IonQ explained

IonQ
Type:Public
Location:College Park, Maryland
Founders:Christopher Monroe, Jungsang Kim
Key People:Peter Chapman
(President and CEO)
Industry:Quantum computing
Products:Trapped ion quantum computation

IonQ is a quantum computing hardware and software company based in College Park, Maryland. They are developing a general-purpose trapped ion quantum computer and software to generate, optimize, and execute quantum circuits.

History

IonQ was co-founded by Christopher Monroe and Jungsang Kim, professors at Duke University,[1] in 2015,[2] with the help of Harry Weller and Andrew Schoen, partners at venture firm New Enterprise Associates.[3]

The company is an offshoot of the co-founders’ 25 years of academic research in quantum information science.[2] Monroe's quantum computing research began as a Staff Researcher at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) with Nobel-laureate physicist David Wineland[4] where he led a team using trapped ions to produce the first controllable qubits and the first controllable quantum logic gate,[5] culminating in a proposed architecture for a large-scale trapped ion computer.[6]

Kim and Monroe began collaborating formally as a result of larger research initiatives funded by the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA).[7] They wrote a review paper[7] for Science Magazine entitled Scaling the Ion Trap Quantum Processor,[8] pairing Monroe's research in trapped ions with Kim’s focus on scalable quantum information processing and quantum communication hardware.[9]

This research partnership became the seed for IonQ’s founding. In 2015, New Enterprise Associates invested $2 million to commercialize the technology Monroe and Kim proposed in their Science paper.[3]

In 2016, they brought on David Moehring from IARPA—where he was in charge of several quantum computing initiatives[10] —to be the company’s chief executive.[2] In 2017, they raised a $20 million series B, led by GV (formerly Google Ventures) and New Enterprise Associates, the first investment GV has made in quantum computing technology.[11] They began hiring in earnest in 2017,[12] with the intent to bring an offering to market by late 2018.[2] [13] In May 2019, former Amazon Prime executive Peter Chapman was named new CEO of the company.[14] IonQ then partnered to make its quantum computers available to the public through Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.[15] [16] [17]

In October 2021, IonQ became publicly listed on the New York Stock Exchange via a special-purpose acquisition company.[18] [19] The company opened a dedicated research and development facility in Bothell, Washington, in February 2024, touting it as the first quantum computing factory in the United States.[20]

Technology

See also: Trapped ion quantum computer.

IonQ’s hardware is based on a trapped ion architecture, from technology that Monroe developed at the University of Maryland, and that Kim developed at Duke.[11]

In November 2017, IonQ presented a paper at the IEEE International Conference on Rebooting Computing describing their technology strategy and current progress. It outlines using a microfabricated ion trap and several optical and acousto-optical systems to cool, initialize, and calculate. They also describe a cloud API, custom language bindings, and quantum computing simulators that take advantage of their trapped ion system's complete connectivity[21]

IonQ and some experts claim that trapped ions could provide a number of benefits over other physical qubit types in several measures, such as accuracy, scalability, predictability, and coherence time.[22] [2] [23] Others criticize the slow operational times and relative size of trapped ion hardware, claiming other qubit technologies are just as promising.[22]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Jungsang Kim - Department of Physics. phy.duke.edu.
  2. News: Venture Firms Back Startup with Novel Twist on Quantum Computing. Sara. Castellanos. Wall Street Journal . 26 July 2017.
  3. Web site: Start-up IonQ sees opportunity in still-developing area of quantum computers. Aaron. Gregg. 1 January 2017. www.washingtonpost.com.
  4. Popkin . Gabriel . Scientists are close to building a quantum computer that can beat a conventional one . Science . 1 December 2016 . 10.1126/science.aal0442 .
  5. Web site: Quantum Computing with Ions [Re-Post]]. .
  6. Kielpinski . D. . Monroe . C. . Wineland . D. J. . Architecture for a large-scale ion-trap quantum computer . Nature . June 2002 . 417 . 6890 . 709–711 . 10.1038/nature00784 . 12066177 . 2002Natur.417..709K . 2027.42/62880 . 4347109 . free .
  7. Web site: The future of ion traps. 7 March 2013.
  8. Monroe . C. . Kim . J. . Scaling the Ion Trap Quantum Processor . Science . 7 March 2013 . 339 . 6124 . 1164–1169 . 10.1126/science.1231298 . 23471398 . 2013Sci...339.1164M . 206545831 .
  9. Web site: Welcome to Prof. Jungsang Kim's MIST Research Group - Multifunctional Integrated Systems Technology. mist.pratt.duke.edu.
  10. Web site: Quantum Leaps - Trajectory Magazine. 3 August 2016.
  11. Web site: IonQ Raises $20M Series B Round Led By NEA, GV To Advance Quantum Computing For Commercial Applications. IonQ. www.prnewswire.com.
  12. Quantum computers ready to leap out of the lab in 2017. Davide. Castelvecchi. 3 January 2017. Nature. 541. 7635. 9–10. 10.1038/541009a. 28054624. 2017Natur.541....9C. free.
  13. Web site: Building a Quantum Computer: David Moehring, IonQ. BlueYard Capital. 8 September 2017. YouTube.
  14. Web site: Amazon Prime Boss Named CEO of Google-Backed Quantum Computing Startup. 21 May 2019. 19 February 2020 . Robert . Hacket . www.fortune.com .
  15. Web site: Amazon's Cloud Unit to Offer Quantum Computing From 3 Tech Companies . 13 August 2020. 11 March 2021 . Sara . Castellanos . www.wsj.com .
  16. Web site: Microsoft's Azure Quantum platform is now in public preview . 1 February 2021. 11 March 2021 . Frederic . Lardinois . www.techcrunch.com .
  17. Web site: Expanding access to quantum today for a better tomorrow. 17 June 2021. Kevin. Kissell.
  18. Web site: Quantum-Computing Startup IonQ Plans Public Debut in $2 Billion SPAC Merger. 8 March 2021. 12 March 2021 . Sara . Castellanos . www.wsj.com .
  19. Web site: IonQ Becomes First Publicly Traded, Pure-Play Quantum Computing Company; Closes Business Combination with dMY Technology Group III. 1 October 2021. 13 October 2021. finance.yahoo.com.
  20. News: Podsada . Janice . February 16, 2024 . Nation's first quantum computing manufacturing plant opens in Bothell . . May 7, 2024.
  21. Reconfigurable and Programmable Ion Trap Quantum Computer - IEEE Conference Publication. 10.1109/ICRC.2017.8123665. 5942415 .
  22. Quantum Connections. Christopher R.. Monroe. Robert J.. Schoelkopf. Mikhail D.. Lukin. 19 April 2016. Scientific American. 314. 5. 50–57. 10.1038/scientificamerican0516-50. 27100255. 2016SciAm.314e..50M.
  23. Web site: The Long-Awaited Promise of a Programmable Quantum Computer. Emerging Technology from the arXiv.