innovations that are pushing the boundaries of quantum computing closer to building scalable, million-qubit systems. This episode was made with support form The American Physical Society and Quantum Machines, Inc. (BTW I know I said episode 49 in the intro to this episode, I noticed it too late to fix without a further delay in posting the interview!)
Key Highlights
- Emerging from Stealth Mode & Million-Qubit System Paper:
- Discussion on QoLab’s transition from stealth mode and their comprehensive paper on building scalable million-qubit systems.
- Focus on a systematic approach covering the entire stack.
- Collaboration with Semiconductor Companies:
- Unique business model emphasizing collaboration with semiconductor companies to leverage external expertise.
- Comparison with bigger players like Google, who can fund the entire stack internally.
- Innovative Technological Approaches:
- Integration of wafer-scale technology and advanced semiconductor manufacturing processes.
- Emphasis on adjustable qubits and adjustable couplers for optimizing control and scalability.
- Scaling Challenges and Solutions:
- Strategies for achieving scale, including using large dilution refrigerators and exploring optical communication for modular design.
- Plans to address error correction and wiring challenges using brute force scaling and advanced materials.
- Future Vision and Speeding Up Development:
- QoLab’s goal to significantly accelerate the timeline toward achieving a million-qubit system.
- Insight into collaborations with HP Enterprises, NVIDIA, Quantum Machines, and others to combine expertise in hardware and software.
- Research Papers Mentioned in this Episode: