IonQ Achieves 29 Algorithmic Qubits on Barium Platform

Insider Brief

• IonQ announced it has achieved 29 algorithmic qubits on a barium platform for the first time.
• The scientists at IonQ say it is a key milestone on the company’s roadmap to commercial quantum advantage.
• Critical Quote: “Today’s news demonstrates how barium qubits are already on parity with some of our own leading quantum systems from an #AQ perspective, and how IonQ is making substantial progress towards reaching our goal of commercial quantum advantage.” — Peter Chapman, President and CEO, IonQ.

PRESS RELEASE — IonQ (NYSE: IONQ), an industry leader in quantum computing, announced it has achieved 29 algorithmic qubits on a barium platform for the first time, marking a key milestone in the company’s journey towards developing systems capable of commercial quantum advantage.

IonQ has long explored novel ways to advance trapped ion quantum computing beyond our use of traditional ytterbium ions, one of which includes the use of barium qubits. Current generation ytterbium systems like IonQ Harmony, IonQ Aria, and IonQ Forte are essential for addressing today’s most complex algorithms. However, barium-based systems of the future are expected to open the door to numerous new technical applications. Additionally, the inherent nature of barium qubits will make future quantum systems more scalable and reliable.

“As recently as Quantum World Congress 2023, we talked about how the number of quantum applications available will exponentially increase in relation to the number of algorithmic qubits we achieve with each system,” said Peter Chapman, President and CEO, IonQ. “Today’s news demonstrates how barium qubits are already on parity with some of our own leading quantum systems from an #AQ perspective, and how IonQ is making substantial progress towards reaching our goal of commercial quantum advantage.”

IonQ is also announcing that based on customer demand, the company is now offering 24/7 access and support for its cloud-accessible quantum systems – IonQ Harmony and IonQ Aria. With increased availability, users from across the globe will benefit from increased access when tackling the most complex commercial and research use-cases.

The news follows IonQ’s September announcement that it expanded its agreement with the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) to deploy two barium-based trapped ion quantum computing systems at AFRL’s Rome, NY facility for quantum networking research and application development. IonQ also announced last month that it would be delivering two future IonQ systems – IonQ Forte Enterprise with #AQ 35 and IonQ Tempo with #AQ 64 – to Switzerland-based QuantumBasel as part of a joint effort to establish a European quantum data center.