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.
Nord Quantique quantum computers are built using the most advanced and widely adopted quantum hardware platform - superconducting circuits. Our bosonic codes leverage this platform for scalable performance and fast clock rates. Our approach is designed to make quantum computing both accessible and practical.
We have a history of meaningful milestones from our founding in 2020 to today. From being the first to realize a logical qubit from a single physical qubit, to the first hardware-efficient Tesseract code demonstration, our path to fault tolerance leverages these achievements and aims to deliver a 256 logical qubit system by 2030.
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.
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’ or various types of interference with these quantum states. This noise causes errors on a significant number of its qubits. In brute force approaches, additional qubits are required 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 100-1,000 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.
Rather than using this brute force approach where millions 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.
Nord Quantique is a startup spun off from the University of Sherbrooke’s renowned Institut Quantique, in one of the leading quantum computing hardware hubs in Canada. 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, resulting in a machine that is more efficient and a system that is easier to control and scale.