Riverlane helps Rigetti power UK quantum computing advance
Riverlane is contributing to the efforts of Rigetti UK which is a subsidiary of NASDAQ quoted California company Rigetti Computing Inc.
The trigger has been Rigetti winning an Innovate UK competition to deliver a 24-qubit quantum computing system to the NQCC’s Harwell Campus in Oxfordshire. Due to open this year, the base will serve as NQCC’s landmark facility to support world-class quantum computing research in the UK.
As part of the implementation – and in addition to Rigetti’s Tsunami control systems – Riverlane plans to integrate elements of its Quantum Error Correction Stack.
This will include a new generation of Riverlane’s quantum computer control system ‘Deltaflow.Control’, to execute the individual control and readout of Rigetti’s 24-qubit system.
Riverlane also plans to develop and deliver a new software platform ‘Aqueduct’ designed to conduct the automation and efficient data management of complex, scalable quantum experiments.
Steve Brierley, Riverlane founder & CEO, said: “Controlling qubits is a complex challenge but one that we must tackle to correct the errors found in quantum computers and allow them to scale to the point where they do something useful for society.
“By integrating our control system ‘Deltaflow.Control’ with Rigetti’s system, we hope to gain a deeper understanding of how to build scalable quantum error correction technologies tailored to large-scale systems like Rigetti’s.”
Dr Michael Cuthbert, NQCC's Director, explained the importance of the sector to the UK’s role globally in a key area of hi-tech. He said: “There is a growing realisation across the industry that quantum developers need access to the hardware to engineer scalable solutions for a full-stack quantum computer.
“Once built, these system-level prototypes will help the NQCC and its collaborators to understand the unique characteristics of different hardware approaches, establish appropriate metrics for each qubit architecture, and explore the types of applications that benefit most from each technological approach.
“That will feed directly into the NQCC's ongoing engagement with organisations across academia, industry and government to develop use cases for early-stage quantum computers, and to identify the innovations that will be needed to accelerate the development and adoption of this transformative technology.”
Riverlane’s mission is to make quantum computing useful sooner, starting an era of human progress as significant as the industrial and digital revolutions. To achieve this, Riverlane is building the Quantum Error Correction Stack to comprehensively control qubits and correct the billions of real-time data errors that prevent today’s generation of quantum computers from achieving useful scale.
Riverlane’s customers include governments, quantum computer hardware companies and world-leading research labs. Investors include leading venture capital funds Molten Ventures, Amadeus Capital Partners and Cambridge Innovation Capital; the UK’s national security investment fund; high-performance computing leader Altair; and the University of Cambridge.
