2024-07-12 09:30:11
Superconducting qubits, photons, neutral atoms, trapped ions, silicon… There are different technologies for developing a quantum computer. By focusing on cold atoms, the French startup Pasqal has just announced a major step.
Should we opt for a short-term technology, but which will be limited, or for another more efficient solution, but which is longer term? All quantum computing players are certainly asking themselves this question. Currently, Google and IBM have chosen the first option with superconductors.
Founded in 2019, Pasqal has chosen a more promising path, but which “could take decades” said Georges-Olivier Reymond, CEO of this start-up.
The dream of seeing a computer that can multiply the computing power of classical machines has been pursued by scientists for more than thirty years. But it faces significant technological obstacles. One of the main challenges is to continue to increase the number of qubits while improving the quality.
For now, quantum computers can’t do much: high error rates and the limited size of quantum processors severely limit their power.
Pasqal aims to take on this challenge by announcing that it has managed to charge more than 1,000 atoms in a single operation. In a cryogenic environment at a temperature of 6 K (-267 °C), the startup has managed to control cooled atoms using electromagnetic fields.
IBM’s heels
“The successful trapping of rubidium atoms in large optical tweezer arrays, comprising up to 2,088 sites, in a cryogenic environment at a temperature of 6 K represents one of Pasqal’s latest achievements in quantum computing. This is a world first in the industry. With a strong emphasis on engineering, Pasqal is taking neutral atom technology out of the lab.” said Loïc Henriet, Co-CEO of Pasqal, in a press release.
Neutral atoms have the advantage of being naturally identical (hence the absence of inconsistency problems at the manufacturing level), of having long coherence times and of being able to be hosted in less exotic environments (at room temperature). Another major interest is that these cold atoms can be used to create qubits for quantum computers with universal quantum gates or analog quantum simulators.
Pasqal’s approach thus allows it to continuously increase the performance of its machines and provide stable and efficient solutions to its users. This step is aligned with the start-up’s strategic roadmap, which focuses on the development of quantum computers of more than 1,000 qubits, progressing towards 10,000 qubits by 2026-2027. The goal is to generate industrial utility in real use cases.
The startup is part of a very small group of companies (French startup Quandela, British company Quantinuum, Finnish company IQM, American company Atom Computing) capable of building and selling quantum processors to customers.
Pasqal has sold them to high-performance computing centres supported by the European Union in France and Germany.
Enough to seriously catch up with IBM, which is currently marketing a 127-qubit processor. Last December, the group unveiled its 1,121-qubit processor prototype, called Condor, at the IBM Quantum Summit 2023.
Pasqal is not the only company working with neutral atoms. In the United States, California-based Atom Computing produces 100-qubit processors and is currently developing a device with more than 1,000 qubits. Boston-based QuEra already offers a 256-qubit quantum processor and is aiming for 10,000 qubits by 2026.
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