Riverlane, a UK-based error-correction specialist, and startup Atlantic Quantum have announced a strategic partnership to scale fluxonium-based qubit architecture. The collaboration aims to advance the technology towards fault-tolerant quantum computing. Qubits, the fundamental units of quantum information, have the potential to perform computations impossible for classical supercomputers.
However, qubits are currently very sensitive to interference, leading to high error rates that prevent quantum computing technologies from scaling reliably. Riverlane’s technology addresses this issue. The startup’s quantum error correction (QEC) stack, Deltaflow, turns large numbers of unreliable physical qubits into smaller numbers of “logical” qubits.
These logical qubits can check each other’s work, ensuring more accurate final computations. This makes it feasible to build fault-tolerant quantum computers, systems capable of operating correctly even if some components fail. Atlantic Quantum is developing its quantum computers using fluxonium superconducting qubits.
Strategic error correction in quantum computing
These qubits operate at very low temperatures and are less sensitive to certain types of noise that can disrupt quantum states, making them potentially more robust and reliable than other superconducting qubits. Atlantic Quantum’s qubit architecture has demonstrated the lowest error rates of any superconducting qubits to date.
Steve Brierley, founder and CEO of Riverlane, said, “In Atlantic Quantum, we’ve found a partner with the same long-held view as us that we need quantum error correction to achieve fault-tolerance in quantum computing. However, this partnership also recognises that this challenge can’t be solved in isolation, and progress depends on close collaboration between players across the quantum stack.”
Riverlane, founded in 2016, has offices in Cambridge, UK, and Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Atlantic Quantum, founded in 2022, also has offices in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as well as in Gothenburg, Sweden.
The company recently won an Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) contract to build entangled logical qubits in collaboration with several international institutions. Atlantic Quantum’s fluxonium superconducting qubits are one approach to building a fault-tolerant quantum computer. Software providers for error correction or programming languages often emphasize their flexibility to work with different types of qubits.
This adaptability is crucial for an emerging industry where commercialisation remains elusive. As the quantum computing sector continues to mature, more partnerships like this are expected to drive the technology forward.
