computing company

IonQ is the world’s most renowned quantum computing company that was founded by two professors. The company was established in 2015 and currently it is based in College Park, Maryland. IonQ’s most unique factor is the approach they are using to generate and carry out functionalities with quantum circuits. This approach is called ion trapping and with the help of this technology, the errors can be minimized with better calculations, something the world has never seen before. IonQ claims that accuracy is not the only factor why ion trapping is a better approach, it also improves scalability, coherence time, and predictability.

About IonQ

IonQ is developing quantum computing and taking it to a new level such that complex mathematical problems can be solved with a better approach. The true potential of a quantum computer is not yet unleashed but if one can develop a stable and powerful quantum computer, it can overdo the best supercomputers in the world. IonQ is using ion trapping technology to develop the best quantum computing.

In this technology, an atom is first converted into an ion followed by using a linear iron trap (specialized chip) to hold that ion in a 3D space. Electromagnetic force helps to hold the ion in place and is completely isolated from the environment. Linear chains are formed by holding several ions in the ion traps which helps in running the complex algorithms. IonQ has proved only in a few years that their concept is very powerful and offers the world the most powerful quantum computer. In March 2020, IonQ was named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential Companies.

The Idea of Ion Trapping

Christopher Monroe, a professor at the University of Maryland, and Jungsang Kim, a professor from Duke University are the two masterminds behind developing one of the world’s most powerful technologies. They co-founded IonQ with the help of two partners at a venture firm, namely, Harry Weller and Andrew Schoen. IonQ was born as a result of rigorous research that these two professors carried out for 25 years. Their research field was quantum information science and today it has become a public company.

Monroe went into the quantum computing research field when he joined the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as a Staff Researcher. During this time, Monroe worked with the famous Nobel-laureate physicist, David Wineland. Wineland’s team was working on the application of trapped ions to produce controllable qubits and controllable quantum logic gates. This was the initial stage for building a large-scale trapped-ion computer.

Founding IonQ

Monroe and Kim became acquaintances of each other through various research activities that were funded by Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA). They were collaborating formally and wrote a review paper together whose title was Scaling the Ion Trap Quantum Processor. Their collaboration for research purposes eventually led to the founding of IonQ, especially after New Enterprise Associates showed interest in investing in the technology mentioned in that review paper. So, the company received initial funding of $2 million to commercialize the technology.

Eventually, the team was expanding and the company hired David Moehring as the new CEO of the company in 2016. In 2017, the company received $20 million in Series B funding and it was led by Google Ventures and the existing investor. Peter Chapman joined the company in 2019 directly as its new CEO followed by which the company made a deal to make the quantum computer public through AWS, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure.

Peter Chapman – CEO of IonQ

Peter Chapman is the CEO and President of IonQ as well as a member of the board. Before joining IonQ, Chapman was leading a team for Amazon Prime where his main work was being responsible for Prime’s 2-Day delivery. His position was Director of Engineering at Amazon. Chapman is a remarkable software engineer with more than 40 years of experience including several managerial positions and writing software from scratch as well. He went to MIT and worked there at Artificial Intelligence Lab. Chapman has also served as the President and CEO of Media Arc and eMusic.