{"id":15696,"date":"2024-09-18T15:48:54","date_gmt":"2024-09-18T15:48:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/TheNextWeb=1410414"},"modified":"2024-09-18T15:48:54","modified_gmt":"2024-09-18T15:48:54","slug":"germany-picks-4-startups-to-deliver-worlds-first-quantum-computer-for-mobile-defence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=15696","title":{"rendered":"Germany picks 4 startups to deliver world\u2019s first quantum computer for \u2018mobile defence\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In its most expensive project to date, Germany\u2019s Cyber Agency (Cyberagentur) has awarded three different contracts to four quantum computing startups \u2014 Quantum Brilliance, ParityQC, Oxford Ionics, and neQxt.<\/span><\/p>\n

Their mission is to deliver the world\u2019s first quantum computer for \u201cmobile security and defence\u201d by 2027. After that, phase four of the project will kick in, and only one of the candidates will remain.<\/p>\n

Qubits from defect diamonds<\/h2>\n

A portable quantum<\/a> computer will be able to function independently of a network connection or a large data centre, which could be critical in crisis situations. These types of systems can also be easily transported and updated in the field.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things we\u2019ll be working on with the Cyber Agency is what the desired form factor is,\u201d Mark Mattingley-Scott, chief revenue officer and general manager for EMEA at Quantum Brilliance, told TNW. \u201cHow small and light does it need to be?\u201d<\/p>\n

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Most methods for creating qubits require large cryogenic or vacuum systems. These types of structures do not lend themselves well to portability. As such, it is no surprise that the tech picked by the German government for this stage of development can do without them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Quantum Brilliance is one of the companies that have won part of the \u20ac35mn project allocation. The Australian-German startup makes quantum accelerators and miniaturised processors out of diamond. <\/span><\/p>\n

Something called nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centres, a type of defect in diamonds, can be controlled and manipulated to act as qubits. This means that working with diamond as a material allows the processor\u2019s qubits to function with high coherence (that is, maintain their quantum states) at room temperature.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnother important point for us and also for the Cyber Agency, is that this is very much a validation of our vision of quantum computing, as well as our atom-scale fabrication and photoelectric readout technologies, which we\u2019ve been developing over the last three years,\u201d Mattingley-Scott said, referring to a precise method of manufacturing NV centres.<\/p>\n

Quantum Brilliance also recently <\/span>signed a partnership<\/span><\/a> with the prestigious Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, which belongs to the US Department of Energy.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the Cyberagentur project it will be working in partnership with quantum architecture startup ParityQC, which is headquartered in Austria.<\/p>\n

An ion-trapped MinIon<\/h2>\n

The Cyber Agency research project focuses specifically on deploying quantum computing for mobile defence and security scenarios and is shaped in the form of a competition over several stages. Along with Quantum Brilliance and ParityQC, there are two other startup candidates still in the game. <\/span><\/p>\n

One is Oxford Ionics, a British startup that holds the current record for gate fidelity at 99.99916% for single-qubit gates and 99.97% for two-qubit gates<\/span>. The company uses electronics, not lasers, to control its trapped-ion qubits.<\/span>
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<\/span>\u201cWhat\u2019s unique about our technology is that we can achieve world-leading quantum performance on a standard, thumbnail-sized chip entirely produced in today\u2019s semiconductor fabs,\u201c Chris Ballance, Oxford Ionics\u2019 CEO, told TNW. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis means we can deliver incredibly powerful quantum computing capabilities within systems that have very small physical footprints \u2014 if that\u2019s what the customer needs.\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n

Oxford Ionics\u2019 portable quantum computer is called MinIon. The first generation will have 32 high-fidelity qubits, but Ballance says it will be able to fit larger capacity chips which could scale to thousands of qubits. In order to help it scale the technology, Oxford Ionics has partnered with Germany\u2019s largest semiconductor manufacturer Infineon. <\/span><\/p>\n

The UK company currently holds the world fidelity performance record. It also recently won the contract to build a full-stack quantum computer named Quartet for the UK\u2019s National Quantum Computing Centre. While MinIon is the first mobile offering of its product line, Ballance said the company will continue to commercialise larger-scale machines. <\/span><\/p>\n

Strengthening Germany\u2019s digital sovereignty<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The third contract for this stage of the project goes to the Cyberagentur compatriot startup neQxt. The full-stack quantum computing company is quite shy with providing detailed information, but says it will aim to integrate its existing trapped-ion technology into a compact, modular, scalable, and mobile system under the project name of maQue. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The aim of the Cyberagentur researchproject is to \u201cbring Germany to the forefront of technology in the field of mobile quantum computing, to secure the leading position in quantum technology research that already exists today and thus to strengthen Germany\u2019s digital sovereignty.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Germany already has a strong position in quantum computing. Founded in Australia in 2019, Quantum Brilliance chose the country for its European headquarters for a number of reasons, including<\/span> the engineering talent pool as well as instrumentation to <\/span>make photonic systems, and assemble circuits and test equipment. <\/span>
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<\/span>\u201cIf you look at the map of Europe, especially if you draw a triangle between the Netherlands, Germany, and France, you\u2019ve got market leaders in all those segments in that triangle,\u201d Mattingley-Scott added. <\/span><\/p>\n

Not to mention a high concentration of end users \u2014 military and civilian alike. As governments wake up to the dawning of the quantum era, the next geopolitical and economic race might just be qubit-fuelled, and potentially pocket-sized. <\/span><\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In its most expensive project to date, Germany\u2019s Cyber Agency (Cyberagentur) has awarded three different contracts to four quantum computing startups \u2014 Quantum Brilliance, ParityQC, Oxford Ionics, and neQxt. Their mission is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15696"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15696"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15696\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}