The Quantum Systems Accelerator (QSA) continues to make major strides toward building flexible and stable quantum computers capable of solving problems far beyond the reach of today’s classical machines. Through a series of collaborative efforts across top U.S. research institutions, QSA scientists are addressing the engineering challenges at the heart of quantum computing and making significant progress on key architectures and techniques.

Trapped-ion systems remain one of the most advanced platforms in quantum computing. These systems trap and manipulate ions using electric fields and laser pulses, offering long coherence times and precise control of quantum states. A recent achievement by QSA researchers at Sandia National Laboratories introduced the “enchilada trap,” a newly designed chip capable of storing up to 200 ions. This device incorporates innovative features such as elevated radiofrequency electrodes and the elimination of dielectric materials beneath them, significantly reducing capacitance and power loss.

These advancements help mitigate one of the key limitations in scaling ion traps: excessive power dissipation. The new architecture allows for the development of larger, more complex traps while maintaining stability and efficiency. The enchilada trap, developed in collaboration with teams at Duke University and Cornell University, is already operational and demonstrates promising scalability for future large-scale quantum computers.

One of the bottlenecks in trapped-ion quantum computing has been the sequential nature of gate operations, which limits processing speed. Researchers at the University of Maryland have addressed this challenge by implementing parallel gate operations. By targeting qubits along different spatial directions and vibrational modes, the team successfully performed concurrent quantum operations without interference.

This technique enhances processing power and throughput while reducing exposure to decoherence, which can degrade qubit states over time. By performing more operations within a given window, quantum systems can maintain accuracy and reliability. This innovation opens the door to more efficient and scalable computation across increasingly complex quantum architectures.

At Duke University, another QSA research team explored a different avenue for scaling quantum processors—entangling multiple qubits simultaneously rather than in pairs. Using a method known as “squeezing,” the team adjusted ion motion in a spin-dependent way, enabling the entanglement of many ions in a single operation.

This approach provides a more efficient method of generating entangled states, which are central to quantum computing. Traditional pairwise entanglement techniques can be resource-intensive and difficult to scale. Squeezing, by contrast, allows for the manipulation of complex many-body interactions and opens up new possibilities for advanced quantum information protocols.

A separate QSA team at the University of Maryland introduced a new way to measure quantum advantage through mid-circuit measurements—a method rarely used due to the risk of disrupting nearby qubits. By spatially separating selected ions with precision voltage control, the team isolated individual qubits for measurement during computation without interfering with the rest of the system.

This approach allowed researchers to implement two interactive cryptographic protocols: one based on the Learning With Errors (LWE) problem and the other on a Computational Bell Test. Both protocols provided classically verifiable evidence that the quantum system was performing in a genuinely quantum manner. This represents the first computational demonstration of quantumness, offering a new way to evaluate quantum systems during runtime rather than only at the end of a computation.

Each of these research milestones contributes to overcoming the most pressing challenges in quantum computing: scalability, stability, efficiency, and verifiability. Whether through more efficient architectures, enhanced entanglement techniques, or innovative verification strategies, the work at QSA is laying the foundation for a new era of computation.

As these technologies continue to mature, quantum computers are edging closer to practical deployment, with potential applications in cryptography, drug discovery, materials science, and more. The coordinated efforts of researchers at QSA are not only expanding the frontiers of science and engineering but also accelerating the realization of real-world quantum solutions.

By Impact Lab