The engineering challenges of building quantum computers

The National Quantum Computing Centre (NQCC) is the UK’s national laboratory for accelerating the development and use of quantum computing. A range of different quantum computers are being developed at the NQCC, both through internal development and through establishing quantum computing testbeds with industrial partners. Engineering is critical to the scaling of these different hardware solutions. In this webinar Klara Burlamaqui, an Ion Trap physicist at the NQCC, and Ben Griffiths, a Quantum Engineer at industrial partner Rigetti, will discuss engineering challenges associated with building trapped ion and superconducting quantum computers.

Relevant engineering disciplines and topics include: mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, optics and photonics engineering, cryogenics.

Scaling challenges on quantum computing Hardware based on atoms - Klara Burlamaqui
In this talk, Klara will discuss the main scaling challenges regarding quantum computing hardware based on atoms, covering mostly Ion traps, but also touching lightly on architectures based on tweezer arrays. Those challenges include individual addressing of atoms, signal delivery and control, cryogenics, among others.

Rigetti: Engineering superconducting quantum computers - Ben Griffiths
Superconducting quantum computing faces many engineering challenges, both from a qubit design and control perspective as well as an environmental control. In this talk, Ben will overview the requirements that are needed in order to create and control a superconducting qubits and challenges that arise as you scale to larger systems.