Technology

At Nord Quantique, we focus on quantum computing error correction. We dedicate our efforts to developing fault tolerant quantum computers to bring this cutting-edge technology to market and shape a future where everyone benefits from quantum innovation.

World Class Quantum Error-Correction Changes Everything

Nord Quantique is at the forefront of the field of quantum error correction. Quantum computers developed with our unique approach correct the most common types of errors (bit flips and phase flips) using bosonic codes. Unlike other designs, we correct most errors without dedicating overhead of redundant qubits to error correction. Most of our qubits are thus actually used to perform calculations, while achieving a fault tolerance level that allows the delivery of useful applications while reducing between 1,000 and 10,000 times the number of physical qubits required by various other quantum computing models.

Fast Processing for Solutions Now

Our superconducting quantum computers perform at clock speeds required to perform calculations and deliver insights to users in a practical timeframe. Users who must perform advanced calculations using deep circuits and complex algorithms will be pleased by how quickly computations are completed. Our approach is designed to make quantum computing both accessible and practical for large industrial and government users who need to run their calculations quickly and extract reliable insights from the data.

A Clear Path to Fault Tolerance Scaling

Nord Quantique is working to quickly scale its quantum system to high fault tolerance levels, to deliver a 100 logical qubits machine by 2028. The goal of a shorter path to useful fault tolerance can be achieved by combining few errors with fast calculation speeds, without requiring massive overhead of redundant qubits for error correction. This more readily allows reliable operation of useful quantum computers with a wide array of industry applications.

We’re constantly reviewing the global quantum computing landscape, and we truly believe that Nord Quantique has one of the most promising technical roadmaps to realize fault-tolerant quantum computing. The rigorous support they receive from the world-class Sherbrooke quantum ecosystem is key in helping them compete against the tech giants of the world.

Charles Lespérance,
Partner, Deep Tech Venture Fund at BDC Capital

To deliver their potential computing power, exponentially greater than conventional supercomputers, the systems inside quantum computers must operate in a ‘quantum state’ to leverage ‘quantum effects’. These states are very delicate, and often last only a fraction of a second. Depending on the machine’s design, these quantum states must be generated at temperatures close to absolute zero.

Changes in temperature, magnetic fields, electronics used to control qubits (the bits on which quantum computers operate), and a host of other factors can all cause ‘noise,’ various types of interference with these quantum states, which causes errors on a significant number of its qubits. To address this, many quantum computer makers dedicate additional qubits to correct these errors. This redundancy helps ensure the quantum state remains intact long enough to perform the required calculations. It should be noted that a faster quantum processor means the calculations can be performed more quickly, which in turn means that quantum states do not need to be preserved as long when using a quantum computer with faster clock speeds.

Designing quantum computers in this way can mean devoting 1,000 to 10,000 qubits to keeping just one single qubit functioning correctly. We can imagine a system with 10 million qubits could only barely use 1,000 qubits functioning correctly in a quantum state, with the balance dedicated to correcting errors.

That’s not a very convincing approach, right? We fully agree.

Rather than using this brute force approach where millions, or even billions, of qubits are required to control a much larger number of error-corrected qubits to deliver on the potential of quantum computing, a new way of thinking arose to look for better ways of preventing or correcting those errors. That’s how Nord Quantique was born.

Different Approach, Proven Results

Nord Quantique is a startup spun off from the University of Sherbrooke’s renowned Institut Quantique, in Quebec. Our goal isn’t to take on the big tech companies building large-scale quantum systems. Our co-founders Julien Camirand-Lemyre and Philippe St-Jean rather chose to set out to design a much more efficient system.

Our approach aims to reach the goal of a fault tolerant quantum computer using fewer qubits, a machine that is more efficient and therefore making the system easier to control and scale.

First, error correction protocols on a single bosonic qubit had to be designed. Those protocols correct the two most common types of errors in quantum computing (known as bit flips and phase flips). The company’s latest results indicate that they are able to effectively reduce errors in this way, by 14% on a single qubit, without needing to dedicate any additional qubits to error correction.

The Road Ahead

To this day, we are the first company to produce such results at the individual qubit level. In fact, we are the first company anywhere to be able to reduce errors in a quantum system without using dedicated redundant qubits to do so. Our approach puts us on track to develop lean and efficient quantum computers, smaller and far less complex to scale up to a size at which they are more likely to offer an advantage over classical computers.

We intend to demonstrate our first multi-qubit system and publish results from that initiative in 2024. Preliminary simulations suggest the probability of likely additional synergies in error correction when adding additional qubits beyond the existing single qubit in Nord Quantique’s system.

This means Nord Quantique has a clear path to building a useful quantum computer that won’t require thousands or tens of thousands of redundant qubits dedicated to error correction. By 2028 we will build a 100 logical qubits quantum computer, in which each logical qubit is implemented as a single physical qubit, without the need for any form of material redundancy.