Oxford Instruments NanoScience is partnering in a three-year project to create and develop the UK’s first quantum computer capable of running end-user applications in the cloud
Advanced ability: the ProteoxLX dilution refrigeration from Oxford Instruments NanoScience has the cooling power to operate large-scale quantum computers. (Courtesy: Oxford Instruments NanoScience)
The mission to build the UK’s first commercial quantum computer is gathering pace in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, at the facility of Oxford Instruments NanoScience. The UK-based manufacturer of specialist scientific equipment, including the state-of-the-art dilution refrigerators needed to operate quantum systems and other condensed-matter experiments at ultralow temperatures, is part of a consortium that is seeking to deliver a quantum computer that will start running the first end-user applications by the beginning of 2022.
The consortium, backed by a £10m investment that includes funding from the UK government’s Quantum Technologies Challenge, is headed by Rigetti Computing. Headquartered in Berkeley, California, Rigetti has built a series of quantum processors based on superconducting quantum circuits that customers can program via a cloud-based platform. The latest version – the Aspen-9, which was first deployed in February – incorporates 32 qubits, and in this project the company aims to scale up the design still further.
