Photonic Inc., a start-up based in Vancouver that is advancing distributed quantum computing in silicon, announced key additions to its research team:
- Dr. Chantal Arena joins as vice president of research, development, and production – devices. Arena has 35 years' experience in business strategy, materials science, and semiconductor devices fabrication, most recently as co-chief executive and technical officer at Lawrence Semiconductors. She holds a doctorate in material science-physics from the Polytechnic Institute of Grenoble, France.
- Dr. Klaus Schuegraf joins as vice president of research, development, and production – systems. Schuegraf brings over 30 years of experience driving innovation in semiconductor technology development, and leading large technical teams at companies including PsiQuantum, Intel, SanDisk, Applied Materials, and Cymer/ASML. He holds a doctorate in electrical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.
- Quantum networking pioneer Dr. Thomas Jennewein serves as one of Photonic’s scientific fellows. As a Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC), and scientific lead for the Quantum EncrYption and Science Satellite (QEYSSat) – Canada’s first quantum communication satellite – Jennewein informs the company’s quantum networking strategy. He is a professor at Simon Fraser University and the Institute for Quantum Computing. He holds a doctorate in physics from the University of Vienna, Austria.
- Dr. Michael Thewalt also serves as a scientific fellow at Photonic; he is the world expert on the optical properties of isotopically enriched silicon-28, the material forming Photonic’s scalable quantum technologies architecture. Thewalt, an emeritus professor at Simon Fraser University, cofounded Photonic – along with Stephanie Simmons – and held an NSERC Industrial Research Chair for over 10 years. Thewalt has a doctorate in physics from the University of British Columbia.
- Also onboard as a scientific fellow at Photonic is Dr. Artem (Art) Cherkasov, a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Precision Cancer Drug Design, senior scientist at the Vancouver Prostate Center and professor in the Department of Urologic Sciences at the University of British Columbia. Cherkasov provides expertise to Photonic in computer-aided drug discovery (CADD) and new cancer therapeutics discovery—with a focus on how quantum technologies will provide value in these areas. He holds a doctorate in chemistry from Kazan State University.
“Photonic has searched extensively for the right talent to help us achieve our ambitious goals. We are confident that, with these roles filled by such high-caliber people, and our ongoing scientific advisory team, we will further accelerate progress on our path to make distributed quantum computing a commercial reality,” said Dr. Paul Terry, Photonic chief executive officer.
“The quantum industry is starting to recognize the need for distributed quantum capabilities. Photonic’s architecture is unique on this front, and it is exciting to have industry veterans and innovators recognize this potential and join the relentless pursuit of scalable, distributed, and fault-tolerant commercial quantum computing,” said Dr. Stephanie Simmons, founder and chief quantum officer of Photonic and co-chair of Canada’s National Quantum Strategy Advisory Board.
Photonic Inc. unveils its quantum in silicon, $140m in funding
Photonic Inc., a start-up based in Vancouver, unveiled its architecture for scalable, fault-tolerant, and unified quantum computing and networking platforms based on photonically linked silicon spin qubits. The company specializes in spin-photon interfaces in silicon, silicon integrated photonics, and quantum optics.
Photonic's technology provides computing (with spin qubits), networking (via photons), and memory. Photonic links in silicon deliver quantum entanglement not only between qubits on the same chip but also among multiple quantum chips.
The company says silicon-based qubits enjoy substantially greater microelectronic-style scalability than other types of qubits. Indeed, Photonic’s architecture achieves horizontal scaling. Photonic's highly connected qubit architecture also enables use of efficient quantum error correction codes, such as quantum LDPC (Low Density Parity Check) codes. These codes are known for extremely low physical to logical qubit overheads and fast and efficient hardware implementation.
“Quantum computing is real, and we believe that—within five years, significantly sooner than the widely accepted timeframe—we will be the first quantum computing company to offer a scalable, distributed, and fault-tolerant solution,” said Dr. Stephanie Simmons, Founder and Chief Quantum Officer of Photonic and Co-chair of Canada’s National Quantum Strategy Advisory Board. “These are the capabilities that must be delivered for quantum computing to be a relied upon across industries, and we believe that we have correctly identified the silicon T centre as the missing component needed to finally unlock the first credible path to impactful commercial quantum computing.”
“Ultimately, the breadth of problems to which quantum computing can offer a solution means it will have a tangible, meaningful impact on people all around the world,” said Dr. Paul Terry, Photonic Chief Executive Officer. “We’re moving to large-scale, accessible quantum computers networked together to provide access to quantum services that will enable companies and governments to suddenly tackle problems that are, right now, beyond our capabilities because of the inescapable constraints of classical computing. It’s incredibly thrilling to be on the cusp of this inflection point in quantum computing and, more broadly, physics history.”
Photonic has raised an investment round of US$100 million from organizations including British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI), Microsoft Corporation, the UK government’s National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF), Inovia Capital, and Amadeus Capital Partners. This brings the company’s total funding raised to date to US$140 million.
In addition, Photonic announced a strategic collaboration with Microsoft under which the companies will provide an integrated roadmap of technologies and products that can enable reliable quantum communications over long distances, as well as access to Photonic’s quantum computing offering via Microsoft Azure Quantum Elements.
