Quantinuum

Last updated
Quantinuum
Company type Privately Held Company
Industry Quantum Computing
Founded2021 (2021)
Headquarters
Cambridge, UK Broomfield, Colorado
,
USA
Key people
  • Rajeeb Hazra (CEO)
  • Ilyas Khan (CQ founder, chief product officer)
Products
  • Quantum Origin
  • InQuanto
  • TKET
  • H-Series quantum computers
Number of employees
450
Website quantinuum.com

Quantinuum is a quantum computing company formed by the merger of Cambridge Quantum and Honeywell Quantum Solutions. [1] The company's H-Series trapped-ion quantum computers set the highest quantum volume to date[ when? ] of 524,288. [2] This architecture supports all-to-all qubit connectivity, allowing entangled states to be created between all qubits, and enables a high fidelity of quantum states. [3]

Contents

Quantinuum has developed middleware and software products that run on trapped-ion and other quantum computing platforms for quantum chemistry, quantum machine learning and quantum artificial intelligence. [1] The company also offers quantum-computing-hardened encryption keys designed to protect data assets and enhance cryptographic defenses. [4]

History

Formed in 2021, Quantinuum is the combination of the quantum hardware team from Honeywell Quantum Solutions (HQS) and the quantum software team at Cambridge Quantum Computing (CQC). [1]

HQS was founded in 2014. [5] The company used a trapped-ion architecture for its quantum computing hardware, which Honeywell believed could be used to fulfill the needs of its various business units in aerospace, building technology, performance materials, safety and productivity solutions. [6]

CQC was founded in 2014 as an independent quantum computing company through the University of Cambridge’s “Accelerate Cambridge” program. CQC focused on building tools for the commercialization of quantum technologies with a focus on quantum software and quantum cybersecurity. By coming together as Quantinuum, the company offers an integrated, end-to-end quantum platform. [1]

Ilyas Khan, the founder of Cambridge Quantum, the founding chairman of the Stephen Hawking Foundation, and fellow at Cambridge Judge Business School, was named the CEO of Quantinuum. Tony Uttley, formerly an operations manager at NASA and president of Honeywell Quantum Solutions, was named the president and chief operating officer. [1] [7] In 2023, Quantinuum named Rajeeb “Raj” Hazra, formerly a corporate vice president and general manager at Intel, as the new CEO of Quantinuum. Hazra has over 30 years of experience working in supercomputing, quantum and other technical roles. Khan was named chief product officer and vice chair of the board of directors. [3]

Technology and products

H-Series

When developing its H-Series quantum computers, Powered by Honeywell, Quantinuum chose a quantum charge-coupled device (QCCD) architecture as its path to scalable universal quantum computing because it allows full connectivity between identical high-fidelity qubits (atomic ions). [3]

Quantinuum launched its first generation of quantum computers with the System Model H1-1, a trapped-ion computer running on 12 qubits, in 2020. [8]

In May 2023, Quantinuum launched the System Model H2, with a quantum volume of 65,536 (216), the largest on record at that time. The H2 achieved the largest GHZ state on record, the first demonstration of magic state distillation, and the first demonstration of the creation and control of topological qubits whose linking properties can help make quantum computing fault-tolerant. [9] [10] Braiding quasiparticles called non-Abelian anyons creates a historical record of the event, and the paths they trace are more robust to errors, which could eventually lead to the development of a topological quantum computer. [9]

The H-Series systems have consistently broken records for quantum volume, recently reaching a quantum volume of 524,288 (219) in July 2023. [2] Quantum volume is one of 15 performance benchmarks that Quantinuum scientists ran against the latest generation of its trapped-ion quantum computer which[ clarification needed ] are available on arXiv and GitHub. [11]

Quantinuum also offers an H-Series Emulator, which allows researchers to compare data in quantum hardware experiments and approximate noise, accelerating simulation workflows. [10]

Quantum cybersecurity – Quantum Origin

Quantum Origin uses quantum computing to strengthen the cryptographic keys that protect online transactions and identification processes. The software produces provably unpredictable cryptographic keys to support traditional algorithms, such as RSA and AES, as well as post-quantum cryptography algorithms. [4] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]

Quantum Origin is said to be the first commercial application of a quantum computer offering a solution that classical computers cannot achieve. [17] In April 2022, Quantinuum partnered with PureVPN to make their OpenVPN protocol quantum-resistant. [18]

In 2023, Quantinuum introduced Quantum Origin Onboard, an innovation in post-quantum cryptography that extends the quantum-hardened cyber protection to connected devices by maximizing the strength of keys generated within the devices themselves. [19] The company also released Quantum Origin Cloud, which allows subscribers to request secure keys on-demand or integrate with hardware security modules. [20]

Quantinuum's Quantum Origin was recognized in 2022 by UK Business Tech with the Best Use of Innovation award. [21]

Quantum computational chemistry platform – InQuanto

InQuanto is a quantum computational chemistry software platform. InQuanto uses Quantinuum's open-source Python toolkit, TKET, to improve the performance of quantum devices with electronic structure simulations. The stand-alone platform is designed to help computational chemists experiment with quantum algorithms and eventually create prototypes of real-life problems using quantum computers. [22]

Quantum software development platform – TKET

TKET is a platform-agnostic compiler for optimizing quantum algorithms as well as a software development kit for building and running programs for gate-based quantum computers. It is platform-inclusive and open source. The quantum programming environment is accessible through the PyTKET Python package, with extension modules that work with quantum computers, classical simulators, and quantum software libraries. [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28]

Quantum NLP/Compositional Intelligence

Quantinuum's Quantum Natural Language Processing team is developing reasoning-based quantum artificial intelligence that works with modern machine learning-based techniques to produce AI systems that are more interpretable, transparent, and cost effective, requiring less data. [29] [30] This quantum compositional intelligence is based on categorical quantum mechanics, which studies quantum processes and how they are composed.

Lambeq

Lambeq is an open-source software library for the design and implementation of quantum natural language processing applications. [31] To build a quantum natural language processing model, Lambeq parses the grammatical structure of an input sentence into a task-specific output. This is encoded into an abstract representation called a string diagram, which reflects the relationships between the words in the original sentence. [31]

Quantum machine learning

Quantinuum has efforts in QML with a focus on quantum circuit learning on near-term noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) computers. The company has commercial work in deploying deep learning for time-series modeling and decision-making and specializes in quantum enhanced solutions for machine learning and optimization problems. [32] [33]

Optimization

Among the primary uses for quantum computing is combinatorial optimization, as its applications extend to logistics, supply chain optimization, and route planning.

In 2023, Quantinuum created an improved variational quantum algorithm for solving combinatorial optimization problems that uses minimal quantum resources and takes advantage of the H-Series’ all-to-all connectivity and native parameterized two-qubit gates. [34] In 2021, Deutsche Bahn partnered with Quantinuum to explore how quantum computers can improve the rescheduling of rail traffic. [35]

Simulation

In 2021, Nippon Steel Corporation used Quantinuum's algorithms to simulate the behavior of iron crystals in different configurations. The chemical simulation is so complex at scale that it cannot be accurately simulated on classical computers. [36]

Ownership

Quantinuum is not listed on any stock exchange and is privately held. 54% of the company is owned by Honeywell, and Ilyas Khan, the founder of Cambridge Quantum and Chief Product Officer of Quantinuum, is the next largest shareholder. [37] [38]

Locations

Quantinuum has a European headquarters in Cambridge, UK and a North American headquarters in Broomfield, Colorado. [39] It has offices in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, Washington, D.C., London (Victoria and St. James's), Oxford, and Tokyo. [40]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Computing</span> Activity involving calculations or computing machinery

Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and development of both hardware and software. Computing has scientific, engineering, mathematical, technological and social aspects. Major computing disciplines include computer engineering, computer science, cybersecurity, data science, information systems, information technology and software engineering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quantum computing</span> Technology that uses quantum mechanics

A quantum computer is a computer that takes advantage of quantum mechanical phenomena.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quantum information</span> Information held in the state of a quantum system

Quantum information is the information of the state of a quantum system. It is the basic entity of study in quantum information theory, and can be manipulated using quantum information processing techniques. Quantum information refers to both the technical definition in terms of Von Neumann entropy and the general computational term.

This is a timeline of quantum computing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theoretical computer science</span> Subfield of computer science and mathematics

Theoretical computer science (TCS) is a subset of general computer science and mathematics that focuses on mathematical aspects of computer science such as the theory of computation, formal language theory, the lambda calculus and type theory.

Quantum programming is the process of designing or assembling sequences of instructions, called quantum circuits, using gates, switches, and operators to manipulate a quantum system for a desired outcome or results of a given experiment. Quantum circuit algorithms can be implemented on integrated circuits, conducted with instrumentation, or written in a programming language for use with a quantum computer or a quantum processor.

Quantum annealing (QA) is an optimization process for finding the global minimum of a given objective function over a given set of candidate solutions, by a process using quantum fluctuations. Quantum annealing is used mainly for problems where the search space is discrete with many local minima; such as finding the ground state of a spin glass or the traveling salesman problem. The term "quantum annealing" was first proposed in 1988 by B. Apolloni, N. Cesa Bianchi and D. De Falco as a quantum-inspired classical algorithm. It was formulated in its present form by T. Kadowaki and H. Nishimori in 1998 though an imaginary-time variant without quantum coherence had been discussed by A. B. Finnila, M. A. Gomez, C. Sebenik and J. D. Doll in 1994.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">D-Wave Systems</span> Canadian quantum computing company

D-Wave Quantum Systems Inc. is a Canadian quantum computing company, based in Burnaby, British Columbia. D-Wave claims to be the world's first company to sell computers that exploit quantum effects in their operation. D-Wave's early customers include Lockheed Martin, University of Southern California, Google/NASA and Los Alamos National Lab.

Lateral computing is a lateral thinking approach to solving computing problems. Lateral thinking has been made popular by Edward de Bono. This thinking technique is applied to generate creative ideas and solve problems. Similarly, by applying lateral-computing techniques to a problem, it can become much easier to arrive at a computationally inexpensive, easy to implement, efficient, innovative or unconventional solution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bob Coecke</span>

Bob Coecke is a Belgian theoretical physicist and logician who was professor of Quantum foundations, Logics and Structures at Oxford University until 2020, when he became Chief Scientist of Cambridge Quantum Computing, and after the merger with Honeywell Quantum Systems, Chief Scientist of Quantinuum. In January 2023 he also became Distinguished Visiting Research Chair at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. He pioneered categorical quantum mechanics, Quantum Picturalism, ZX-calculus, DisCoCat model for natural language, and quantum natural language processing (QNLP). He is a founder of the Quantum Physics and Logic community and conference series, and of the applied category theory community, conference series, and diamond-open-access journal Compositionality.

D-Wave Two is the second commercially available quantum computer, and the successor to the first commercially available quantum computer, D-Wave One. Both computers were developed by Canadian company D-Wave Systems. The computers are not general purpose, but rather are designed for quantum annealing. Specifically, the computers are designed to use quantum annealing to solve a single type of problem known as quadratic unconstrained binary optimization. As of 2015, it was still debated whether large-scale entanglement takes place in D-Wave Two, and whether current or future generations of D-Wave computers will have any advantage over classical computers.

IBM Quantum Platform is an online platform allowing public and premium access to cloud-based quantum computing services provided by IBM. This includes access to a set of IBM's prototype quantum processors, a set of tutorials on quantum computation, and access to an interactive textbook. As of February 2021, there are over 20 devices on the service, six of which are freely available for the public. This service can be used to run algorithms and experiments, and explore tutorials and simulations around what might be possible with quantum computing.

Cloud-based quantum computing is the invocation of quantum emulators, simulators or processors through the cloud. Increasingly, cloud services are being looked on as the method for providing access to quantum processing. Quantum computers achieve their massive computing power by initiating quantum physics into processing power and when users are allowed access to these quantum-powered computers through the internet it is known as quantum computing within the cloud.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rigetti Computing</span> American quantum computing company

Rigetti Computing, Inc. is a Berkeley, California-based developer of quantum integrated circuits used for quantum computers. The company also develops a cloud platform called Forest that enables programmers to write quantum algorithms.

Quantum volume is a metric that measures the capabilities and error rates of a quantum computer. It expresses the maximum size of square quantum circuits that can be implemented successfully by the computer. The form of the circuits is independent from the quantum computer architecture, but compiler can transform and optimize it to take advantage of the computer's features. Thus, quantum volumes for different architectures can be compared.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Qiskit</span> Open-source software development kit

Qiskit is an open-source software development kit (SDK) for working with quantum computers at the level of circuits, pulses, and algorithms. It provides tools for creating and manipulating quantum programs and running them on prototype quantum devices on IBM Quantum Platform or on simulators on a local computer. It follows the circuit model for universal quantum computation, and can be used for any quantum hardware that follows this model.

The current state of quantum computing is referred to as the noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) era, characterized by quantum processors containing up to 1000 qubits which are not advanced enough yet for fault-tolerance or large enough to achieve quantum advantage. These processors, which are sensitive to their environment (noisy) and prone to quantum decoherence, are not yet capable of continuous quantum error correction. This intermediate-scale is defined by the quantum volume, which is based on the moderate number of qubits and gate fidelity. The term NISQ was coined by John Preskill in 2018.

This glossary of quantum computing is a list of definitions of terms and concepts used in quantum computing, its sub-disciplines, and related fields.

References

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  2. 1 2 "Quantinuum Hits a Quantum Volume of 524,288 on their H1-1 Processor". Quantum Computing Report. 30 June 2023. Retrieved 2023-08-29.
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  4. 1 2 Black, Thomas (2021-12-06). "Honeywell Unit Offers First-Ever Quantum-Created Encryption Key". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2023-08-29.
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  19. ↑ "Quantum Origin Onboard strengthens device security against cyberattacks". Help Net Security. 2023-06-14. Retrieved 2023-08-29.
  20. ↑ "Quantum Origin Cloud helps protect your sensitive data and critical assets from advanced cyber attacks". Quantinuum. Retrieved 2023-08-29.
  21. ↑ Jones, Duncan (2022-11-01). "Industry Award in Recognition of the World's First Quantum-Computing-Hardened Cryptographic Keys". Medium. Retrieved 2023-08-29.
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  37. ↑ "Things to Know about Quantinuum".
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