PsiQuantum, a company founded in 2016 by four physicists from UK universities, has revealed details of its ambitious plan to build a quantum computer based on photons. The machine, housed in a room resembling a data center crossed with an ice cream factory, will consist of about 100 stainless-steel cabinets, each six feet tall and connected to a supply of liquid helium to keep them a few degrees above absolute zero. Inside the cabinets, hundreds of chips will host thousands of particles of light flying through a maze of optical switches and beam splitters. Each photon must be precisely tracked, because measuring exactly where it ends up will help answer questions that current computers might take millions of years to solve.
The promise of calculations impossible for classical computers
Quantum computers exploit the properties of quantum particles to perform calculations in parallel. Unlike classical bits, which can only be 0 or 1, qubits can exist in superposition states. Combining enough qubits could yield unimaginable computing power. PsiQuantum aims to build a commercially useful machine, for example reducing simulation times for the effect of cytochrome P450 enzymes on drugs: from over 10 years with current methods to just four minutes, according to Philipp Ernst, vice president of quantum applications.
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The bet on photons and existing semiconductor fabs
While Google and IBM are betting on superconducting qubits, PsiQuantum has chosen photons because they are more stable and easier to network. The company is working with a major chip manufacturer to build its systems using existing semiconductor fabrication plants. This approach has attracted significant investment: last year PsiQuantum raised $1 billion and broke ground on a site in Chicago in partnership with local governments. A second site in Australia promises to be operational by 2027, with hardware ready. The company is also one of two (along with Microsoft) to reach the third stage of an intensive government evaluation program to determine which quantum companies might succeed.
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External verification and the prove-it moment
Evaluating whether PsiQuantum will deliver on its promises is difficult: progress in quantum computing is incremental, opaque, and hard to verify from the outside. But the company is approaching its prove-it moment, when years of closed-door work and hundreds of millions in investment will either culminate in a useful quantum computer or fall short. We could start to know as soon as next year. The founders, including Terry Rudolph, grandson of physicist Erwin Schrödinger, believe that the ability to simulate quantum mechanics will lead to a new industrial revolution, similar to that enabled by Newton's laws and thermodynamics. As Rudolph says, every time we've had more power to calculate and simulate, we've built incredible machines.
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To understand the potential impact, consider that today we cannot reliably predict which lithium-ion battery will catch fire or how quickly a critical aircraft component will corrode. Quantum simulation could bridge these gaps. Transformer delivery delays highlight the growing demand for data center infrastructure, a problem quantum computers could exacerbate or solve. For more, read the original article on MIT Technology Review.
