Trapped ion qubits

We use individual charged atoms – ions – as our qubits.

Because the qubits are naturally identical, well isolated from the environment and easily controllable, ‘trapped ion’ quantum computing is the most mature quantum computing technology.

Each ion levitates above the surface of a silicon microchip. Using our design, ions can effectively move around the quantum computer and ‘talk’ to one another. Such all-to-all connectivity is important to unlock the true potential of quantum computing at the million-qubit scale.

This high connectivity may allow more efficient quantum error correction methods to be used. Practically this means fewer qubits can provide the same computational power.

Currently, trapped ion quantum computing also holds world records in almost all the important specifications, such as errors for single / two-qubit quantum gates, connectivity and decoherence time.