Swedish company SCALINQ offers state-of-the-art packaging hardware for superconducting samples that will facilitate quantum research in a number of areas.
The idea for commercially available, high-performance packaging arose from a research team at Chalmers University of Technology. The group, part of the Wallenberg Centre for Quantum Technology (WACQT), is working towards the long-term realization of fully functional quantum computers, but significant technology barriers remain. “There are many hardware challenges to overcome,” explained CEO and cofounder Zaid Saeed, “one of them being the packaging solutions that would host Chalmers multi-qubit superconducting devices.” SCALINQ was founded to address this need.
Using an experimentally tested design, SCALINQ produces high-density packaging that can maintain quantum samples at stable conditions. According to Saeed, the technology can be easily adapted to a variety of laboratory setups: “One of its major advantages is that it enables researchers and developers of quantum computers alike to more easily test their quantum processors of varying sizes and architectures.”
Even though this technology is critical to a broad range of research investigations, its development has been largely overlooked. “Since the focus has been on the fabrication and development of the quantum devices, the area of packaging solutions has not been equally investigated,” Saeed explained. SCALINQ is addressing the discrepancy by applying insight from other areas to inform quantum product design. “We help bridge the gap and mitigate risks by using validated and established technologies from other industries, and fully adapting them to quantum computing,” said Saeed.
The company’s first product, LINQER, enables up to 300 microwave-based connectors with high fidelity. The team hopes this novel capability will revolutionize quantum computation development across the board. “We are enabling developers and researchers of superconducting quantum devices to reach a scale only a few have managed so far,” Saeed said. “By doing so, we are also helping to create market standards in an area that has been overlooked.”
Armed with reliable packaging technology, experimentalists can concentrate on central projects and generate results more efficiently. “Today, PhD students and researchers do a lot of component work that they are not trained for and is not within their field of interest,” Saeed explained. “Using this solution would allow them to focus on the core research and remove frustrations when working with vulnerable and untested equipment.” Furthermore, he expects SCALINQ’s technology will have a positive impact on research progress and culture: “This will partly enhance the overall collaborative environment in the community but also decrease the risk of research teams investing scarce resources to tackle problems that have already been solved elsewhere.”
This goal requires a network of research collaborators, which the company is looking to expand through Duality. Saeed is encouraged that similar priorities are central to Duality’s mission. “At SCALINQ, we believe that the way forward is through transparency of research and collaborative R&D projects,” he said. “Therefore, we found a great fit between our core values and Duality’s.”
Already, Saeed sees SCALINQ benefitting through its involvement with the cohort. “We are partaking in an invaluable network, industry insights, and relevant presentations held by some experienced individuals both on the tech side, but also from a business perspective,” he explained. “All this is having a direct, positive impact on our internal as well as external growth.”
Through ongoing collaborations with other areas of development, SCALINQ will provide hardware as current research demands it. “We recognize that there is no point in developing large-scale packaging solutions unless other components and devices follow the same development and do so with quality,” said Saeed. “We want to partake in the developing and upscaling of quantum computers as a key player to develop the right enabling hardware when it’s needed.”
Long-term, SCALINQ aspires to be a leading player in quantum packaging development and set industry standards through expanded product offerings. By doing so, Saeed hopes to accelerate quantum innovation in a meaningful way: “SCALINQ is on a mission to make sure that quantum device packaging is not the limiting factor for the industry to move forward.”