July 5, 2022
The company is developing a quantum processor in a chip based on the intertwining phenomenon between photons. The technology was developed as part of a study by Prof. Barak Dayan of the Weizmann Institute. Among the founders and veterans of the chip industry are Oded Melamed, Gil Samu and Dan Harash
Pictured above (from right to left): Oded Melamed, Barak Dayan, Shlomit Semel, Gil Samu and Dan Harash
Quantum Source Company (Quantum Source) From the Science Park in Rehovot, came out of the secret development phase by raising $ 15 million in capital jointly led by the Pitango, Gross Ventures and Eclipse Ventures funds. The company was established in 2019 on the basis of a scientific study conducted in the Quantum Optics Group at the Weizmann Institute of Science. The company is currently in the early stages of developing a processor for quantum computers, in which the basic computing units, Qubit, are based on the construction of an entanglement phenomenon between photons, and not between ions or electrons, as has been done to date in quantum computing.
The company’s goal is to apply the technology in manufacturing processes based on the chip manufacturing processes currently accepted in the industry. If it succeeds, it will be able to produce a processor that has millions of qubits and is implemented in a chip that operates at room temperature and is in a package under vacuum conditions. The company was established and is managed by a group of entrepreneurs and technologists with extensive experience in the chip industry. CEO Oded Melamed was the co-founder and CEO of Altair, which was sold to Sony in 2016 for $ 212 million. Gil Samu, VP of R&D, was one of the founders and head of the Anubit VLSI team that was sold to Apple in 2012. Chairman Dan Deaf was one of the founders and CEO of Provident, which was sold to Broadcom in 2011 for about $ 360 million.
The company’s inventor and chief scientist is Prof. Barak Dayan, head of the Quantum Optics Group and director of the Quantum Optics Laboratory at the Weizmann Institute of Science. In recent years, Dayan has been researching the application of optical systems and, in collaboration with Dr. Ofer Furstenberg, has found ways to force photons to interact on demand. They discovered a light transistor in which atoms mediate interactions between photons. Such techniques have the potential to enable the execution of quantum algorithms using light, and they can help to combine quantum computers and quantum internet. Among other things, Dayan published an article in which he described how he managed to create a “logical gate” in which a photon and an atom automatically exchange the information they carry. A process that can have important implications for the creation of quantum computers.
Posted in categories: Optoelectronics, Investment and Venture Capital, News, Semiconductors, Israeli Industry
Posted in tags: Quantum Computer, Quantum Source
