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:
  • Position paper on building scalable million-qubit systems