Aug 31, 2020
Co-Founder and CEO Sebastian
Weidt tells listeners about exceptional advances his company has
made and challenges still to be met.
He covers
- The basics of how his company works with trapped ions and improved coherence time to create more accessible and useful quantum computing systems,
- The current engineering innovations they're trying to develop to ensure successful integration, and
- How quantum computers could change the world by their ability to solve complex problems with massive implications.
Universal Quantum aims to build a new kind of quantum computer,
says CEO Sebastian Weidt.
Quantum computing's impact on society stems from the ability to solve problems
contemporary computers could never tackle. In this podcast, he
explains how they've developed a number of technologies to get
closer to this goal of using the advanced capabilities and
applications of quantum computers.
For example, he explains how they use trapped ions to form cubits,
which are more lenient with temperature. This also enables longer
coherence time. He adds that they use microwave radiation to
manipulate the atom states and ions and explains the advantages of
microwave radiation over other techniques like lasers. He describes
more of how this technology works and how they've addressed some of
the general problems
quantum computing presents.
Universal Quantum is tied to a program at the University of
Sussex, where a number of prototypes exist, and the company is able
to integrate their research. Currently, they are working on
engineering challenges that have made scaling to larger systems
difficult. He says they've gotten a handle on some good innovations
that will allow their first machines to utilize numbers of cubits
not seen before. A significant additional challenge involves
integration. Therefore they're developing custom chips that can be
connected.
He discusses algorithm work as well and says one of the impacts
he's most excited about involves
quantum computing applications for the pharmaceutical space,
thereby allowing tremendous progress in chemical reaction
problem-solving.
For more, see their
website: universalquantum.com.
Available on Apple Podcasts: apple.co/2Os0myK