WEBVTT 1 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:11.359 - Hello, and welcome to the Physics World weekly 2 00:00:11.359 --> 00:00:11.859 - podcast. 3 00:00:13.174 --> 00:00:15.974 - I'm Hamish Johnston, and my guest in this 4 00:00:15.974 --> 00:00:16.474 - episode 5 00:00:16.774 --> 00:00:17.754 - is Yonatan 6 00:00:18.054 --> 00:00:18.554 - Cohen, 7 00:00:18.934 --> 00:00:19.994 - who is cofounder 8 00:00:20.375 --> 00:00:21.754 - and chief technology 9 00:00:22.134 --> 00:00:22.634 - officer 10 00:00:23.094 --> 00:00:24.474 - of Quantum Machines. 11 00:00:25.589 --> 00:00:28.969 - The company was started in Israel in 2018, 12 00:00:29.350 --> 00:00:30.890 - and it now has facilities 13 00:00:31.429 --> 00:00:31.929 - worldwide. 14 00:00:32.869 --> 00:00:34.489 - As Yonatan explains, 15 00:00:35.109 --> 00:00:37.850 - Quantum Machines develops control systems 16 00:00:38.355 --> 00:00:39.575 - for quantum computers, 17 00:00:40.195 --> 00:00:43.975 - providing a link between the quantum and classical 18 00:00:44.274 --> 00:00:44.774 - worlds. 19 00:00:53.370 --> 00:00:54.270 - Hi, Yonatan. 20 00:00:54.729 --> 00:00:55.950 - Welcome to the podcast. 21 00:00:56.969 --> 00:00:58.990 - Hi, Hamish. Thanks for having me. 22 00:00:59.690 --> 00:01:02.510 - So, Yonatan, can you give us a brief 23 00:01:02.570 --> 00:01:04.109 - introduction to the company? 24 00:01:04.810 --> 00:01:07.564 - When was it founded? How many employees do 25 00:01:07.564 --> 00:01:10.704 - you have? And what's the main business focus? 26 00:01:12.525 --> 00:01:14.305 - Yeah. So at Quantum Machines, 27 00:01:14.605 --> 00:01:17.965 - we are focused on, accelerating the realization of 28 00:01:17.965 --> 00:01:19.265 - useful quantum computers 29 00:01:19.780 --> 00:01:20.519 - by providing, 30 00:01:22.659 --> 00:01:25.719 - the control systems for quantum computers. 31 00:01:26.019 --> 00:01:28.899 - We're providing control systems for many, many different 32 00:01:28.899 --> 00:01:30.680 - players in the quantum industry. 33 00:01:31.299 --> 00:01:32.659 - The control system is the, 34 00:01:33.305 --> 00:01:35.305 - one of the core elements of a quantum 35 00:01:35.305 --> 00:01:38.105 - computer. It's a system it's a classical system, 36 00:01:38.105 --> 00:01:40.504 - not the quantum system, but the classical system 37 00:01:40.504 --> 00:01:42.444 - that operates the quantum hardware, 38 00:01:42.984 --> 00:01:46.105 - and orchestrates the the quantum operations that that 39 00:01:46.105 --> 00:01:47.885 - we perform on the quantum hardware. 40 00:01:48.430 --> 00:01:50.369 - We were founded in 2018. 41 00:01:51.150 --> 00:01:52.369 - We're three founders, 42 00:01:53.229 --> 00:01:53.729 - physicists. 43 00:01:55.150 --> 00:01:56.450 - We all did our PhDs, 44 00:01:56.909 --> 00:01:58.909 - together in the same lab at the Weizmann 45 00:01:58.909 --> 00:02:00.369 - Institute, in Israel. 46 00:02:00.834 --> 00:02:01.334 - And, 47 00:02:01.875 --> 00:02:02.194 - and, 48 00:02:02.915 --> 00:02:04.375 - yeah. And today, we are, 49 00:02:05.075 --> 00:02:06.854 - almost more than 300 people, 50 00:02:07.474 --> 00:02:10.775 - around the world. We're spreading over, 21 countries, 51 00:02:11.555 --> 00:02:14.754 - and we, have, more than 500 customers around 52 00:02:14.754 --> 00:02:16.789 - the world using our products. And, 53 00:02:18.289 --> 00:02:19.590 - yeah, it's very exciting. 54 00:02:20.530 --> 00:02:22.789 - And and why is it important to 55 00:02:23.169 --> 00:02:25.109 - integrate quantum and 56 00:02:25.489 --> 00:02:26.549 - classical systems? 57 00:02:28.449 --> 00:02:29.729 - Why do you have to do that to 58 00:02:29.729 --> 00:02:30.469 - do effective 59 00:02:30.885 --> 00:02:33.205 - quantum computing? And and what are some of 60 00:02:33.205 --> 00:02:34.665 - the challenges involved? 61 00:02:36.165 --> 00:02:37.625 - Yeah. So to begin with, 62 00:02:38.004 --> 00:02:39.224 - you know, we are classical 63 00:02:39.685 --> 00:02:40.185 - beings. 64 00:02:40.645 --> 00:02:42.485 - We live in the classical world, and we 65 00:02:42.485 --> 00:02:44.105 - need something to that bridges, 66 00:02:44.560 --> 00:02:46.419 - you know, our classical language, 67 00:02:47.199 --> 00:02:49.539 - and controls quantum quantum 68 00:02:50.000 --> 00:02:52.879 - hardware, at the quantum level. So that's that's 69 00:02:52.879 --> 00:02:55.439 - the main task of the control systems. Again, 70 00:02:55.439 --> 00:02:56.819 - it's a classical system 71 00:02:57.305 --> 00:02:59.944 - that but that interfaces the quantum hardware. So 72 00:02:59.944 --> 00:03:02.905 - it's really sits in this interface between quantum 73 00:03:02.905 --> 00:03:05.305 - and the the quantum hardware and the the 74 00:03:05.305 --> 00:03:06.284 - classical world. 75 00:03:06.905 --> 00:03:09.405 - So that's the first thing. But besides that, 76 00:03:09.784 --> 00:03:12.284 - it's very important these days to also connect 77 00:03:12.540 --> 00:03:13.439 - quantum processing, 78 00:03:14.300 --> 00:03:15.760 - with classical processing, 79 00:03:16.780 --> 00:03:19.500 - because almost everything we do on a quantum 80 00:03:19.500 --> 00:03:22.300 - computer involves some classical processing as well. So 81 00:03:22.300 --> 00:03:23.599 - it it starts from, 82 00:03:24.139 --> 00:03:26.835 - you know, bringing up, booting the quantum computer 83 00:03:26.835 --> 00:03:28.455 - where we run a sequence of 84 00:03:28.835 --> 00:03:30.995 - quantum programs, but then we take some data 85 00:03:30.995 --> 00:03:32.995 - from the quantum processor, and then we analyze 86 00:03:32.995 --> 00:03:34.375 - it on classical processors, 87 00:03:34.754 --> 00:03:36.935 - CPUs, GPUs, etcetera, to extract, 88 00:03:38.290 --> 00:03:39.030 - the parameters, 89 00:03:40.290 --> 00:03:43.010 - of of of the quantum system. And based 90 00:03:43.010 --> 00:03:45.650 - on that, we, we call it calibration of 91 00:03:45.650 --> 00:03:48.210 - the quantum computer. So we calibrate the quantum 92 00:03:48.210 --> 00:03:50.745 - computer. So all the way from calibrations 93 00:03:51.205 --> 00:03:53.784 - through then you have, things like error correction, 94 00:03:54.324 --> 00:03:56.745 - where you take data from the quantum processor 95 00:03:56.805 --> 00:03:59.364 - in real time, and then you, crunch the 96 00:03:59.364 --> 00:04:01.384 - numbers on the on the classical processor 97 00:04:02.485 --> 00:04:03.944 - to decode the errors, 98 00:04:04.800 --> 00:04:06.800 - and understand what what errors you have on 99 00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:07.860 - your quantum hardware, 100 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:10.560 - in your quantum algorithm and fix them. And 101 00:04:10.560 --> 00:04:12.479 - all the way up to applications where at 102 00:04:12.479 --> 00:04:13.060 - the end, 103 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:17.519 - many of the applications are hybrid applications by 104 00:04:17.519 --> 00:04:20.055 - themselves where the quantum processor only does, 105 00:04:21.014 --> 00:04:21.754 - a subtask, 106 00:04:23.495 --> 00:04:26.214 - sub subtask in the entire quantum application or 107 00:04:26.214 --> 00:04:27.514 - quantum classical application, 108 00:04:27.975 --> 00:04:30.454 - we should say. So everywhere from you see 109 00:04:30.454 --> 00:04:32.615 - from the calibration through the error equation all 110 00:04:32.615 --> 00:04:33.834 - the way up to the applications, 111 00:04:34.294 --> 00:04:37.060 - we need this kind of integration between quantum 112 00:04:37.060 --> 00:04:39.060 - and classical processing. We need to do some 113 00:04:39.060 --> 00:04:39.879 - quantum processing, 114 00:04:40.419 --> 00:04:42.339 - and then the results go to a classical 115 00:04:42.339 --> 00:04:44.500 - processor. We do some classical processing, and then 116 00:04:44.500 --> 00:04:46.579 - the result go again to the quantum processor. 117 00:04:46.579 --> 00:04:49.639 - So this interleaving of quantum and classical processing, 118 00:04:50.254 --> 00:04:51.615 - we see it all over the stack. So 119 00:04:51.615 --> 00:04:53.475 - it's very important to integrate 120 00:04:54.495 --> 00:04:54.995 - correctly, 121 00:04:55.894 --> 00:04:56.514 - these two, 122 00:04:57.535 --> 00:05:00.115 - different types of of, compute resources 123 00:05:00.574 --> 00:05:02.115 - in a way that we can orchestrate, 124 00:05:02.735 --> 00:05:03.235 - workflows, 125 00:05:04.279 --> 00:05:07.319 - of these quantum and classical processing tasks, 126 00:05:07.800 --> 00:05:08.620 - on the system. 127 00:05:09.480 --> 00:05:11.800 - And and I would imagine that there's there's 128 00:05:11.800 --> 00:05:14.040 - some big challenges here. I mean, I'm I'm 129 00:05:14.040 --> 00:05:16.120 - assuming one of the biggest challenges is the 130 00:05:16.120 --> 00:05:16.939 - fact that 131 00:05:17.605 --> 00:05:18.105 - quantum, 132 00:05:18.564 --> 00:05:21.444 - a quantum processor is a very delicate thing. 133 00:05:21.444 --> 00:05:23.285 - You know, it could be, you know, for 134 00:05:23.285 --> 00:05:24.824 - example, based on superconductors 135 00:05:25.204 --> 00:05:28.805 - that are cooled to near absolute zero. And, 136 00:05:28.805 --> 00:05:29.305 - actually, 137 00:05:29.910 --> 00:05:32.710 - just connecting to those things and getting the 138 00:05:32.710 --> 00:05:34.330 - information in and out 139 00:05:34.710 --> 00:05:36.889 - in an efficient way is 140 00:05:37.830 --> 00:05:39.430 - is is a big challenge. I mean, is 141 00:05:39.430 --> 00:05:41.509 - that something that you spend a lot of 142 00:05:41.509 --> 00:05:42.009 - time 143 00:05:42.324 --> 00:05:44.745 - thinking about? Or or are there other 144 00:05:45.285 --> 00:05:45.785 - important, 145 00:05:46.645 --> 00:05:47.865 - factors as well? 146 00:05:48.964 --> 00:05:51.925 - No. That's absolutely right. That's the first, that's 147 00:05:51.925 --> 00:05:54.500 - that's what we call the the analog front 148 00:05:54.500 --> 00:05:56.439 - end or sometimes we call it the quantum 149 00:05:56.579 --> 00:05:58.819 - the QPU front end. The front end of 150 00:05:58.819 --> 00:05:59.639 - our system, 151 00:06:00.339 --> 00:06:03.220 - where it integrates with the quantum system, that's 152 00:06:03.220 --> 00:06:04.839 - one of our our, main, 153 00:06:05.220 --> 00:06:05.800 - main, technology 154 00:06:06.500 --> 00:06:08.439 - developments and and main challenges. 155 00:06:08.854 --> 00:06:10.294 - And as you said, like, this is where 156 00:06:10.294 --> 00:06:11.274 - we really produce, 157 00:06:11.735 --> 00:06:13.035 - very delicate signals. 158 00:06:13.415 --> 00:06:15.415 - They need to be very clean signals. They're 159 00:06:15.415 --> 00:06:17.975 - still classical signals, but once they interact with 160 00:06:17.975 --> 00:06:18.714 - the qubits, 161 00:06:19.095 --> 00:06:21.514 - or the quantum elements on the quantum processor, 162 00:06:21.860 --> 00:06:23.939 - then they perform these quantum operations. And if 163 00:06:23.939 --> 00:06:24.600 - the signals 164 00:06:25.060 --> 00:06:27.079 - that our control system produces, 165 00:06:27.779 --> 00:06:29.240 - are not clean enough, 166 00:06:30.740 --> 00:06:33.779 - and, not shaped correctly, and and and the 167 00:06:33.779 --> 00:06:35.319 - noise level is too high, 168 00:06:36.345 --> 00:06:38.845 - then you then the basic quantum operations, 169 00:06:39.384 --> 00:06:41.225 - are not accurate enough. We call it the 170 00:06:41.225 --> 00:06:43.464 - fidelity of the operation. So the fidelity of 171 00:06:43.464 --> 00:06:44.525 - our quantum operations 172 00:06:45.064 --> 00:06:46.925 - would, could be actually affected 173 00:06:47.384 --> 00:06:49.464 - by the control system if the control system 174 00:06:49.464 --> 00:06:50.365 - is not designed, 175 00:06:50.769 --> 00:06:51.269 - correctly. 176 00:06:51.970 --> 00:06:53.970 - So and the same in the readout, you 177 00:06:53.970 --> 00:06:56.449 - mentioned, you know, both getting data in into 178 00:06:56.449 --> 00:06:58.769 - our qubits and then taking data back from 179 00:06:58.769 --> 00:07:00.290 - the qubits. How do we how do you 180 00:07:00.290 --> 00:07:01.269 - perform the readout 181 00:07:01.649 --> 00:07:02.629 - of your qubits? 182 00:07:03.165 --> 00:07:04.384 - How do you measure them, 183 00:07:05.004 --> 00:07:07.564 - with, the least amount of interference with your 184 00:07:07.564 --> 00:07:08.625 - quantum processor? 185 00:07:09.084 --> 00:07:11.345 - Again, you need to, have a very, 186 00:07:11.964 --> 00:07:12.845 - well thought of, 187 00:07:13.725 --> 00:07:15.105 - front end of the system. 188 00:07:15.644 --> 00:07:16.384 - And this 189 00:07:16.764 --> 00:07:18.509 - has has a lot to do with, 190 00:07:19.870 --> 00:07:22.050 - you know, generating and also, 191 00:07:23.310 --> 00:07:24.670 - acquiring and and and, 192 00:07:25.230 --> 00:07:26.129 - analog signals. 193 00:07:26.670 --> 00:07:28.189 - So this is the way we call it 194 00:07:28.189 --> 00:07:30.350 - the analog front end. So that's one big 195 00:07:30.350 --> 00:07:33.074 - challenge that we face. And, also, that challenge 196 00:07:33.134 --> 00:07:35.375 - becomes, like, 10 times harder, a 100 times 197 00:07:35.375 --> 00:07:38.495 - harder as you scale. Because today, you also 198 00:07:38.495 --> 00:07:40.754 - wanna scale the quantum hardware. 199 00:07:41.134 --> 00:07:43.294 - So, also, the analog front end of the 200 00:07:43.294 --> 00:07:45.474 - control system needs to scale dramatically. 201 00:07:46.009 --> 00:07:47.610 - And so not only are we trying to 202 00:07:47.610 --> 00:07:50.009 - generate very, very clean signals, we're trying to 203 00:07:50.009 --> 00:07:52.649 - generate many, many, many of these signals. And 204 00:07:52.649 --> 00:07:54.889 - you you wanna lower the cost per quick 205 00:07:54.889 --> 00:07:57.470 - qubit control. You wanna lower the power consumption 206 00:07:57.689 --> 00:08:00.350 - per qubit control. You wanna, lower the size 207 00:08:00.410 --> 00:08:01.470 - per qubit control. 208 00:08:01.814 --> 00:08:03.735 - All the, you know, things that you always, 209 00:08:04.055 --> 00:08:05.915 - do when you scale up a a technology, 210 00:08:06.455 --> 00:08:08.134 - while at the same time, you have to 211 00:08:08.134 --> 00:08:08.634 - keep, 212 00:08:09.334 --> 00:08:11.915 - producing very, very accurate signals. 213 00:08:12.855 --> 00:08:14.154 - So that's a big challenge. 214 00:08:15.180 --> 00:08:16.800 - Other than that, there are other challenges. 215 00:08:17.419 --> 00:08:19.979 - For example, how do you connect that control 216 00:08:19.979 --> 00:08:20.479 - system, 217 00:08:20.939 --> 00:08:22.000 - again, with classical, 218 00:08:22.699 --> 00:08:24.399 - high performance compute resources? 219 00:08:25.259 --> 00:08:26.720 - So how do you build the architecture 220 00:08:27.259 --> 00:08:29.504 - that the the chip that orchestrates 221 00:08:29.884 --> 00:08:32.845 - those analog pulses, analog signals that we send 222 00:08:32.845 --> 00:08:34.304 - to our quantum processor? 223 00:08:34.845 --> 00:08:36.225 - That chip needs to also, 224 00:08:36.845 --> 00:08:38.865 - communicate with classical processors. 225 00:08:39.404 --> 00:08:41.644 - What's the architecture of that chip? How do 226 00:08:41.644 --> 00:08:43.664 - we sequence those quantum operations? 227 00:08:44.250 --> 00:08:46.330 - How do we communicate with other, 228 00:08:46.970 --> 00:08:49.209 - compute resources in the in the in the 229 00:08:49.209 --> 00:08:50.029 - in the stack 230 00:08:50.570 --> 00:08:51.629 - in the right way? 231 00:08:52.009 --> 00:08:53.610 - As I mentioned, it will allow us to 232 00:08:53.610 --> 00:08:56.830 - orchestrate these these complex workflows. That's another, 233 00:08:57.210 --> 00:08:59.629 - whole, different channels challenge, 234 00:09:00.584 --> 00:09:02.664 - which is, so there are there are really 235 00:09:02.664 --> 00:09:04.424 - challenges across the stack. And then, of course, 236 00:09:04.424 --> 00:09:06.345 - you wanna create, like, good software on top 237 00:09:06.345 --> 00:09:08.904 - of it and good user experience because a 238 00:09:08.904 --> 00:09:10.985 - lot of a lot of what's happening in 239 00:09:10.985 --> 00:09:12.985 - the field is still, you know, of course, 240 00:09:12.985 --> 00:09:14.044 - research and development. 241 00:09:14.589 --> 00:09:17.089 - And it's very important that we bring, 242 00:09:17.710 --> 00:09:18.690 - you know, good, 243 00:09:19.789 --> 00:09:23.250 - good, user experience, what we call developer experience 244 00:09:24.190 --> 00:09:26.909 - to people that develop quantum computers to shorten 245 00:09:26.909 --> 00:09:28.210 - the r and d cycle 246 00:09:29.014 --> 00:09:30.715 - and give them a lot of flexibility. 247 00:09:31.495 --> 00:09:33.575 - Every day, there is a new paper to 248 00:09:33.654 --> 00:09:35.254 - we can do decoding this way. We can 249 00:09:35.254 --> 00:09:36.695 - do error correction this way. We can do 250 00:09:36.695 --> 00:09:39.654 - calibration that way. So keeping the the system 251 00:09:39.654 --> 00:09:40.875 - also very flexible, 252 00:09:41.990 --> 00:09:43.289 - is very, very important. 253 00:09:44.230 --> 00:09:45.370 - And and you understand, 254 00:09:45.830 --> 00:09:48.330 - my understanding is when you were doing academic 255 00:09:48.470 --> 00:09:49.850 - research, you were looking 256 00:09:50.470 --> 00:09:53.690 - at qubits. Did did you realize then that 257 00:09:53.830 --> 00:09:56.090 - when you were doing your research that there's 258 00:09:56.384 --> 00:09:58.785 - a gap in the market here? That, okay, 259 00:09:58.785 --> 00:10:01.684 - there's people trying to build really good qubits, 260 00:10:01.825 --> 00:10:05.665 - but maybe people weren't thinking too much about, 261 00:10:05.665 --> 00:10:07.925 - you know, the interface with the real world, 262 00:10:08.144 --> 00:10:10.165 - and that's where you and your colleagues 263 00:10:10.625 --> 00:10:11.684 - got your ideas 264 00:10:13.159 --> 00:10:15.639 - to to to form a company. Is is 265 00:10:15.639 --> 00:10:17.980 - that was that the the eureka moment? 266 00:10:19.639 --> 00:10:21.740 - Yeah. So, we are three founders, 267 00:10:22.600 --> 00:10:23.980 - and, one of us, 268 00:10:24.360 --> 00:10:25.820 - Nissim, my cofounder, 269 00:10:26.279 --> 00:10:28.375 - did his post doc at Yale. So he 270 00:10:28.375 --> 00:10:31.495 - actually finished his PhD a few years, before 271 00:10:31.495 --> 00:10:33.495 - Itamar and I, and he went to do 272 00:10:33.495 --> 00:10:34.714 - his postdoc at Yale, 273 00:10:35.815 --> 00:10:37.975 - with, probably, you know, the the sort of 274 00:10:37.975 --> 00:10:38.714 - most famous, 275 00:10:39.095 --> 00:10:39.595 - superconducting 276 00:10:39.975 --> 00:10:40.475 - qubits, 277 00:10:41.014 --> 00:10:41.514 - group 278 00:10:42.089 --> 00:10:42.990 - in in academia, 279 00:10:44.009 --> 00:10:46.490 - at Yale, with professor Rob Shulkov and and, 280 00:10:46.970 --> 00:10:49.370 - and professor Michel de Verere that just won 281 00:10:49.370 --> 00:10:51.709 - the Nobel Prize recently in physics. 282 00:10:52.570 --> 00:10:54.269 - And when he did his postdoc, 283 00:10:54.970 --> 00:10:56.684 - that's he worked on, 284 00:10:57.164 --> 00:10:58.865 - on the quantum error correction. 285 00:10:59.245 --> 00:11:00.384 - And he had to develop, 286 00:11:00.924 --> 00:11:03.184 - a lot of things in the control system 287 00:11:03.245 --> 00:11:05.745 - over there in order to be able to 288 00:11:05.804 --> 00:11:08.065 - enable this kind of experiments. So, 289 00:11:09.029 --> 00:11:10.490 - yes. When when when, 290 00:11:11.269 --> 00:11:12.250 - when we started, 291 00:11:13.029 --> 00:11:15.450 - when when when when we started searching, 292 00:11:15.830 --> 00:11:16.730 - for our startup, 293 00:11:17.750 --> 00:11:18.809 - Itamar and I, 294 00:11:19.350 --> 00:11:20.090 - who we, 295 00:11:20.629 --> 00:11:22.549 - we called Nissim at some point when we 296 00:11:22.549 --> 00:11:24.425 - start started focusing on quantum. 297 00:11:24.805 --> 00:11:27.285 - And then, we interviewed him, and we interviewed 298 00:11:27.524 --> 00:11:29.845 - we knew his work really well, but we 299 00:11:29.845 --> 00:11:32.165 - interviewed also him and what's what's happening in 300 00:11:32.165 --> 00:11:34.004 - the lab. And we interviewed other people that 301 00:11:34.004 --> 00:11:35.370 - that did similar works. 302 00:11:36.809 --> 00:11:38.909 - And then we, yes, we realized that, 303 00:11:39.610 --> 00:11:41.289 - not only do we sort of have a 304 00:11:41.289 --> 00:11:43.929 - sort of an unfair advantage because this really 305 00:11:43.929 --> 00:11:46.490 - brought a lot of knowledge in, the control 306 00:11:46.490 --> 00:11:46.990 - systems, 307 00:11:47.544 --> 00:11:48.044 - But, 308 00:11:48.504 --> 00:11:51.544 - also, we, we realized that, yes, there's going 309 00:11:51.544 --> 00:11:53.485 - to be a serious unmet need 310 00:11:54.024 --> 00:11:54.524 - for, 311 00:11:54.904 --> 00:11:58.205 - next generation control systems, for quantum control, 312 00:11:59.065 --> 00:12:00.845 - because people were using, 313 00:12:01.610 --> 00:12:04.089 - things that were not dedicated for quantum at 314 00:12:04.089 --> 00:12:04.830 - that time. 315 00:12:05.529 --> 00:12:07.529 - And even the ones who did who did 316 00:12:07.529 --> 00:12:08.750 - develop their own 317 00:12:09.209 --> 00:12:10.589 - quantum control systems, 318 00:12:11.289 --> 00:12:13.450 - were still basing it on on sort of 319 00:12:13.450 --> 00:12:16.355 - very simple architectures that we thought are not 320 00:12:16.355 --> 00:12:17.335 - going to give, 321 00:12:17.715 --> 00:12:18.215 - enough, 322 00:12:19.554 --> 00:12:21.955 - flexibility in what's needed in order to to 323 00:12:21.955 --> 00:12:24.595 - to build, for instance, quantum error correction or 324 00:12:24.595 --> 00:12:26.274 - other things that that would be needed in 325 00:12:26.274 --> 00:12:28.769 - the field. So, yes, we we that that 326 00:12:29.090 --> 00:12:31.009 - so it wasn't in our PhD, but it 327 00:12:31.009 --> 00:12:32.529 - was in in Nissim's postdoc, 328 00:12:33.009 --> 00:12:34.690 - based on on on what he did in 329 00:12:34.690 --> 00:12:36.690 - his postdoc. We that was the the the 330 00:12:36.690 --> 00:12:37.670 - beginning of 331 00:12:38.210 --> 00:12:38.769 - the the, 332 00:12:39.410 --> 00:12:42.465 - the understanding that that, that there is a 333 00:12:42.785 --> 00:12:45.425 - potential serious potential here to to to build 334 00:12:45.425 --> 00:12:47.504 - something which will be very valuable for the 335 00:12:47.504 --> 00:12:48.004 - community. 336 00:12:48.865 --> 00:12:51.665 - And you mentioned superconducting qubits, and I I 337 00:12:51.665 --> 00:12:52.404 - I think that's 338 00:12:52.785 --> 00:12:53.285 - mostly 339 00:12:54.225 --> 00:12:56.085 - what, quantum machines 340 00:12:56.625 --> 00:12:59.009 - works with. But there are other, you know, 341 00:12:59.009 --> 00:13:02.149 - sort of qubit designs. There's trapped ions, 342 00:13:02.850 --> 00:13:04.149 - spins in solids. 343 00:13:04.690 --> 00:13:05.090 - And, 344 00:13:06.049 --> 00:13:07.970 - I don't think it's clear which of these 345 00:13:07.970 --> 00:13:10.070 - qubit technologies will ultimately 346 00:13:11.009 --> 00:13:11.750 - be useful. 347 00:13:13.284 --> 00:13:15.544 - Does this make it difficult to develop 348 00:13:16.804 --> 00:13:18.584 - quantum classical integration 349 00:13:19.445 --> 00:13:21.784 - technologies, you know, looking to the future, 350 00:13:22.725 --> 00:13:24.985 - when, you know, you don't really know, 351 00:13:25.365 --> 00:13:27.625 - you know, ten, twenty years down the road, 352 00:13:27.764 --> 00:13:28.139 - which 353 00:13:28.779 --> 00:13:31.899 - qubits people will be working with? Or or 354 00:13:31.899 --> 00:13:33.279 - is there sort of a universal 355 00:13:33.980 --> 00:13:35.920 - nature to what you're developing 356 00:13:36.299 --> 00:13:38.320 - in terms of qubit technology? 357 00:13:39.820 --> 00:13:41.740 - Yeah. So that's a great question. So first 358 00:13:41.740 --> 00:13:43.820 - of all, at Quantum Machines, we are working 359 00:13:43.820 --> 00:13:44.115 - with 360 00:13:44.754 --> 00:13:45.654 - many different, 361 00:13:46.274 --> 00:13:46.774 - QPUs, 362 00:13:47.235 --> 00:13:49.634 - many different qubit types. We have customers in 363 00:13:49.634 --> 00:13:51.394 - in all of the qubit types that you 364 00:13:51.394 --> 00:13:53.794 - mentioned and actually more. So we work with 365 00:13:53.794 --> 00:13:56.754 - trapped ions, quantum computers. We work we, we 366 00:13:56.754 --> 00:13:57.254 - support 367 00:13:57.659 --> 00:14:00.459 - neutral atoms based quantum computers. We have many 368 00:14:00.459 --> 00:14:03.200 - customers in in neutral atoms based quantum computers, 369 00:14:04.299 --> 00:14:07.200 - superconducting qubits, as you mentioned, spin qubits, 370 00:14:08.700 --> 00:14:09.179 - and, 371 00:14:09.579 --> 00:14:12.459 - and and more and more, NVCenters and and 372 00:14:12.459 --> 00:14:13.279 - and others. 373 00:14:13.634 --> 00:14:14.134 - So, 374 00:14:14.675 --> 00:14:17.394 - yeah, when we started thinking about how we 375 00:14:17.394 --> 00:14:20.134 - wanna build our control system and our control, 376 00:14:20.675 --> 00:14:21.815 - solutions and platforms, 377 00:14:22.355 --> 00:14:24.035 - we, yeah, we we one of the goals 378 00:14:24.035 --> 00:14:26.375 - we set for ourselves is to provide solutions 379 00:14:26.434 --> 00:14:28.455 - to all of these different qubit types. 380 00:14:28.820 --> 00:14:30.419 - And as you said, it's it's not a 381 00:14:30.419 --> 00:14:34.179 - trivial, decision because, there are differences between those 382 00:14:34.179 --> 00:14:36.980 - qubit types. So there are obviously differences also 383 00:14:36.980 --> 00:14:38.200 - in the control system, 384 00:14:38.820 --> 00:14:39.320 - requirements, 385 00:14:39.860 --> 00:14:41.480 - from one qubit to another. 386 00:14:41.865 --> 00:14:43.565 - However, there are also a lot of commonalities. 387 00:14:44.585 --> 00:14:46.125 - And so we were able 388 00:14:46.585 --> 00:14:47.085 - with, 389 00:14:47.945 --> 00:14:48.605 - you know, 390 00:14:49.225 --> 00:14:50.924 - a single control platform, 391 00:14:52.345 --> 00:14:55.004 - that does have different features and different, 392 00:14:55.850 --> 00:14:58.410 - front end modules, for example, for different qubit 393 00:14:58.410 --> 00:15:01.070 - types, but still a single control platform 394 00:15:01.610 --> 00:15:03.929 - where I think at least 50% of the 395 00:15:03.929 --> 00:15:04.429 - development 396 00:15:04.809 --> 00:15:07.210 - is is common. At least 50% of the 397 00:15:07.210 --> 00:15:08.429 - platform is common, 398 00:15:09.615 --> 00:15:11.375 - to to different cubic, 399 00:15:11.774 --> 00:15:14.675 - types. We're able to to really provide solutions, 400 00:15:14.975 --> 00:15:17.055 - to all of this. So, yes, it cost 401 00:15:17.055 --> 00:15:19.455 - in extra development and extra effort, but I 402 00:15:19.455 --> 00:15:20.995 - think it also has huge, 403 00:15:21.455 --> 00:15:22.355 - huge advantage. 404 00:15:22.690 --> 00:15:24.389 - Besides the fact that we're not betting 405 00:15:24.769 --> 00:15:26.610 - on who's going to be the the winner 406 00:15:26.610 --> 00:15:27.110 - yet, 407 00:15:27.889 --> 00:15:30.050 - which is great from a business perspective at 408 00:15:30.050 --> 00:15:31.509 - this stage, I believe, because, 409 00:15:32.210 --> 00:15:34.050 - yeah, we don't know yet who's going to 410 00:15:34.050 --> 00:15:35.970 - be the the the definite winner or if 411 00:15:35.970 --> 00:15:37.570 - there is going to be even a definite 412 00:15:37.570 --> 00:15:38.054 - winner. 413 00:15:39.014 --> 00:15:40.855 - But besides that, I think that also there 414 00:15:40.855 --> 00:15:42.315 - is a lot of value in, 415 00:15:43.095 --> 00:15:44.955 - you know, even just, like, understanding 416 00:15:45.414 --> 00:15:47.335 - what should be common to all the qubits, 417 00:15:47.335 --> 00:15:49.274 - how to build such an architecture, 418 00:15:49.894 --> 00:15:52.534 - where are the interfaces that are agnostic, where 419 00:15:52.534 --> 00:15:54.269 - are the interfaces that are not 420 00:15:54.649 --> 00:15:56.350 - agnostic? And so on and so forth. 421 00:15:57.929 --> 00:15:59.870 - And at the end of the day, also, 422 00:16:00.250 --> 00:16:04.250 - everyone to everyone wants to eventually integrate those 423 00:16:04.250 --> 00:16:06.190 - different types of quantum processors 424 00:16:07.049 --> 00:16:09.070 - to the the general data center. 425 00:16:09.544 --> 00:16:12.264 - So by building a platform where, you know, 426 00:16:12.264 --> 00:16:13.245 - the the higher, 427 00:16:14.184 --> 00:16:16.444 - layers of of our stack are agnostic 428 00:16:16.824 --> 00:16:19.304 - sort of agnostic, and the lower layers of 429 00:16:19.304 --> 00:16:22.105 - our stack are less agnostic and more specific 430 00:16:22.105 --> 00:16:24.750 - per qubit type, We are actually creating this 431 00:16:24.750 --> 00:16:27.730 - bridge between all of these, different qubit types 432 00:16:28.029 --> 00:16:30.690 - to, how you can integrate with a single 433 00:16:30.750 --> 00:16:32.929 - control layer to, the general 434 00:16:33.309 --> 00:16:34.450 - data center. 435 00:16:35.789 --> 00:16:38.125 - And that's something that is is very I 436 00:16:38.125 --> 00:16:40.305 - think, would become very valuable in the fields. 437 00:16:40.365 --> 00:16:41.965 - Right? At the end of the day, when 438 00:16:41.965 --> 00:16:45.245 - you integrate quantum computers to high performance compute 439 00:16:45.245 --> 00:16:47.884 - centers or to the, you know, big data 440 00:16:47.884 --> 00:16:50.465 - centers, big cloud cloud providers, the infrastructure, 441 00:16:51.019 --> 00:16:52.940 - You would want to talk to them with 442 00:16:52.940 --> 00:16:54.779 - a single language from a single, 443 00:16:55.340 --> 00:16:55.840 - platform. 444 00:16:56.940 --> 00:16:59.019 - I see. And so, I mean, it almost 445 00:16:59.019 --> 00:16:59.759 - sounds like 446 00:17:00.220 --> 00:17:02.720 - your vision of the future is that 447 00:17:03.514 --> 00:17:05.595 - there there could be you know, we could 448 00:17:05.595 --> 00:17:08.714 - be using multiple qubit technologies. You know, for 449 00:17:08.714 --> 00:17:10.095 - example, we could be using 450 00:17:10.394 --> 00:17:12.414 - trapped ion qubits to solve 451 00:17:12.795 --> 00:17:14.815 - a certain part of a problem, whereas 452 00:17:15.220 --> 00:17:16.039 - maybe superconducting 453 00:17:16.340 --> 00:17:17.559 - qubits are better 454 00:17:17.940 --> 00:17:20.500 - at solving another part of that problem, and 455 00:17:20.500 --> 00:17:22.600 - I don't know, linear optical computing 456 00:17:23.220 --> 00:17:25.559 - can do something else. I mean, is 457 00:17:25.940 --> 00:17:26.500 - is that, 458 00:17:27.214 --> 00:17:28.755 - I mean, is that something that, 459 00:17:29.775 --> 00:17:31.775 - you know, that you see as as as 460 00:17:31.775 --> 00:17:33.315 - a possibility in the future? 461 00:17:33.934 --> 00:17:35.795 - Yeah. I think it's definitely a possibility. 462 00:17:36.815 --> 00:17:39.134 - There are people that are working on on 463 00:17:39.134 --> 00:17:40.994 - these types of of things, and, 464 00:17:42.130 --> 00:17:44.470 - yeah, it's it's it's it's definitely a possibility 465 00:17:44.930 --> 00:17:47.009 - that we would use different types of quantum 466 00:17:47.009 --> 00:17:47.490 - computers, 467 00:17:47.809 --> 00:17:48.690 - that would be, 468 00:17:49.329 --> 00:17:51.410 - each would be better at at at its 469 00:17:51.410 --> 00:17:52.150 - own tasks, 470 00:17:52.529 --> 00:17:54.690 - and we would need to integrate all of 471 00:17:54.690 --> 00:17:56.150 - them under a single umbrella. 472 00:17:56.535 --> 00:17:57.035 - Right? 473 00:17:57.494 --> 00:18:00.455 - Where users eventually they might not even know 474 00:18:00.455 --> 00:18:02.215 - that they are working on this or that 475 00:18:02.215 --> 00:18:03.035 - quantum computer, 476 00:18:04.134 --> 00:18:06.154 - and we need to build this entire stack 477 00:18:06.535 --> 00:18:08.695 - that can can really integrate to these different 478 00:18:08.695 --> 00:18:09.994 - types of of hardware. 479 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:12.019 - I see. 480 00:18:12.480 --> 00:18:15.039 - And and I wanted to talk, a bit 481 00:18:15.039 --> 00:18:18.660 - about, you know, sort of specific pro products, 482 00:18:19.759 --> 00:18:22.720 - from quantum machines. Early earlier this year, you 483 00:18:22.720 --> 00:18:23.220 - launched, 484 00:18:23.920 --> 00:18:24.660 - the open 485 00:18:24.960 --> 00:18:25.460 - acceleration 486 00:18:26.160 --> 00:18:26.660 - stack. 487 00:18:27.015 --> 00:18:29.654 - Can you describe this product and and talk 488 00:18:29.654 --> 00:18:31.275 - about how it's being used? 489 00:18:32.695 --> 00:18:35.575 - Yeah. So the open acceleration stack allows us 490 00:18:35.575 --> 00:18:36.714 - to connect 491 00:18:37.015 --> 00:18:40.075 - our control system, which essentially means to connect 492 00:18:40.880 --> 00:18:43.440 - all the QPUs, the quantum processors that we 493 00:18:43.440 --> 00:18:44.579 - are connected with, 494 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:46.819 - to classical accelerators 495 00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:48.980 - classical compute accelerators 496 00:18:49.599 --> 00:18:51.700 - with very, very low latency links, 497 00:18:52.559 --> 00:18:53.539 - with high bandwidth. 498 00:18:54.345 --> 00:18:54.845 - So, 499 00:18:55.944 --> 00:18:57.644 - whether it's an NVIDIA GPU 500 00:18:58.184 --> 00:18:59.644 - or an AMD FPGA 501 00:19:00.345 --> 00:19:02.684 - or an Intel CPU, etcetera, etcetera, 502 00:19:02.984 --> 00:19:04.285 - we can now connect 503 00:19:04.744 --> 00:19:06.605 - our control system to that accelerator 504 00:19:07.399 --> 00:19:09.099 - with microsecond latency, 505 00:19:10.119 --> 00:19:10.619 - links 506 00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:12.919 - so that we can communicate. So then the 507 00:19:12.919 --> 00:19:13.419 - QPU 508 00:19:13.880 --> 00:19:16.140 - and the GPU, for instance, can communicate 509 00:19:16.599 --> 00:19:19.000 - over this very low latency link, a high 510 00:19:19.000 --> 00:19:20.859 - bandwidth, and share information. 511 00:19:21.345 --> 00:19:23.424 - And as I mentioned, this is very important, 512 00:19:23.744 --> 00:19:26.224 - because we need to do this interleaving between 513 00:19:26.224 --> 00:19:27.924 - quantum and classical processing. 514 00:19:28.544 --> 00:19:30.785 - So now we can virtually connect to any 515 00:19:30.785 --> 00:19:31.765 - classical accelerator, 516 00:19:33.345 --> 00:19:36.390 - from the QPU side, And, and this gives 517 00:19:36.390 --> 00:19:38.069 - a lot of value to our customers. They're 518 00:19:38.069 --> 00:19:38.549 - building, 519 00:19:38.869 --> 00:19:42.569 - calibration workflows, error correction workflows, and eventually application 520 00:19:42.630 --> 00:19:43.130 - workflows 521 00:19:43.669 --> 00:19:45.289 - using these these hybrid systems. 522 00:19:46.549 --> 00:19:48.744 - I see. And and so is that is 523 00:19:48.744 --> 00:19:50.525 - that being used using, 524 00:19:51.705 --> 00:19:54.445 - a number of different types of of quantum 525 00:19:54.505 --> 00:19:55.005 - processor? 526 00:19:56.105 --> 00:19:58.045 - Yes. Definitely. We have customers, 527 00:19:59.224 --> 00:20:02.220 - with spin qubits, for example. Dirac is a 528 00:20:03.740 --> 00:20:05.200 - company from Australia 529 00:20:05.579 --> 00:20:07.819 - that is heavily using this kind of, low 530 00:20:07.819 --> 00:20:08.880 - latency links 531 00:20:09.339 --> 00:20:09.740 - to, 532 00:20:10.220 --> 00:20:13.759 - stabilize their quantum processors, calibrate their quantum processors, 533 00:20:14.220 --> 00:20:16.640 - and, again, later on do the error correction, 534 00:20:17.419 --> 00:20:20.674 - using this link between our control system and 535 00:20:20.674 --> 00:20:21.075 - the, 536 00:20:21.714 --> 00:20:22.855 - the the accelerators. 537 00:20:24.115 --> 00:20:26.454 - In the same way, we have superconducting qubits 538 00:20:26.514 --> 00:20:27.014 - and 539 00:20:27.315 --> 00:20:28.694 - neutral atom companies, 540 00:20:29.075 --> 00:20:30.210 - doing the same thing. 541 00:20:30.529 --> 00:20:31.809 - So so yes. 542 00:20:32.529 --> 00:20:35.429 - Again, each each Qubitab has slightly different requirements, 543 00:20:35.569 --> 00:20:37.970 - but, I think this part of the stack 544 00:20:37.970 --> 00:20:39.349 - is actually very general 545 00:20:39.890 --> 00:20:42.470 - to to a lot to to everyone. 546 00:20:44.234 --> 00:20:44.634 - And, 547 00:20:45.035 --> 00:20:47.914 - another announcement that you made, earlier this year 548 00:20:47.914 --> 00:20:49.214 - is that your OPX 549 00:20:49.835 --> 00:20:50.654 - 1,000 550 00:20:50.795 --> 00:20:52.654 - platform was used to control 551 00:20:53.194 --> 00:20:55.615 - a Rigetti nine qubit processor, 552 00:20:56.419 --> 00:20:59.079 - achieving a 99.5 553 00:20:59.460 --> 00:20:59.960 - median 554 00:21:00.419 --> 00:21:02.279 - two qubit gate fidelity. 555 00:21:03.140 --> 00:21:04.919 - Can can you explain the significance 556 00:21:05.460 --> 00:21:06.179 - of this, 557 00:21:06.500 --> 00:21:07.640 - specific achievement? 558 00:21:09.974 --> 00:21:13.195 - Yeah. So this is, a great example, 559 00:21:14.615 --> 00:21:15.015 - that, 560 00:21:15.575 --> 00:21:16.075 - shows 561 00:21:16.855 --> 00:21:19.275 - something which is quite new in the field. 562 00:21:19.654 --> 00:21:21.255 - You know, there's a lot of, 563 00:21:21.900 --> 00:21:23.500 - I mean, so so far in the field 564 00:21:23.500 --> 00:21:25.440 - that there is there's been a lot of, 565 00:21:25.660 --> 00:21:29.099 - vertical integration. Right? So which is very natural 566 00:21:29.099 --> 00:21:31.039 - at the beginning of of of a new 567 00:21:31.180 --> 00:21:32.960 - technological field. You have, 568 00:21:33.580 --> 00:21:34.960 - you know, companies doing 569 00:21:35.420 --> 00:21:35.920 - everything, 570 00:21:36.460 --> 00:21:39.244 - the entire stack and doing vertical integration, 571 00:21:40.424 --> 00:21:42.285 - before you start seeing more, 572 00:21:43.305 --> 00:21:44.205 - sort of horizontal 573 00:21:44.904 --> 00:21:45.404 - expertise 574 00:21:46.265 --> 00:21:48.205 - being developed, in the stack. 575 00:21:49.465 --> 00:21:49.965 - So, 576 00:21:50.809 --> 00:21:52.170 - it used to be, you know, that the 577 00:21:52.170 --> 00:21:54.349 - company does both the quantum processor 578 00:21:54.809 --> 00:21:55.710 - and the calibration 579 00:21:56.009 --> 00:21:58.890 - stack or maybe even the control system themselves 580 00:21:58.890 --> 00:22:01.130 - and then the calibration stack and then bringing 581 00:22:01.130 --> 00:22:02.890 - up the the qubits and seeing that that 582 00:22:02.890 --> 00:22:05.369 - that they can achieve high fidelity operations on 583 00:22:05.369 --> 00:22:06.029 - their quantum, 584 00:22:06.994 --> 00:22:08.214 - on their quantum processors. 585 00:22:09.875 --> 00:22:12.534 - And, this is an example where we we 586 00:22:12.595 --> 00:22:13.494 - we came in, 587 00:22:14.194 --> 00:22:15.095 - to a Rigetti, 588 00:22:15.554 --> 00:22:16.054 - QPU. 589 00:22:16.595 --> 00:22:19.315 - Rigetti is now providing their QPUs. They also 590 00:22:19.315 --> 00:22:20.994 - provide a full stack on the computer, but 591 00:22:20.994 --> 00:22:22.789 - they can also provide you with only the 592 00:22:22.789 --> 00:22:24.730 - QPU, only the quantum processor. 593 00:22:25.430 --> 00:22:27.049 - And so we show that 594 00:22:27.589 --> 00:22:29.830 - using our control system and actually also our 595 00:22:29.830 --> 00:22:31.130 - calibration stack, 596 00:22:31.430 --> 00:22:34.470 - you can achieve this high fidelity operations on 597 00:22:34.470 --> 00:22:37.164 - the Rigetti QPU. So showing that we can 598 00:22:37.164 --> 00:22:38.705 - do that by, taking, 599 00:22:39.164 --> 00:22:41.965 - components from, you know, different vendors, the QPU 600 00:22:41.965 --> 00:22:44.525 - from Rigetti, the control from QM, and the 601 00:22:44.525 --> 00:22:46.225 - the the calibrations from QM. 602 00:22:47.164 --> 00:22:49.085 - We can really achieve state of the art 603 00:22:49.085 --> 00:22:49.585 - fidelities, 604 00:22:50.660 --> 00:22:53.059 - that shows that the the the now we're 605 00:22:53.059 --> 00:22:55.539 - really getting into this place where things are 606 00:22:55.539 --> 00:22:57.240 - starting to become more standardized. 607 00:22:57.859 --> 00:22:59.559 - You can really build this horizontal, 608 00:23:00.179 --> 00:23:00.679 - expertise 609 00:23:01.059 --> 00:23:03.875 - and, and and and and build a a 610 00:23:03.875 --> 00:23:04.914 - more, rich, 611 00:23:05.315 --> 00:23:05.815 - ecosystem 612 00:23:06.434 --> 00:23:07.174 - of players 613 00:23:07.795 --> 00:23:09.894 - focusing on different parts of the stack. 614 00:23:11.154 --> 00:23:13.015 - You you've mentioned two collaborative 615 00:23:13.315 --> 00:23:13.815 - projects, 616 00:23:14.275 --> 00:23:16.615 - that Quantum Machines is involved with. 617 00:23:17.210 --> 00:23:18.910 - Can you can you talk about, 618 00:23:19.529 --> 00:23:21.390 - what what else you're doing worldwide? 619 00:23:25.049 --> 00:23:27.630 - Well, we're doing a lot of different things. 620 00:23:27.690 --> 00:23:28.190 - We 621 00:23:30.214 --> 00:23:32.695 - have many, many different partnerships. We run here 622 00:23:32.695 --> 00:23:35.414 - the Israeli Quantum Computing Center in, in Tel 623 00:23:35.414 --> 00:23:38.695 - Aviv, which, by itself is hosting different chips 624 00:23:38.695 --> 00:23:40.795 - from around the world. We have a collaboration, 625 00:23:40.855 --> 00:23:42.154 - for instance, with Colab. 626 00:23:42.470 --> 00:23:43.289 - It's a startup, 627 00:23:43.809 --> 00:23:45.849 - from The US, that, 628 00:23:46.390 --> 00:23:48.070 - what like, the the the one of the 629 00:23:48.070 --> 00:23:50.410 - founders there is John Martinez, who's, 630 00:23:50.950 --> 00:23:52.890 - also one of the Nobel Prize laureates, 631 00:23:53.430 --> 00:23:54.089 - in physics, 632 00:23:54.710 --> 00:23:57.295 - from, you know, '25. And I 633 00:23:57.695 --> 00:23:59.075 - we've been working very, 634 00:23:59.455 --> 00:24:01.154 - closely with John to, 635 00:24:02.015 --> 00:24:04.575 - we we're hosting the the collab chips in 636 00:24:04.575 --> 00:24:07.955 - our our Israeli Quantum Computing Center here, demonstrating 637 00:24:08.095 --> 00:24:10.195 - different types of hybrid quantum classical 638 00:24:14.779 --> 00:24:16.640 - applications on on that chip. 639 00:24:17.500 --> 00:24:18.000 - We, 640 00:24:18.779 --> 00:24:21.039 - have, of course, our collaboration with with NVIDIA 641 00:24:21.179 --> 00:24:23.419 - where we, for the first time, created these 642 00:24:23.419 --> 00:24:25.845 - low latency links between the the control system 643 00:24:25.845 --> 00:24:27.384 - and the NVIDIA GPUs. 644 00:24:28.164 --> 00:24:31.045 - We're working now with AMD, integrating with their, 645 00:24:31.365 --> 00:24:31.865 - FPGAs. 646 00:24:32.565 --> 00:24:33.684 - We're working with, 647 00:24:34.085 --> 00:24:35.765 - with many other partners on this, 648 00:24:36.964 --> 00:24:38.664 - quantum classical hybridization, 649 00:24:39.445 --> 00:24:40.585 - part of the stack. 650 00:24:41.700 --> 00:24:42.200 - So, 651 00:24:43.220 --> 00:24:45.319 - yeah, it's kind of across the board. 652 00:24:46.579 --> 00:24:49.799 - Quantum Machines has recently acquired the Dutch company 653 00:24:50.019 --> 00:24:50.519 - QHarbor, 654 00:24:51.140 --> 00:24:54.039 - which has developed a data storage and visualization 655 00:24:55.125 --> 00:24:57.065 - software platform for scientists. 656 00:24:58.005 --> 00:24:59.605 - On the face of it, this seems like 657 00:24:59.605 --> 00:25:00.265 - a strange 658 00:25:00.644 --> 00:25:04.085 - acquisition for a quantum computing company. Why why 659 00:25:04.085 --> 00:25:05.545 - did you buy QHarbor? 660 00:25:07.880 --> 00:25:08.859 - So QHarbor, 661 00:25:09.240 --> 00:25:11.559 - we we we bought them for a for 662 00:25:11.559 --> 00:25:12.380 - a few reasons. 663 00:25:13.159 --> 00:25:14.039 - The the first, 664 00:25:14.519 --> 00:25:16.679 - is really, as we always say, is just 665 00:25:16.679 --> 00:25:17.339 - the team. 666 00:25:18.119 --> 00:25:20.855 - QHarbor, I mean, it's a small team, but, 667 00:25:21.315 --> 00:25:22.355 - very, very strong, 668 00:25:23.154 --> 00:25:25.714 - team on the technical level, and we just 669 00:25:25.714 --> 00:25:27.954 - clicked with the people, you know, and, felt 670 00:25:27.954 --> 00:25:29.795 - that there is a, you know, we want 671 00:25:29.795 --> 00:25:30.934 - these guys on board. 672 00:25:31.394 --> 00:25:33.234 - So that that's always, I think, one of 673 00:25:33.234 --> 00:25:34.535 - the key key aspects, 674 00:25:35.559 --> 00:25:38.059 - especially when the team is small. Right? 675 00:25:38.440 --> 00:25:40.059 - It's it's really about bringing, 676 00:25:40.440 --> 00:25:43.240 - you know, fantastic people to the team. Besides 677 00:25:43.240 --> 00:25:45.720 - that, we keep building more and more software 678 00:25:45.720 --> 00:25:48.359 - tools for our customers. And the software that 679 00:25:48.359 --> 00:25:49.420 - QHarbor built 680 00:25:50.345 --> 00:25:52.105 - seemed to us like, it can provide a 681 00:25:52.105 --> 00:25:54.365 - lot of, extra value to our customers. 682 00:25:55.225 --> 00:25:57.644 - I mean, how they how they store, manage, 683 00:25:58.184 --> 00:26:00.365 - standardized data and data 684 00:26:00.664 --> 00:26:01.164 - viewing, 685 00:26:01.705 --> 00:26:02.765 - and data analysis. 686 00:26:03.839 --> 00:26:05.619 - As I mentioned, quantum computing, 687 00:26:05.920 --> 00:26:06.960 - there's a lot of, 688 00:26:07.680 --> 00:26:10.960 - need to do data analysis and, and, data 689 00:26:10.960 --> 00:26:11.460 - management. 690 00:26:12.079 --> 00:26:14.720 - And so this tool was just, you know, 691 00:26:14.720 --> 00:26:17.200 - something that we thought could integrate really nicely 692 00:26:17.200 --> 00:26:19.744 - with our software platform and provide more value 693 00:26:19.744 --> 00:26:20.565 - to our customers. 694 00:26:21.424 --> 00:26:23.744 - Other than that, we are also, growing in 695 00:26:23.744 --> 00:26:27.105 - Delft specifically. We, just opened an office in 696 00:26:27.105 --> 00:26:29.825 - Delft, and we are growing there. So this 697 00:26:29.825 --> 00:26:31.924 - sort of aligned also with our our 698 00:26:32.299 --> 00:26:33.359 - our growth ambitious, 699 00:26:33.980 --> 00:26:35.919 - ambitious in Europe in general, but, 700 00:26:36.700 --> 00:26:37.099 - also, 701 00:26:37.500 --> 00:26:40.000 - specifically in in in the in The Netherlands. 702 00:26:40.779 --> 00:26:43.259 - So that was kind of everything clicked together, 703 00:26:43.259 --> 00:26:43.759 - and 704 00:26:44.315 --> 00:26:45.775 - and we we made the acquisition. 705 00:26:47.115 --> 00:26:47.615 - And, 706 00:26:47.914 --> 00:26:49.595 - Yonatan, I was hoping that we could sort 707 00:26:49.595 --> 00:26:51.674 - of finish off this interview by talking a 708 00:26:51.674 --> 00:26:52.575 - bit about 709 00:26:52.875 --> 00:26:53.375 - careers. 710 00:26:54.554 --> 00:26:56.315 - And and first, I'd like to ask you 711 00:26:56.315 --> 00:26:58.015 - about, you know, your own 712 00:26:58.369 --> 00:26:58.869 - career. 713 00:26:59.170 --> 00:26:59.670 - You, 714 00:27:00.289 --> 00:27:02.869 - you did a PhD, and I believe you 715 00:27:03.170 --> 00:27:04.630 - looked at Mariana 716 00:27:05.410 --> 00:27:06.950 - cubits. Is that right? 717 00:27:07.330 --> 00:27:09.029 - Can can you talk a bit about, 718 00:27:09.890 --> 00:27:12.384 - your, you know, your your reese the research 719 00:27:12.384 --> 00:27:14.465 - that you did? You know, why why you 720 00:27:14.465 --> 00:27:16.244 - did it? Why it's important 721 00:27:16.625 --> 00:27:17.025 - for, 722 00:27:17.904 --> 00:27:20.325 - for the development of quantum computers? 723 00:27:22.144 --> 00:27:24.005 - Sure. Yeah. So my research, 724 00:27:24.305 --> 00:27:26.619 - was, I need at least some of my 725 00:27:26.619 --> 00:27:28.559 - my research work was, around 726 00:27:29.339 --> 00:27:30.480 - searching for topological 727 00:27:30.779 --> 00:27:33.119 - quantum states of matter and, specifically, 728 00:27:33.579 --> 00:27:35.119 - my run of fermions in 729 00:27:35.900 --> 00:27:36.400 - semiconducting, 730 00:27:36.940 --> 00:27:37.440 - superconducting 731 00:27:37.740 --> 00:27:38.240 - hybrid 732 00:27:38.619 --> 00:27:39.119 - devices. 733 00:27:40.384 --> 00:27:42.704 - This was sort of when this business of 734 00:27:42.704 --> 00:27:43.204 - superconducting, 735 00:27:43.505 --> 00:27:44.005 - semiconducting, 736 00:27:45.744 --> 00:27:46.724 - hybrid devices 737 00:27:47.265 --> 00:27:49.265 - started to really gain a lot of attention 738 00:27:49.265 --> 00:27:50.644 - by the physics community, 739 00:27:51.744 --> 00:27:54.164 - because of a a couple of, important, 740 00:27:54.859 --> 00:27:56.859 - you know, works that found the signature of 741 00:27:56.859 --> 00:27:58.400 - these Majorana fermions. And, 742 00:27:59.980 --> 00:28:00.480 - and, 743 00:28:02.220 --> 00:28:04.700 - I'm now nowadays, we're seeing more and more 744 00:28:04.700 --> 00:28:08.000 - results from Microsoft around this, this this this, 745 00:28:08.779 --> 00:28:09.900 - this, this, 746 00:28:10.384 --> 00:28:12.164 - you know, physical phenomena that 747 00:28:12.465 --> 00:28:14.305 - are promising in the sense that maybe one 748 00:28:14.305 --> 00:28:17.125 - day we could use that to create, topological 749 00:28:17.424 --> 00:28:17.924 - quantum, 750 00:28:18.225 --> 00:28:18.725 - computing, 751 00:28:19.184 --> 00:28:21.585 - which means that basically you, the so those 752 00:28:21.585 --> 00:28:25.125 - those topological quantum states and specifically Majorana fermions 753 00:28:25.184 --> 00:28:26.244 - can form qubits 754 00:28:27.080 --> 00:28:30.440 - that, are protected from, you know, environments or 755 00:28:30.440 --> 00:28:31.580 - protected from noise, 756 00:28:32.359 --> 00:28:33.180 - in the environment, 757 00:28:33.720 --> 00:28:35.880 - in a in an inherent way in the 758 00:28:35.880 --> 00:28:37.720 - in the hardware. So it's just almost as 759 00:28:37.720 --> 00:28:40.295 - if your your hardware is doing the quantum 760 00:28:40.295 --> 00:28:42.475 - error correction for you. Right? 761 00:28:44.055 --> 00:28:46.215 - And it's very hard to make those, 762 00:28:46.695 --> 00:28:47.195 - qubits, 763 00:28:47.734 --> 00:28:49.654 - and, I think that there is still a 764 00:28:49.654 --> 00:28:50.695 - long way to go, 765 00:28:51.335 --> 00:28:53.515 - which is still a long research, 766 00:28:55.220 --> 00:28:57.159 - way to go to really 767 00:28:58.019 --> 00:28:58.519 - build 768 00:28:59.460 --> 00:29:01.399 - robust qubits out of these, 769 00:29:01.700 --> 00:29:03.240 - these type of of of devices. 770 00:29:03.619 --> 00:29:05.220 - But I think there's a lot of interesting 771 00:29:05.220 --> 00:29:07.380 - progress that's happening, and I hope that one 772 00:29:07.380 --> 00:29:09.755 - day we we will see this as a 773 00:29:09.755 --> 00:29:11.835 - as a platform that really competes to to 774 00:29:11.835 --> 00:29:14.335 - become a, you know, a a quantum computer. 775 00:29:15.434 --> 00:29:16.815 - So to me, it's very exciting. 776 00:29:17.595 --> 00:29:19.774 - In the doing my PhD, it was 777 00:29:20.394 --> 00:29:22.875 - an extremely interesting topic on the sort of 778 00:29:22.875 --> 00:29:23.375 - fundamental 779 00:29:24.140 --> 00:29:25.519 - physics side of things. 780 00:29:26.539 --> 00:29:27.919 - How can you create these 781 00:29:28.220 --> 00:29:28.720 - exotic, 782 00:29:30.700 --> 00:29:32.559 - systems that are 783 00:29:32.859 --> 00:29:35.519 - by the nature, by the mathematics of the 784 00:29:35.755 --> 00:29:36.954 - the the Hamiltonian, the, 785 00:29:37.355 --> 00:29:39.194 - the the way that we sort of engineer 786 00:29:39.194 --> 00:29:39.855 - the Hamiltonian, 787 00:29:40.714 --> 00:29:43.994 - from different materials, from magnetic fields, we can 788 00:29:43.994 --> 00:29:47.434 - actually create these very exotic phenomena that, 789 00:29:48.289 --> 00:29:48.789 - that, 790 00:29:49.329 --> 00:29:51.190 - that that that that, 791 00:29:51.809 --> 00:29:52.309 - that, 792 00:29:52.690 --> 00:29:53.750 - that, you know, 793 00:29:55.169 --> 00:29:57.169 - that that doesn't just appear like that in 794 00:29:57.169 --> 00:29:59.984 - nature, if you don't engineer a system. So 795 00:30:00.065 --> 00:30:01.845 - I think that's a fascinating topic, 796 00:30:02.464 --> 00:30:02.964 - and, 797 00:30:03.904 --> 00:30:06.065 - yeah, especially for research. And I hope that 798 00:30:06.065 --> 00:30:08.065 - one day it will also become a become 799 00:30:08.065 --> 00:30:09.845 - a a qubit platform, 800 00:30:10.304 --> 00:30:11.924 - that can can really scale. 801 00:30:12.545 --> 00:30:14.464 - And and were you working in the lab, 802 00:30:14.464 --> 00:30:16.799 - or are you were you a theorist, or 803 00:30:16.799 --> 00:30:18.099 - was it a bit of both? 804 00:30:18.640 --> 00:30:21.359 - No. I was an experimental physicist. So I 805 00:30:21.359 --> 00:30:22.339 - did a lot of, 806 00:30:23.039 --> 00:30:25.059 - fabrication work in the clean room, 807 00:30:25.519 --> 00:30:26.740 - fabricating devices, 808 00:30:28.174 --> 00:30:31.154 - both indium arsenide nanowires coupled to superconductors. 809 00:30:31.535 --> 00:30:33.234 - I worked also in gallium arsenide, 810 00:30:34.654 --> 00:30:37.555 - quantum all effect, fractional quantum all effect. So 811 00:30:37.695 --> 00:30:39.474 - I was, you know, working 812 00:30:40.259 --> 00:30:41.460 - a lot on, 813 00:30:41.940 --> 00:30:44.259 - making new type of devices and then measuring 814 00:30:44.259 --> 00:30:45.720 - them in dilution refrigerators, 815 00:30:46.339 --> 00:30:48.200 - doing, all kinds of different, 816 00:30:51.220 --> 00:30:53.080 - measurements to explore different phenomena. 817 00:30:54.455 --> 00:30:57.115 - And so, yes, I was an experimental physicist, 818 00:30:57.734 --> 00:30:59.035 - looking for this exotic, 819 00:30:59.575 --> 00:31:00.075 - phenomena 820 00:31:00.455 --> 00:31:03.434 - in topological quantum, quantum states of matter. 821 00:31:04.375 --> 00:31:05.835 - And some of our listeners, 822 00:31:06.942 --> 00:31:09.609 - I I can guarantee you will be interested 823 00:31:09.670 --> 00:31:10.410 - in careers 824 00:31:10.950 --> 00:31:12.410 - in quantum computing. 825 00:31:12.950 --> 00:31:15.529 - What advice would you give to a physics 826 00:31:15.589 --> 00:31:16.089 - graduate 827 00:31:16.390 --> 00:31:16.789 - who, 828 00:31:17.670 --> 00:31:18.730 - would like a career? 829 00:31:19.845 --> 00:31:23.204 - Maybe at quantum machines or at another quantum 830 00:31:23.204 --> 00:31:24.184 - computing company? 831 00:31:24.644 --> 00:31:28.005 - I think that's doing some serious hands on 832 00:31:28.005 --> 00:31:28.505 - work, 833 00:31:29.684 --> 00:31:31.704 - on what really interests you, 834 00:31:32.724 --> 00:31:34.184 - is the most important thing. 835 00:31:34.919 --> 00:31:37.019 - You know, really going down to the details 836 00:31:37.079 --> 00:31:39.559 - of, of the of of of the thing 837 00:31:39.559 --> 00:31:42.119 - of interest in doing you know, really getting 838 00:31:42.119 --> 00:31:44.700 - sort of your hands dirty with with stuff, 839 00:31:45.559 --> 00:31:47.399 - and going to the really nuts and bolts. 840 00:31:47.399 --> 00:31:50.045 - That's the best, first thing to to start 841 00:31:50.045 --> 00:31:50.545 - from. 842 00:31:52.205 --> 00:31:52.605 - And, 843 00:31:53.404 --> 00:31:55.744 - and besides that, you know, it's the usual, 844 00:31:57.244 --> 00:31:59.664 - do do do something that really, 845 00:32:00.205 --> 00:32:01.049 - interests you, 846 00:32:01.850 --> 00:32:03.369 - Because you have to succeed in this field, 847 00:32:03.369 --> 00:32:05.150 - you have to also work very hard. 848 00:32:05.610 --> 00:32:08.250 - And, the field is moving very, very fast 849 00:32:08.250 --> 00:32:08.910 - these days. 850 00:32:09.289 --> 00:32:10.830 - There's a lot that's happening. 851 00:32:11.529 --> 00:32:13.130 - You wanna succeed in this field. You have 852 00:32:13.130 --> 00:32:15.575 - to work very hard. So it better be, 853 00:32:15.815 --> 00:32:18.315 - in something that, that you find very interesting 854 00:32:18.375 --> 00:32:21.355 - and, and and it gives you, the motivation 855 00:32:21.494 --> 00:32:21.994 - to 856 00:32:22.455 --> 00:32:22.955 - to 857 00:32:23.575 --> 00:32:25.335 - to wake up in in every morning and 858 00:32:25.335 --> 00:32:27.275 - do and and get your hands dirty. 859 00:32:28.700 --> 00:32:30.779 - I would also say that that that, 860 00:32:31.259 --> 00:32:32.720 - I think, you 861 00:32:33.019 --> 00:32:34.400 - know, you know, it's, 862 00:32:35.180 --> 00:32:36.240 - as things progress, 863 00:32:37.740 --> 00:32:39.819 - you have to be a little sort of 864 00:32:39.819 --> 00:32:40.319 - multidisciplinary 865 00:32:40.859 --> 00:32:41.714 - in the sense that, 866 00:32:42.275 --> 00:32:44.194 - you you okay. So if you're a physicist, 867 00:32:44.194 --> 00:32:45.875 - of course, you're coming from the physics, but 868 00:32:45.875 --> 00:32:47.734 - it's critical that you, 869 00:32:48.914 --> 00:32:49.414 - know, 870 00:32:49.875 --> 00:32:51.494 - how to program. You understand, 871 00:32:52.595 --> 00:32:53.794 - software. You understand, 872 00:32:54.515 --> 00:32:56.134 - technology stacks in general, 873 00:32:56.599 --> 00:32:58.700 - how the hardware is built, how the software 874 00:32:58.759 --> 00:33:00.460 - is built, how things integrate, 875 00:33:01.240 --> 00:33:03.420 - understand a little bit of the engineering language, 876 00:33:03.640 --> 00:33:05.799 - both on in hardware and software. Mhmm. And 877 00:33:05.799 --> 00:33:08.039 - I think it's it's becoming very, very important 878 00:33:08.039 --> 00:33:08.539 - that 879 00:33:08.904 --> 00:33:10.365 - that people sort of understand 880 00:33:10.744 --> 00:33:11.244 - systems, 881 00:33:12.664 --> 00:33:15.384 - especially the physicists, because I think that's one 882 00:33:15.384 --> 00:33:17.545 - of the I think that's the the that's 883 00:33:17.545 --> 00:33:20.025 - one of the strengths of physicists is that 884 00:33:20.025 --> 00:33:20.924 - they can understand 885 00:33:21.549 --> 00:33:24.130 - systems sort of from the, you know, physics 886 00:33:24.190 --> 00:33:25.730 - all the way up to to software. 887 00:33:26.430 --> 00:33:28.190 - So, you know, if you're a physicist, you're 888 00:33:28.190 --> 00:33:30.430 - probably not going to be the the the 889 00:33:30.430 --> 00:33:31.250 - best programmer, 890 00:33:31.789 --> 00:33:34.269 - in the world already here because you haven't 891 00:33:34.269 --> 00:33:37.115 - done that, But you can understand how everything 892 00:33:37.115 --> 00:33:37.615 - integrates, 893 00:33:37.994 --> 00:33:40.315 - pretty well. So I think that that's something 894 00:33:40.315 --> 00:33:42.335 - that physicists should I should look at. 895 00:33:43.755 --> 00:33:46.394 - Well, that's great, Yonatan. Thanks so much for 896 00:33:46.394 --> 00:33:47.454 - coming on the podcast. 897 00:33:48.714 --> 00:33:50.654 - Thank you so much, Hamish. Thank you. 898 00:33:57.789 --> 00:33:59.009 - That was Yonatan 899 00:33:59.309 --> 00:34:01.330 - Cohen of Quantum Machines. 900 00:34:01.950 --> 00:34:04.289 - Thanks to Yonatan for his insights 901 00:34:04.615 --> 00:34:06.875 - into the challenges and opportunities 902 00:34:07.654 --> 00:34:08.474 - in interfacing 903 00:34:08.934 --> 00:34:11.835 - quantum and classical computing systems. 904 00:34:12.695 --> 00:34:14.855 - I'm afraid that's all the time we have 905 00:34:14.855 --> 00:34:16.155 - for this week's podcast. 906 00:34:16.710 --> 00:34:19.989 - I'm Hamish Johnston, and our producer is Fred 907 00:34:19.989 --> 00:34:20.489 - Ailes. 908 00:34:21.109 --> 00:34:23.609 - The music in Physics World's podcasts 909 00:34:24.150 --> 00:34:24.889 - is called 910 00:34:25.190 --> 00:34:26.650 - one three seven, 911 00:34:26.949 --> 00:34:29.670 - and it was composed and performed by the 912 00:34:29.670 --> 00:34:30.170 - physicist 913 00:34:30.869 --> 00:34:31.690 - Philip Moriarty. 914 00:34:32.704 --> 00:34:34.565 - We'll be back again next week.