Rigetti Computing, announced on December 6 2023 the launch of its Novera QPU, a 9-qubit quantum processing unit based on the Company’s fourth generation Ankaa-class architecture featuring tunable couplers and a square lattice for denser connectivity and fast 2-qubit operations. The Novera QPU is manufactured in Rigetti’s Fab-1, the industry’s first dedicated and integrated quantum device manufacturing facility.
The Novera QPU includes all of the hardware below the mixing chamber plate (MXC) of a dilution refrigerator. In addition to a 9-qubit chip with a 3×3 array of tunable transmons, the Novera QPU also includes a 5-qubit chip with no tunable couplers or qubit-qubit coupling which can be used for developing and characterizing single-qubit operations on a simpler circuit. In addition to the 9-qubit and 5-qubit chips, Novera QPU components include:
- A puck that contains both the 9-qubit and 5-qubit chips, interposers and a PCB to route signals to SMPM connectors at the puck periphery.
- A tower that hangs from the MXC and connects coaxial cables between the puck and the SMA patch panel. The tower delivers cooling power from the MXC to the chips.
- Shields that surround the tower to isolate the puck from infrared radiation and stray magnetic fields.
- Payload brackets and a signal chain installed around the tower with mounted signal conditioning devices, including ferrite isolators, diplexers, filters, and optional quantum-limited amplifiers.
“Our new Novera QPU enables hands-on access to our most innovative quantum computing technology. With the same architecture as our 84-qubit Ankaa systems, researchers working with the Novera QPU can have a head start in pursuing their quantum computing work and drive the industry forward,” says Dr. Subodh Kulkarni, Rigetti CEO. “Our Ankaa-class 9-qubit QPUs have already been commissioned by premier national labs, and now the same technology is available to those seeking to accelerate their own quantum computing work.”
The Novera QPU implements universal, gate-based quantum computing and can be used by quantum software and algorithm experts to prototype and test: hybrid quantum algorithms, characterization, calibration, and error mitigation, and quantum error correction (QEC) experiments.
Additionally, organizations looking to develop components of their quantum computing stack can leverage the Novera QPU to accelerate areas such as: control electronics and software, QEC decoders, control optimization algorithms, native gate architectures, and measurement and calibration, and accompanying software.
The quantum device is available to order at rigetti.com/novera starting at $900,000 and ships within 4-6 weeks after the order is confirmed and shipping and logistics are finalized.
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