Quantum Connectivity Solutions for Computing Systems

Check out the latest from MIT EQuS and Lincoln Laboratory published in @NaturePhysics! In this work, we demonstrate a quantum interconnect using a waveguide to connect two superconducting, multi-qubit modules located in separate microwave packages. We emit and absorb microwave photons on demand and in a chosen direction between these modules using quantum entanglement and quantum interference. To optimize the emission and absorption protocol, we use a reinforcement learning algorithm to shape the photon for maximal absorption efficiency, exceeding 60% in both directions. By halting the emission process halfway through its duration, we generate remote entanglement between modules in the form of a four-qubit W state with concurrence exceeding 60%. This quantum network architecture enables all-to-all connectivity between non-local processors for modular, distributed, and extensible quantum computation. Read the full paper here: https://lnkd.in/eN4MagvU (paywall), view-only link https://rdcu.be/eeuBF, or arXiv https://lnkd.in/ez3Xz7KT. See also the related MIT News article: https://lnkd.in/e_4pv8cs. Congratulations Aziza Almanakly, Beatriz Yankelevich, and all co-authors with the MIT EQuS Group and MIT Lincoln Laboratory! Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT Center for Quantum Engineering, MIT EECS, MIT Department of Physics, MIT School of Engineering, MIT School of Science, Research Laboratory of Electronics at MIT, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, MIT xPRO, Will Oliver

IBM Successfully Links Two Quantum Chips to Operate as a Single Device Key Insights: • IBM has achieved a significant milestone by linking two quantum chips to function as a single, cohesive system, enabling them to perform calculations beyond the capability of either chip independently. • This accomplishment supports IBM’s modular approach to building scalable quantum computers, a strategy aimed at overcoming the limitations of single-chip architectures. • The linked chips demonstrated successful cooperation, marking a step closer to larger and more powerful quantum systems capable of addressing complex real-world problems. The Modular Quantum Computing Approach: • IBM employs superconducting quantum chips, manufactured using processes similar to traditional semiconductor technology, allowing scalability and integration with existing hardware infrastructure. • Modular quantum systems involve linking smaller quantum processors, rather than relying on a single massive chip, reducing fabrication challenges and improving scalability. • This architecture allows multiple chips to share quantum information seamlessly, paving the way for constructing larger quantum systems without exponentially increasing hardware complexity. Addressing Key Challenges in Quantum Computing: • Scalability: Connecting multiple chips is a critical step toward scaling quantum computers to thousands or even millions of qubits. • Error Reduction: Larger quantum systems increase susceptibility to errors. Modular architectures provide pathways for better error management and correction across linked processors. • Coherence Across Chips: Maintaining the delicate quantum states across separate chips is technically challenging, and IBM’s success suggests progress in solving this issue. Implications of IBM’s Achievement: • Enhanced Computational Power: Linked quantum chips unlock the potential for more complex simulations and problem-solving capabilities. • Practical Quantum Applications: Industries like pharmaceuticals, cryptography, and materials science may soon benefit from more robust and scalable quantum computing solutions. • Competitive Advantage: IBM’s progress underscores its leadership in modular quantum computing, positioning it strongly in the competitive quantum technology landscape. Future Outlook: IBM’s successful demonstration of inter-chip quantum communication validates the modular quantum computing strategy as a viable path to scaling up systems. Future advancements will likely focus on enhancing chip-to-chip communication fidelity, increasing the number of interconnected chips, and reducing overall error rates. This breakthrough brings us one step closer to practical, large-scale quantum computing systems capable of solving problems previously deemed unsolvable by classical computers.

From NVLink to NVQLink: Wiring Quantum Processors into AI Supercomputers NVIDIA just unveiled NVQLink - an open interconnect + software stack that tightly couples quantum processors (QPUs) with AI supercomputers for real-time hybrid workflows like calibration and quantum error correction (QEC). It's not a quantum computer from NVIDIA, it's the missing fast path between QPUs and today's accelerated systems so the two can work as one. ✅ What is NVQLink exactly? A hardware + software integration path that links QPUs to NVIDIA GPU/CPU systems with low-latency, high-throughput data movement and real-time control via CUDA-Q (formerly CUDA-Quantum). Performance (NVIDIA-stated): up to 400 Gb/s GPU↔QPU throughput and <4 μs minimum round-trip latency in a reference (FPGA→GPU→FPGA) loop, sized for fast feedback tasks like QEC decoders and calibration. ✅ Why do we need NVQLink? Quantum isn't standalone: to be useful, QPUs depend on classical compute for: 🔹 Calibration and drift tracking, 🔹 Real-time QEC decoding and control, 🔹 Logical program orchestration (dynamic routing, lattice surgery, just-in-time compilation). All three are latency-critical control loops. NVQLink provides the speed/scale so GPUs can run these loops in real time while QPUs stay coherent. NVIDIA's message is hybrid is the future: supercomputers + QPUs co-evolve. quantum doesn't replace GPU systems. ✅ How does NVQLink work? 🔹 A QPU (the quantum chip) is driven by nearby control electronics that send precise pulses and read measurements. 🔹 NVQLink is the fast lane between that controller and the GPU, so results from the QPU reach the GPU in microseconds and new commands go back just as fast. 🔹 CUDA-Q is the programming layer: you write one hybrid program where the QPU does the quantum steps, and the GPU does the heavy classical math (like error-correction and optimization). 🔹 Inside the AI node, NVLink/NVSwitch connects GPU↔GPU at very high bandwidth. NVQLink connects QPU↔GPU for tight, real-time control. ✅ Where does it fit inside today's GPU systems? In a Blackwell/NVLink-5 cluster (or CPU+GPU nodes), GPUs already share data over NVLink/NVSwitch at TB/s. NVQLink brings the QPU/control side into that world: measurement results flow quickly to GPUs. GPU decoders/control kernels send decisions back within microseconds, the rest of the AI stack (simulation, scheduling, ML-based decoders) runs on the same accelerated node. Think of NVQLink as the southbridge to quantum: it's the tight, deterministic path between the quantum device and the GPU side where the heavy classical algorithms live. Nvidia NVQLink: https://lnkd.in/gYr4xZk3

Is this the "Attention Is All You Need" moment for Quantum Computing? Oxford University scientists in Nature have demonstrated the first working example of a distributed quantum computing (DQC) architecture. It consists of two modules, two meters apart, which "act as a single, fully connected universal quantum processor." This architecture "provides a scalable approach to fault-tolerant quantum computing". Like how the famous "Attention Is All You Need" paper from Google scientists introduced the Transformer architecture as an alternative to classical neural networks, this paper introduces Quantum gate teleportation (QGT) as an alternative to the direct transfer of quantum information across quantum channels. The benefit? Lossless communication. But not only communication: computation also. This is the first execution of a distributed quantum algorithm (Grover’s search algorithm) comprising several non-local two-qubit gates. The paper contains many pointers to the future, which I am sure will be pored over by other labs, startups and VCs. I am excited to follow developments in: - Quantum repeaters to increase the distance between modules - Removal of channel noise through entanglement purification - Scaling up the number of qubits in the architecture Amid all the AI developments, this may be the most important innovation happening in computing now. https://lnkd.in/e8qwh9zp

Today we introduced a new reference architecture for quantum-centric supercomputing, outlining how quantum processing can be integrated directly alongside modern high-performance computing systems. With our partners, we are now seeing hybrid quantum-classical workflows reaching parity with leading classical methods on real problems. Preparing for this quantum-classical future means building infrastructure where quantum resources plug naturally into existing HPC environments, not as bolt-ons but as part of a unified, heterogeneous computing system. Our new architecture demonstrates how near-term integration can enable more seamless execution of hybrid workflows, while also establishing a forward-looking path for deeper co-design between quantum hardware, classical accelerators, and scientific applications as systems scale and new algorithms emerge. Read our blog and paper for more details. We invite collaborators across HPC, quantum computing, and system design to join us in shaping the standards, best practices, and use cases that will define the future of quantum-centric supercomputing. blog: https://lnkd.in/eNJqfwzX paper: https://lnkd.in/epv9XsQ7

Stop thinking of #Quantum #Computing as a distant, isolated machine. That's the mindset preventing enterprise adoption. The biggest obstacle to achieving Quantum Utility isn't the hardware itself; it's the integration gap. Quantum Processors (#QPUs) are highly specialized accelerators, not standalone systems. They are virtually useless to a business if they cannot speak fluently with your existing classical computing environment, Cloud infrastructure, and data pipelines. This is the key distinction: The path to production-ready Quantum is #hybrid orchestration. This approach makes it realistically achievable for the enterprise by treating Quantum as an extension of your current infrastructure, not a costly replacement. Here is how that integration is built on practical foundations: 👉 Cloud-Enabled Access (QaaS): The Cloud abstracts the immense complexity and cost of housing a QPU, delivering it as a simple, pay-as-you-go Quantum-as-a-Service (#QaaS) resource. This immediately shifts QC from a lab expense to an accessible compute utility. This aligns with a Cloud-First, AI-Enhanced, Quantum-Aware strategy. 👉 The Hybrid Algorithm Loop: The most relevant near-term applications (optimization, materials science) are intrinsically hybrid. This means the classical computer (#HPC) handles the data preparation, parameter optimization, and post-processing, while the QPU performs the single, impossible quantum calculation. They work in a continuous, high-speed loop. Without this tight integration, the theoretical quantum advantage is lost. 👉 Governance & Management: Classical High-Performance Computing (HPC) environments are critical for managing the QPU's extreme fragility. They handle real-time decoding for error correction and autonomous system calibration, ensuring the quantum resource is stable enough for actual business workloads. Think of it this way: The QPU is an ultra-high-performance Formula1 engine, and the classical computing environment is the pit crew, telemetry analysts, and fuel. The engine (QPU) cannot win the race alone. It needs the high-speed pit stop (HPC integration) to process data in milliseconds—adjusting pressure, flow, and direction in real-time. Without this integration, the engine is just an impressive, but unleveraged, piece of engineering. Quantum Computing isn't a replacement for classical IT; it's becoming its most powerful accelerator. Embracing this hybrid, Cloud-centric view is the most efficient way for executives to move past the "hype" and translate these complex technical implications into tangible business value. What is the first real-world business problem in your industry that you believe a hybrid quantum/AI model could solve to generate measurable ROI? Share your insight below. #QuantumComputing #AI #HybridCloud #DigitalTransformation #B2BStrategy

I'm a big believer that the simplest solution, in the long run, often is the best solution! And even more now as a scientist in a startup that actively deploys quantum hardware and have to deal with the hardship of the real world. We want to build quantum networks, useful for distributed computing, quantum data centers, and quantum repeaters, created based on room temperature atomic systems. No frequency conversion. No phase stability. No cryo- or laser cooling, no duty-cycle, no time-lensing, no frequency or wavelength sharing, and with natural indistinguishability. And we just got a step closer by showing quantum entanglement between our Rb entanglement source, and our room temperature quantum memory. The photo below shows the Quantum State Tomography (QST) of the entanglement between telecom photons and photons retrieved from a room temperature quantum memory, published in our latest preprint: https://lnkd.in/eA378gnt QST allows us to measure the lower bound of the fidelity which in this case is 86.5%, well above a value for a CHSH>2! We still have work to do, but I hope reading this paper gives you all hope that the future of room temperature technologies is closer than we've imagined.

For years, quantum computing has been framed as a race to build one bigger machine. More qubits. Bigger chips. More coherence. More error correction. That may be the wrong architecture. On April 14, IonQ announced it successfully entangled qubits across two independent trapped-ion quantum computers using photons over standard commercial fiber. That matters more than the headline suggests. Because frontier quantum systems keep hitting the same wall: You can pack more qubits onto a single machine, but complexity and error rates rise faster than performance. Classical computing solved this problem decades ago. We stopped trying to build one infinitely powerful computer. We built networks. Smaller reliable systems connected into massive coordinated infrastructure. The internet won. Quantum may follow the same path. Instead of one monolithic quantum machine, the future may be distributed quantum architecture: modular processors photonic interconnects networked entanglement fault-tolerant orchestration across nodes Not a quantum computer. A quantum internet. That changes everything: Defense Drug discovery Materials science Financial modeling National security Infrastructure always captures the most value. Not the app. The layer underneath. This is why DARPA cares. This is why the Air Force funds it. This is why markets reacted. The winners may not be the companies with the biggest chip. They may be the ones building the operating system for distributed quantum reality. That’s a much larger game. #QuantumComputing #QuantumInternet #DeepTech #Infrastructure #AI #Photonics #DefenseTech #NationalSecurity #FutureOfComputing #IonQ