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Xanadu and CMC Microsystems to collaborate on quantum computing

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Automation / Robotics Electronics AI Quantum Computing

Canadian firms approve development of five projects that will receive ongoing support

Building on a partnership agreement to sponsor development of applications for quantum computing, CMC Microsystems and Xanadu Quantum Technologies, have announced five projects that will receive ongoing support.

The Xanadu Quantum Sandbox, was created by the two organizations to support the creation of new applications for quantum computing. We are proud to announce that the following projects have been accepted and will receive ongoing development support from CMC and Xanadu:

  • Professor Chris Beck, University of Toronto, Building Quantum Schedules in the Sand; Combinational Optimization, Resource Allocation and Scheduling in the Xanadu Sandbox
  • Professor Sonia Lopez Alarcom, RIT, Design Space of Heterogeneous Quantum Computing
  • IFF Technologies, Diffusion Based Analysis of a Biosystem Using Gaussian Boson Sampling
  • Professor Stephen Hughes, Queens University, Stochastic Electrodynamic Simulations Using the Xanadu Quantum Cloud
  • Professor Shengrui Wang, Université de Sherbrooke with Laplace Insights, Graph Analysis of Financial Markets

Source: Xanadu LinkedIn

These five special projects will receive:

  • access to Xanadu quantum computers, 
  • up to six months of free cloud time on Xanadu systems, 
  • support from quantum programming experts at CMC and Xanadu. 
  • guidance on applying for government funding to support further development

“We’re thrilled to be able to provide access to our photonic quantum processors via the Xanadu Quantum Cloud for such a diverse and pioneering set of applications” said Christian Weedbrook, Xanadu founder and CEO. “Our vision for Canada to become a global leader in quantum computing is shared by our partners at CMC and we’re looking forward to working together to support this initiative” Weedbrook concluded.

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As existing computing technologies reach their performance limits, quantum-enhanced technologies will increasingly disrupt and replace current approaches. For Gordon Harling, president and CEO of CMC Microsystems, quantum computing presents a great opportunity.

“Quantum technologies are one of the greatest disruptive innovation opportunities in the world today. Initiatives like our partnership with Xanadu are critical to help move the quantum computing industry forward,” Harling stated, adding that he was also glad to see a strong contingent of Canadian researchers among the chosen projects. “There is a strong quantum ecosystem in Canada which is going through a period of rapid growth. Thanks to initiatives and partnerships like the Quantum Sandbox, Canada is well-positioned to become a global leader in the future quantum industry.”

Xanadu Quantum Sandbox 

Launched in November, 2020, the Xanadu Quantum Sandbox is a partnership between CMC Microsystems and Xanadu Quantum Systems. The call for projects was aimed at identifying exciting, new applications for quantum computing. Xanadu’s near-term quantum computers carry out a calculation called “Gaussian Boson Sampling” or GBS. GBS is performed by encoding a matrix in a large, programmable optical interferometer, and pulses containing a few photons each are sent through the optical circuit to probe its structure. Specifically, the Quantum Sandbox looks to identify and help develop quantum applications that can harness this ground-breaking technology. The call for projects was open to everyone in the world, public or private sector.

GBS algorithms can be applied to a wide range of optimization problems. For a summary of the known applications of GBS to date visit https://arxiv.org/abs/1912.07634.

Xanadu is a Canadian quantum technology company with the mission to build quantum computers that are useful and available to people everywhere. Founded in 2016, Xanadu has become one of the world’s leading quantum hardware and software companies. The company also leads the development of Pennylane, an open-source software library for quantum machine learning and application development.

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