AFRL Awards $5.8M Quantum Network deal to QphoX & Rigetti
Pioneer Superconducting Quantum Networking received a $5.8 million AFRL contract from Rigetti and QphoX. Rigetti Computing, Inc. and QphoX, a premier quantum transduction system developer and US full-stack quantum computing pioneer, received a three-year, $5.8 million contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to create superconducting quantum networking.
Overcoming Microwave-Optical Divide This project aims to solve a major problem in superconducting quantum computer networking: converting microwave signals, which control qubits, into optical photons that can travel over fibre optics. For global communication networks, optical data transport is essential, and optical interconnects allow room-temperature, long-range quantum state transfer between cryogenically frozen quantum processors.
The partnership's major goal is to deliver technologies that enable superconducting qubit-optical photon entanglement, a key component of quantum networking. Technological Corporation Rigetti and QphoX previously developed optical single-shot qubit readout utilising qubit-transducer devices, which the project improves on. Currently, the proposal includes: Superconducting microwave qubits by Rigetti. Rigetti's 9-qubit Novera QPU with QphoX's technology enable entanglement. Rigetti designs and manufactures semiconductors at Fab-1 in Berkeley. Second, QphoX created microwave-optical single-photon transducers. QphoX's world-class transduction technology bridges telecom, optical, and microwave frequencies. Excitations will be delivered from qubit chip resonators to transducers to convert microwave photons to optical photons while maintaining quantum coherence. This delicate quantum state must be preserved to enable entanglement between distant superconducting processors and create a scalable, distributed quantum computing architecture. Strategic Importance of AFRL With its well-established telecom-based QLANs in Rome, New York, the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) is creating heterogeneous quantum interconnects for matter-based quantum technologies like superconducting qubits. Superconducting qubit computers connected to telecom QLANs via interconnects will be transformative, says AFRL lead research physicist Matt LaHaye. He believes this technique will enable basic entanglement distribution research and Air Force and DoD operations. Quantum Future Consequences Researchers are studying quantum networking's transformative potential. Among them: Networking smaller quantum systems allows quantum networks to scale to larger, more powerful quantum computing systems. This technology is needed for a long-range, secure quantum internet. Geographic Information Transfer: It could allow data transfer across quantum nodes in various regions.
The partnership aims to commercialise the transduction layer needed to network multiple small quantum processors across fibre, translating lab demonstrations into production-ready parts for quantum-classical infrastructures. Dr. Subodh Kulkarni, Rigetti CEO, highlighted that AFRL's support is essential for the US to dominate quantum information research. Dr Simon Groeblacher, CEO of QphoX, says bringing their technology straight to an end-user who constructs quantum networks employing superconducting qubits connected by optical interconnects is a turning point for this sector. Regarding Rigetti Rigetti pioneered full-stack quantum computing. Since 2017, the business has operated quantum computers in the cloud through its Rigetti Quantum Cloud Services platform for government, research, and enterprise clients worldwide. Rigetti began selling 24–84 qubit on-premises quantum computing systems in 2021 for quantum computing centres and national labs. Rigetti's 2023 9-qubit Novera QPU served a larger R&D community. Customers can integrate this high-performance on-premises QPU into their control and cryogenic systems. The company's proprietary quantum-classical architecture enables usable quantum computing and high-performance integration with public and private clouds. Rigetti invented the first multi-chip quantum processor for scalable quantum computing. At Fab-1, the first integrated and dedicated quantum device manufacturing facility, the company designs and manufactures chips. Regarding QphoX QphoX leads the industry in quantum transduction systems for optical quantum computer communication. Their single-photon interfaces provide quantum links between compute, state storage, and networking, leveraging decades of photonic, MEMS, and superconducting device nanofabrication advances. These interfaces cover microwave, optical, and telecom frequencies. QphoX is headquartered in Delft, Netherlands.