On the way to the industrial use of quantum computing, the scalability of quantum processors is one of the biggest challenges. With our ion trap project QSea II, we are expanding our know-how in this area together with our industrial partners. Until its completion, QSea I will very soon have a working 10-qubit demonstrator at our disposal.
At the end of October, we commissioned five industrial partners to develop quantum computers based on ion traps. After the Toccata, Legato and Xaphiro projects, the QSea I and QSea II projects have now started work with an online kick-off event. This means that all ion trap projects are active at the Hamburg site.
For the QSea I project, we commissioned the NXP × eleQtron × ParityQC consortium to develop a ten-qubit quantum processor. In just one year, users at DLR will be gaining experience with ion trap systems on it and using the system for their research projects.
At the same time, the consortium is developing QSea II, a modular, scalable quantum computer based on ion traps. The goal is to interconnect multiple QSea chips into a universal quantum computing structure that can later grow to many chips with thousands of qubits. An important prerequisite for this scalability is the integration of electronic components into the chip of the quantum computer.
Technology: Ion traps
Qubits from ion traps are characterized by particularly long coherence times and high gate qualities. Algorithms that perform long calculations and have little or no error tolerance benefit from this in particular. In addition, both the control systems of the ion traps and the integration into microelectronics and microfabrication are mature. This makes them well suited for industrial production with large numbers of qubits.
Ion trap competence for Hamburg
With no fewer than five ion trap projects, our innovation center in Hamburg is becoming an important location for ion trap technology in Germany. Because industry, research and application development come together there, we expect an intensive exchange and effective technology transfer from basic research to industry to application. One example of this is our QCI project TeufIQ from the DLR Institute for Quantum Technologies, which on the one hand offers technological support for the provision of processes for the production of ion traps and on the other hand promotes its own technological innovations.
“With QSea I, we will have a quantum computer demonstrator in just one year that we can start working with straight away.”
Barbara Grüner-Dvorak, project manager DLR QCI
“By building modular, scalable systems, we are ushering in the next phase of quantum computers.”
Daniel Ceglinski, project manager DLR QCI
NXP Semiconductors Germany
NXP is one of the world’s leading semiconductor companies. With around 900 employees, the activities at its Hamburg site focus primarily on research, development, testing and marketing for several business units. NXP can build on experience and expertise of more than 60 years. The most important NXP competence centres in Hamburg are secure solutions for autonomous driving, cybersecurity, Industry 4.0, and the latest one, Quantum Computing.
eleQtron
eleQtron was founded in 2020. It is a spin-off from the chair of quantum optics at the University of Siegen. eleQtron develops, produces, operates and markhttps://eleqtron.com/ets computing time on ion trap-based quantum computers. The quantum computer manufacturer successively builds more powerful quantum computers and connects them to the cloud. The technology works without laser light for quantum logic operations.
Parity Quantum Computing Germany
ParityQC focuses on the development of blueprints and operating systems for quantum computers. ParityQC works with hardware partners worldwide to jointly build quantum computers for applications ranging from general-purpose, error-corrected quantum computing to solving optimisation problems on NISQ devices. ParityQC is developing the architecture, algorithms and an operating system for DLR.
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