SUPERPOSITION.TECHNOLOGY




At commencement a novel technology research and development project is arguably
in a state of superposition: too soon to know it it will be successful or unsuccessful.

MAJOR QUANTUM PROJECTS

DARPA US2QC PROJECTS

The objective DARPA's grant program is to develop fault-tolerant quantum computing (FTQC) capability, improving the performance of quantum computing.

Announcement of Grants

DARPA US2QC PROJECTS: QBI

Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI)

⏯️ QBI Overview [DARPAtv]

DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking Initiative (QBI) aims to determine if it’s possible to build an industrially useful quantum computer much faster than conventional predictions. Specifically, QBI is designed to rigorously verify and validate if any quantum computing approach can achieve utility-scale operation — meaning its computational value exceeds its cost — by the year 2033

The Quantum Benchmarking Initiative is an expansion of the existing DARPA Underexplored Systems for Utility-Scale Quantum Computing (US2QC). QBI is separate from but related to the existing Quantum Benchmarking (QB) program that seeks to determine the yardstick for impact. In the simplest terms, QB seeks to answer the question: If a fully functioning quantum computer magically appeared, what would it make possible that a standard computer cannot accomplish?

In addition to funding performers, QBI will add value to their ongoing research and development efforts by providing unbiased third-party verification and validation of an organization’s path to a utility-scale quantum computer. QBI will also effectively communicate the results of this verification and validation effort to other U.S. government stakeholders.

DARPA ACQUISITION PROCESS: ADVANCED RESEARCH CONCEPTS PROJECTS

A sidebar on how the DARPA solicitation process for Advanced Research Concepts (ARC) projects works:

ψ PSIQUANTUM'S DARPA CHICAGO PROJECT

US Government Acquisition Process

How the DARPA solicitation process for Advanced Research Concepts (ARC) projects works

ψ PsiQuantum:

Announcement: "PsiQuantum To Build First US-Based Utility-Scale Quantum Computer in Chicago, Illinois" PsiQuantum, 25 Jul 2024

ψ PSIQUANTUM'S BRISBANE PROJECT

The most significant quantum computing development in Australia is the Federal and State government's AUD 1 billion investment/grant for PsiQuantum's project at Brisbane, Australia and a similar sized related PsiQuantum project in Chicago with funding from DARPA and State and Local Government.

Australian government agencies (potentially) involved

ψ PsiQuantum

⏯️ ψ PsiQuantum CEO Prof Jeremy O'Brien Keynote Presentation: "Silicon Photonic Quantum Computing - Towards Large-scale Systems" Quantum Australia, Sydney Dec 2023] [Federal Government Grant]

Pete Shadbolt, PsiQuantum co-founder and chief scientific officer: "The Australian government's AUD940 million investment will not be sufficient to reach PsiQuantum's goal of building the world's first commercially viable quantum computer in Brisbane by 2027." Capital Brief, 4 Sep 2024

Grants

Quantum Australia

  • University of Sydney awarded $18.4 million for national quantum centre. Professor Stephen Bartlett, quantum information theorist and Director of The University of Sydney Nano Institute (Sydney Nano), led the formation of the consortium to establish Quantum Australia and is its Foundation Director.

    Australian National Audit Office Investigation

    • 30 Jul 2024: The Shadow Science Minister, Paul Fletcher, asks the Auditor-General to conduct an investigation into the investment in PsiQuantum announced by the Australian and Queensland Governments: Request
    • 14 Aug 2024: Paul Fletcher followup letter to Auditor-General: Request
    • 26 Aug 2024: Acting Auditor-General: Response: Maybe


    A TANGIBLE APPLICATION OF QUANTUM MECHANICS FOR NAVIGATION AND DEFENSE


    Quantum positioning for civilian and defense navigation.

    About a Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC)

    When multiple bosons, such as photons or certain types of atoms, occupy the same quantum state, they can exhibit a phenomenon called a Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC)". This is a fascinating state of matter predicted by Satyendra Nath Bose and Albert Einstein in the early 1920s.

    In a Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC), a large number of bosons, often cooled to extremely low temperatures, all occupy the lowest possible energy state, known as the ground state, and essentially behave as a single quantum entity. At such low temperatures, the individual wave functions of the bosons start to overlap significantly, leading to the collective behavior.

    Here's a breakdown of the key points:

    • Low Temperatures: Creating a BEC requires extremely low temperatures, typically only a fraction of a degree above absolute zero. At these temperatures, the thermal energy is so low that the quantum effects dominate the behavior of the particles.
    • Quantum Mechanical Effects: In the quantum world, particles don't behave like classical objects with well-defined positions and velocities. Instead, they have wave-like properties described by wave functions. When many bosons are cooled to extremely low temperatures, their wave functions start to overlap, and they can occupy the same quantum state.
    • Macroscopic Quantum Phenomenon: The Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) is a macroscopic manifestation of quantum mechanics. Even though individual particles are subject to quantum uncertainty, when many of them come together in a BEC, their collective behavior becomes more predictable and coherent.
    • Unique Properties: BEC exhibit fascinating properties, such as superfluidity and coherence times over macroscopic distances. Superfluidity means that the condensate can flow without any viscosity, meaning it flows forever without dissipating energy. Coherence refers to the fact that all the particles in the condensate act in unison, like one giant quantum wave.
    • Experimental Realization: BECs were first experimentally realized in dilute atomic gases cooled to ultra-low temperatures using techniques like laser cooling and evaporative cooling. Since their discovery, BECs have been studied extensively in physics laboratories around the world for their unique properties and potential applications in fields like quantum computing and precision measurement.

    Overall, the Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC) represents one of the most remarkable manifestations of quantum mechanics at the macroscopic scale, offering insights into the nature of matter at its most fundamental level.


    ABOUT QUANTUM COMPUTING

    Before we think we're across the subject of quantum computing, let's revisit some basics (some notes from Lloyd Bunting's own learning some time ago): TechInvestment.AI/Quantum


    COMPARING THE TECHNOLOGY STRATEGIES OF MICROSOFT AND ψ PSIQUANTUM

    DARPA has funded two projects with different technologies to Microsoft and PsiQuantum, and a requirement for fault-tolerant quantum computing. Fault tolerant quantum computing technologies include:

    • Superconducting qubits: These are among the most advanced quantum computing technologies, used by companies like IBM and Google. They operate at extremely low temperatures and use superconducting circuits to create qubits.
    • Trapped ion qubits: Used by companies like IonQ and Honeywell Quantinuum (HQS), these systems use individual ions held in electromagnetic traps as qubits.
    • Topological qubits: This approach, pursued by Microsoft, aims to use exotic quantum states of matter to create inherently fault-tolerant qubits.
    • Photonic qubits: Companies like PsiQuantum and Xanadu are working on quantum computers that use photons as qubits.

    Here is ClaudeAI's description of the technological approaches of Microsoft and PsiQuantum, and how they differ:


    MICROSOFT

    Microsoft is focusing on topological quantum computing, specifically using Majorana fermions as qubits. In March 2022 Microsoft announced its Azure Quantum team has engineered devices that allow them to induce a topological phase of matter bookended by a pair of Majorana zero modes. [About fermions and the Pauli exclusion principle]. Key aspects include:

    • Topological qubits: These are theoretically more stable and less prone to decoherence than other types of qubits. They're based on the collective behavior of electrons in certain materials. Majorana zero modes. Majorana fermions are exotic particles that are their own antiparticles. Microsoft is trying to create and manipulate these particles in nanowires made of semiconductors and superconductors.
    • Error correction: The topological approach potentially offers built-in error correction, which could be a significant advantage.
    • Challenges: The main challenge is that Majorana fermions are extremely difficult to create and control. As of my last update, Microsoft had not definitively demonstrated the creation of a topological qubit.


    ψ PSIQUANTUM

    PsiQuantum is pursuing a photonic quantum computing approach. Key aspects include (ClaudeAI):

    • PsiQuantum uses photons (particles of light) as qubits.
    • Silicon photonics: PsiQuantum leverages advanced silicon photonics technology, which allows for the manipulation of individual photons on a chip.
    • Room temperature operation: Unlike many other quantum approaches, photonic systems can potentially operate at room temperature, which could be a significant practical advantage.
    • Scalability: PsiQuantum claims their approach is more scalable, as it can leverage existing semiconductor manufacturing techniques.
    • Challenges: Maintaining quantum entanglement with photons and achieving sufficiently low error rates are significant challenges.


    ABOUT ψ PSIQUANTUM

    PsiQuantum was founded in 2015 by Professors Jeremy O'Brien (CEO), Mark Thompson, Pete Shadbolt (Chief Scientific Officer) and Terry Rudolph (Chief Architect).

    PsiQuantum is located in Palo Alto, California. Google and Wikiwand report the company had 280 employees in 2014.

    PsiQuantum is a quantum computer manufacturing company that enables everyday users to solve their problems in industries such as agriculture, climate, and finance. Forge reports: PsiQuantum has raised a total of USD708.5 million in funding over 5 rounds. Their latest funding was raised on 27 Jul 2021, from a Series D round.

    Investors

    Forge Global reports investors have granted PsiQuantum a USD 3.15 billion valuation and invested USD 700 million. Major investors in PsiQuantum include:

    • 🇬🇧 Baillie Gifford is a large, independent investment management firm based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The company was founded in 1908 and is known for its long-term, growth-oriented investment approach. They manage assets for some of the world's largest institutional investors, including pension funds, financial institutions, and charitable foundations. Baillie Gifford operates as a partnership structure rather than a publicly traded company. As of April 2024, some key figures in the firm included: Joint Senior Partners: Malcolm MacColl and Dave Bujnowski (as of 2023). The firm participated in Blackrock's USD 450 million Series D round in 2021.
    • Atomico: participated in the Series B round in 2019. 📰 Reuters 28 Sep 2023.
    • 🇺🇸 Blackrock: led a USD450 mullion Series D round in 2021. Blackrock's portfolio is very large, and includes: 👉 Alphabet (Google), 👉 Amazon, 👉 Apple, Exxon Mobil, 👉 Facebook (Meta), 👉 Microsoft, Johnson & Johnson, JPMorgan Chase, Procter & Gamble, 👉 Visa
    • 🇺🇸 Founders Fund: Portfolio. Note that Founders Fund participated in early funding rounds
    • 🇺🇸 👉 Microsoft (M12): participated in several funding rounds. M12 portfolio
    • 🇺🇸 Playground Global: an early investor. Portfolio
    • 🇺🇸 Redpoint: an early investor

    👉 TechInvestment.com is an investor in these indicated companies, and also invests in other technology companies in 🇺🇸 USA and 🇦🇺 Australia.

    Forge notes: "PsiQuantum has not yet filed for an IPO. However, it's important to note that IPOs are not the sole avenue for a private company to transition to public trading. Private companies can also go public through alternative methods such as, but not limited to, Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs), direct listings, or through mergers and acquisitions." [Source: Forge Global]

    In 2022, PsiQuantum and GlobalFoundries [NASDAQ:GFS], a spinoff from *Advanced Micro Devices [NASDAQ:AMD], received U.S. federal funding for quantum computer research and development. PsiQuantum also entered into a collaboration with the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) [Wikiwand].


    ABOUT THE ψ IN PSIQUANTUM



    The psi symbol ψ is used in the mathematical expression of a qubit: |ψ⟩ = α|0⟩ + β|1⟩.
    That can also be written as |ψ⟩ = α|↑⟩ + β|↓⟩

    That formula is describing a quantum state:

    • |ψ⟩ is the symbol representing the quantum state.
    • α and β are numbers called probability amplitudes.
    • |0⟩ and |1⟩, or α|↑⟩ and β|↓⟩ represent two possible states of a quantum system. These are often called "qubits," and they can be thought of as being in two different states at the same time due to a property called superposition ... that's why this website is called "superposition.technology".

    So, the formula is saying that the quantum state |ψ⟩ is a combination of two states, |0⟩ and |1⟩, with coefficients α and β respectively. The squares of the absolute values of α and β give the probabilities of finding the system in the states |0⟩ and |1⟩ when measured.

    In simpler terms, imagine you have a quantum system, like a qubit (which can represent, say, the spin of an electron). This formula is saying that the quantum state of that qubit, |ψ⟩, can be a mixture of two basic states, |0⟩ and |1⟩. The α and β values tell you how much of each state is in the mixture. When you measure the qubit, you'll find it in state |0⟩ with probability |α|² and in state |1⟩ with probability |β|².

    ⏯️ Quantum Computers, Explained With Quantum Physics

    The quantum computer shown in the video above is similar to Google's or IBM's boson-based quantum computer - the copper "chandelier" is a mechanism for staged cooling to the point where the quantum processor itself, the little box at the bottom of the structure, is cooled to near absolute zero.

    IonQ and Quantinuum (Honeywell + Cambridge Quantum) use trapped ions. IonQ has produced a range of quantum computers, and access to their technology is available via Amazon Braket Quantinuum claims to be the world's largest integrated quantum computer company.

    Intel and Silicon Quantum Computing fermionic architectures focus on silicon-based qubits.

    PsiQuantum's quantum computer uses photons rather than fermions or bosons, and this technology is likely to be more fault-tolerant, and therefore more efficient: DARPA's US2QC requirement. The DARPA project is being set up at Chicago's Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park (IQMP).

    Canadian company Xanadu is also developing a photonic quantum computer.
    Lloyd says: Thanks for the superposition T-shirt!


    NEWS

    27 Jul 2021: 📰 ψ PsiQuantum USD450 million funding round. "The funding round was led by funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, along with participation from insiders including Baillie Gifford and M12 – Microsoft’s venture fund – and new investors including Australian VC Blackbird Ventures and Singapore investment company Temasek. PsiQuantum has now raised a total of USD665 million in funding to date."

    📰 ψ PsiQuantum has been awarded a contract by US Defence Advanced Projects Agency's (DARPA) Underexplored Systems for Utility-Scale Quantum Computing (US2QC) program, DARPA

    📰 ψ PsiQuantum will build its first US-Based Utility-Scale Quantum Computer in Chicago, Illinois. This project will anchor Governor J.B. Pritzker's Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park to be developed at the former US Steel South Works Site in the City of Chicago. PsiQuantum

    30 Apr 2024: 📰 ψ PsiQuantum has been funded by Australia's Federal and Queensland governments to build the first US-Based Utility-Scale Quantum Computer in Brisbane, Queensland. PsiQuantum acknowledged the technology for a world-first, fault-tolerant quantum computer in Brisbane ‘doesn’t work yet’ but remains confident it will be operational by 2027. 📰 TheAustralian

    30 July 2024: Paul Fletcher (Shadow Minister for Science & the Arts, Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy) has asked the Auditor-General to undertake an investigation into the investment in PsiQuantum announced by the Australian and Queensland on 30 Apr 2024.

    26 Aug 2024: Investigation into the investment in PsiQuantum announced by the Australian and Queensland governments

    "The acting Auditor-General responded on 26 August 2024 to correspondence from the Hon Paul Fletcher MP dated 30 July 2024 and follow-up correspondence dated 14 August 2024, requesting that the Auditor-General conduct an investigation into the investment in PsiQuantum announced by the Australian and Queensland governments on 30 April 2024." Australian National Audit Office

    Timeline Provided to ANAO by Paul Fletcher (Shadow Minister for Science & the Arts, Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy):

    The EOI Process Provided to ANAO by Paul Fletcher (Shadow Minister for Science & the Arts, Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy):

    • Selected companies were sent an email on 11 August 2023, then given 4 weeks and strict conditions to compete for almost AUD 1 billion of funding. The strict conditions included:
      • no engagement with department officials,
      • no engagement with DISR's retained external lawyers,
      • no warning of the EOI email,
      • no phone number,
      • no person as a point of contact,
      • no indication of funding amount,
      • a requirement to sign a non-disclosure agreement, and
      • a clause saying the Government has the right to determine that nothing further come of the EOI process.
    • The EOI closed on the 11 September 2023, however Export Finance Australia had already began working on financing the PsiQuantum Investment in September 2023.
    • Further, the Australia Government's contract with King Wood and Mallesons for legal advice on the PsiQuantum deal was increased by $700,000 by 18 October 2023, within five weeks of the EOI closing. If the EOI were a genuine process, it is extremely unlikely that all of the necessary assessments of the multiple responses received to the EOI could have been completed (by multiple departments across two governments) within five weeks. The alternative inference is that the EOI was a sham and the decision to make the Investment in PsiQuantum had already been made.


  • PHOTONIC COMPUTING


    Like DARPA's photon-based quantum computing, photonic computing (also called optical computing) is based on the use of photons rather than electrons. One company that is working in this technology is Lightmatter (lightmatter.co). Lightmatter computers are estimated to be 10x faster than Nvidia GPUs and use 90% less energy. Lightmatter's approach is particularly interesting because it combines photonic and electronic elements. This hybrid approach allows them to leverage the strengths of both technologies – using photonics for high-speed, energy-efficient matrix operations (common in AI workloads), while retaining the flexibility of electronic systems for other tasks.

    ClaudeAI outlines key points about photonic computing:

    Lightmatter's approach specifically combines photonics with traditional electronic circuits to create a hybrid system that aims to accelerate AI computations. Here's a comparison of photonic, electronic and quantum computing:

    Principle of Operation:

    Speed and Bandwidth:

    Energy Efficiency:

    Compatibility with Existing Systems:

    Maturity of Technology:

    Applications:

    Scalability:

    Cost:
  • Photonic: Currently more expensive than traditional electronic systems, but costs may decrease as technology matures.
  • Electronic: Most cost-effective due to mature manufacturing processes.
  • Quantum: Very expensive, limited to research institutions and large tech companies.
  • TECHINVESTMENT.COM

    TechInvestment.com invests in quantum and GPU technology companies: Advanced Micro Devices, Amazon, D:Wave, Google, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, IonQ, Nvidia, Taiwan Semiconductor.

    TechInvestment.com also invests in AI and personal technology and services companies, including: Apple, Ebay, Meta, Nuix, PayPal, and Visa.


    🙂 Thanks for visiting Superposition.Technology. More QC 👋


    MAJOR PUBLIC EVENTS IN QUANTUM COMPUTING

    Quantum.Tech 2025: Boston 15-16 April 2025

    Quantum Tech 2025

    Quantum World Congress 2024: Washington 9-11 September 2024

    Congress website

    Exhibitors and Speakers