A senior vice president at IonQ recently revealed some technical details about the IonQ Tempo quantum system: Tempo will be IonQ's first system to use the reconfigurable multi-core quantum architecture (RMQA), and it will also be their first commercial quantum system to leverage barium ion qubits.

According to Korean media reports, KT successfully implemented wireless quantum encryption over 1-kilometer and 2-kilometer distances in 2022 and 2023 respectively using its independently developed wireless quantum key distribution technology, and is currently pursuing the development of 10-kilometer transmission technology, the longest distance in Korea yet.

Recently, British quantum sensing technology developer QLM announced the appointment of Robby Vaughn as its Head of Business Development, Energy, Americas. QLM said that Robby, who has held technical roles in Upstream Oil and Gas, brings 20+ years of industry experience and expertise in natural gas measurement and quantification, which will create value for the company and its customers.

According to media reports, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) of Japan will collaborate with IBM to develop the next-generation quantum computers, aiming to develop a quantum computer with 10,000 quantum bits, expected to be operational by 2029. AIST and IBM are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding, with an announcement of this collaboration anticipated in the coming days.  This will mark the first time IBM has tied up with a foreign research institution in quantum computing at such a large scale.

There are more than 60 quantum companies in Canada and around eight of them are based in B.C. This includes world-leading firms such as D-Wave Systems, the world’s first company to offer commercial quantum computing services, and Photonic Inc., which raised US$100 million from investors including Microsoft last year. B.C. is also home to 1Qbit, the first dedicated quantum software company, and BTQ Technologies Corp., which provides quantum resistance, security and encryption solutions.

The first Bluefors systems with their new generation 2 Gas Handling Systems have been installed at the Niels Bohr Institute of the University of Copenhagen. These XLDsl Dilution Refrigerator systems will be used by the Superconducting Quantum Information Devices Lab to support the group’s work developing state-of-the-art superconducting circuits and qubits to explore quantum information physics.

Heidi Shyu, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, recently visited  IQM Quantum Computers in Espoo, Finland. During her visit, she observed the company's advancements in building quantum computers and processors, toured IQM’s state-of-the-art fabrication and cryogenic characterization facility dedicated to quantum processors, and met with some executives from IQM and Bluefors.

In the past two years, IBM has set up five quantum working groups with its partners to promote the development of quantum algorithms in five areas with the potential for quantum utility, including healthcare & life sciences, material science, high-energy physics, and optimization, besides the newly launched Quantum Working Group for Sustainable Development this month.

Quantic Electronics, part of Arcline Investment Management, has acquired M-Wave Design. M-Wave produces radio frequency and microwave components for aerospace, defense, and quantum computing. Their products include passive waveguide and coaxial components that operate at cryogenic temperatures and support high power, low loss designs.

Infleqtion announced that its neutral atom quantum computing Sqorpius platform’s Controlled-Z (CZ) gate fidelity reached an impressive 98.8%±0.2%. Additionally, Infleqtion employs a non-destructive measurement process that helps identify leakage-type errors. By post-selecting for the absence of these errors, the CZ fidelity measurement was further boosted to 99.5%±0.2%.

Bluefors released the Cryomech HeRL02-RM – a new Helium Reliquefier designed specifically for helium recovery from a single Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) instrument. By recycling the existing helium in the system, the HeRL02-RM safeguards users against helium supply issues and insulates against helium price fluctuations.

In January, Azure Quantum and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) researchers shared how HPC and AI were used to accelerate the scientific discovery of new energy storage solutions. Together, the teams discovered and synthesized a new electrolyte material candidate that showed potential for resource-efficient batteries. In less than nine months, the team built a battery proof of concept with the new electrolyte, which uses 70% less lithium than electrolytes in existing lithium-ion batteries. Although further optimization is required to improve conductivity, this accomplishment demonstrates the start of an R&D paradigm shift that will empower researchers to solve the most challenging chemistry and materials science problems quickly with AI and HPC, providing substantial environmental and economic benefits.