By the end of its FY2024 the Institute for Molecular Science (hereinafter “the IMS”), National Institutes of Natural Sciences of Japan plans to launch a start-up company to begin the development of “cold (neutral) atom” quantum computers.
The IMS has established a “Commercialization Preparatory Platform (PF)” geared for the future development of novel quantum computers. The PF formation was supported by Prof. Kenji Ohmori’s research group findings.
10 industry partners, companies and financial institutions helped collaborate the launch of the PF.
The PF partners include: blueqat Inc., Development Bank of Japan Inc., Fujitsu Limited, Groovenauts, Inc., Hamamatsu Photonics K.K., Hitachi, Ltd., and NEC Corporation.
Industry, academia, and governments around the world view the “cold (neutral) atom” modality as a revolutionary new method. Individual atoms as qubits is the technology behind the “cold (neutral) atom” modality which operates at room temperature and does not require refrigeration, the typical system necessary for superconducting qubit and silicon qubit modalities.
By incorporating intricate technical and core aspects, the Ohmori group at the IMS is developing the cold (neutral) atom quantum computers as elaborated in the following description:
The group has a number of technological advantages and core competencies, including “optical tweezers” and microscope technologies to control a large number of high-quality qubits on a flat surface, and “ultrafast two-qubit gates” that use an ultrafast laser to create a quantum entanglement between two qubits in just 6.5 nanoseconds.
In particular, the two-qubit gates represent an important core technology that enables the extraordinary computational speed of quantum computers. In 2022, the ultrafast two-qubit gates developed by the Ohmori group achieved a disruptive innovation that accelerates the two-qubit gates of the conventional cold (neutral) atom method by two orders of magnitude at once.
