Quantum Machines’ 2021 Wrap Up

2022 is right around the corner! Yes, we hear ya; it does sound like “2020 too,” which brings back some flashbacks and should probably come with a trigger warning. Nonetheless, at QM we’re welcoming it with open arms. We’re ready to leap forward towards the possibilities this new year will bring.

Honestly, our heads are still spinning from 2021. It went by so quickly! What have we been up to?

Well, the TL;DR version is this:

• Expanding our quantum team;

• Developing new quantum control products to bring scalable practical quantum computers closer to reality (keep watching this space for news!);

• Seeing our customers and partners taking their experiments to the next level with the Quantum Orchestration Platform (QOP).

No, we’re not going to recap all the awesome things that happened during the year. We’ll need a lot more than a single blog post to do that. But keep reading for a rundown of the main tidbits we think you should know about.

Leveling Up Quantum Control

For the past few years, QM has been re-envisioning the possibilities of quantum control. We’ve continued doing so in 2021.

Among the new features added to the OPX, we’d like to highlight the addition of digital Finite Impulse Response (FIR) and Infinite Impulse Response (IIR) filters on the Pulse Processor of the OPX. This was a massive milestone as filters are essential in conditioning a control system’s pulses. We plan to continue developing this in 2022.

This year we demonstrated a high fidelity, low latency active reset with an adaptive thresholding algorithm with the Quantum Orchestration Platform. QOP’s active reset enables you to tailor very high performance and advanced algorithms for quantum error correction. Instead of months, you can now design and execute your advanced algorithms in minutes. You can now increase the throughput of your system by orders of magnitude and substantially reduce errors.

We also developed resource sharing and routing for atom array applications and cutting-edge protocols, which require strict timings.

Additional progress we've achieved this year includes:

• Demonstration of real-time implementation of randomized benchmarking (where the Clifford gates are randomized in real-time)

• Improvement in quantum sensing protocols with real-time Bayesian estimation

• New collaborations with Quantum Dot, Cold Atom, and Quantum Networks research teams

• 3 new software releases for the OPX

But wait, there’s more! We have several new hardware products coming in 2022. Follow us and stay tuned for exciting announcements!

Our Clients’ Groundbreaking Research

Our clients have published some fantastic research findings by utilizing quantum control to enhance their experiments this year.

APS Physics published Dissipative Stabilization of Squeezing Beyond 3 dB in a Microwave Mode by Benjamin Ward et al. from ENS Lyon. Their research found an alternative reservoir-engineering method to surpass the limit of 3 dB when squeezing to propagate a state of light. With superconducting qubits acting as a probe and with two-tone pumping of a three-wave-mixing element, they found a lower bound on the squeezing at about 6.7 ± 0.2 dB below the zero-point level.

Maximillian Zanner et al. from the University of Innsbruck published their paper on Coherent Control of a Symmetry-Engineered Multi-Qubit Dark State in Waveguide Quantum Electrodynamics. They looked into the dark states, which are a valuable resource of quantum information but cannot be controlled by the waveguide drive. They overcame this issue by using the symmetry properties of the collective state manifold to drive both bright and dark states selectively. This discovery paves the way for implementing quantum many-body physics in waveguides.

Eliya Blumenthal et al. from the Technion published a paper on the Demonstration of Universal Control Between Non-Interacting Qubits Using the Quantum Zeno Effect. Their experiment emphasizes the ability of the Zeno effect to turn the trivial dynamics of an apparently non-interacting system into universal control, providing proof-of-concept for a new quantum control strategy.

Growing Quantum Machines

This September, we were delighted to share that we raised $50 million in a Series B round of funding led by Red Dot Capital Partners. This round of investment was the largest ever in a quantum company that is not directly building a quantum computer, showing huge support for the future ambitions of the entire quantum ecosystem. This investment will support us in developing the Quantum Orchestration Platform and enhancing its capabilities.

In October, Qualcomm Ventures came on board as an investor through an extension of our Series B. We’re happy they’ve joined us to support QM’s vision for the future of quantum computing. This investment further proves the importance of quantum control in helping the quantum ecosystem achieve its goals.

We’ve been exploding with news and other releases this year, and you can always check out the News & Publications section to see the latest.

We’re also thrilled to be growing so fast internally! We started 2021 with 33 employees and have since then more than doubled in size. We’ve expanded our team geographically and now have employees based out of Israel, France, Germany, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Denmark. And we’re still recruiting! Be sure to check out our careers page if you’re on the lookout for an exciting new role.

Expanding our Reach

We had the pleasure of participating in multiple conferences in 2021. Most of them were virtual, of course, but we also attended our first physical show since the year-that-shall-not-be-named! 😉
The best thing about virtual conferences is that they’re recorded. So feel free to take a stroll down our YouTube channel and take a look at some of our talks and sessions:

• Learn how you can overcome the roadblocks on the way to neutral atoms quantum computers that satisfy the DiVincenzo criteria with quantum control
• See how to apply universal quantum control for 5 different types of qubits
• Find out what the top quantum experts think about the future of quantum computing in 2050
• Discover all you’ve ever wanted to know about Integrated quantum control hardware and software for feedback and error correction, complex calibrations and optimizations, and hybrid quantum-classical algorithms

Moving into 2022

A lot of exciting things are on the roadmap for 2022! Starting with the APS March Meeting – hopefully, we’ll see a lot of you there face to face.
We also have plenty of product news and updates heading your way, so follow us for the latest advancements in quantum control.

For now, we’d like to thank all of you in the quantum community for supporting us. We will continue doing our best to make your quantum journey as smooth and enjoyable as possible. We can hardly wait to see what steps we’ll take together next year to achieve the next quantum breakthroughs!

Until then, we hope you’re all taking this time to reset, recharge, and get ready for an awesome 2022.