Xanadu Quantum Technologies
{{Short description|Quantum computing company based in Toronto, Canada}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Xanadu Quantum Technologies
| logo = Xanadu_Logo_Black.png
| logo_size = 200px
| type = Private
| industry = Quantum Computing
| founded = 2016
| founder = Christian Weedbrook, CEO
| hq_location = Toronto, Canada
| website = {{url|https://xanadu.ai}}
}}
Xanadu Quantum Technologies is a Canadian quantum computing hardware and software company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario.{{Cite web|title=A new kind of quantum|url=https://spie.org/news/photonics-focus/novdec-2020/a-new-kind-of-quantum|access-date=2021-03-26|website=spie.org}}{{Cite web |title=Xanadu Quantum Technologies Inc – Company Profile and News |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/profile/company/1618272D:CN |access-date=2020-05-13 |website=Bloomberg.com}}{{Cite web|title=10 hot quantum-computing startups to watch|url=https://www.networkworld.com/article/3489098/10-hot-quantum-computing-startups-to-watch.html|last=Vance|first=Jeff|date=2019-02-15|website=Network World|language=en|access-date=2020-05-13|archive-date=2020-05-29|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200529201331/https://www.networkworld.com/article/3489098/10-hot-quantum-computing-startups-to-watch.html|url-status=live}} The company develops cloud accessible photonic quantum computers{{Cite web|title=The future of quantum computing in the cloud|url=https://searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com/tip/The-future-of-quantum-computing-in-the-cloud|access-date=2020-05-13|website=SearchCloudComputing|language=en|archive-date=2020-04-25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200425210005/https://searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com/tip/The-future-of-quantum-computing-in-the-cloud|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|title=This New Quantum Processor Is Made of Light|url=https://gizmodo.com/this-new-quantum-processor-is-made-of-light-1845158108|access-date=2021-03-02|website=Gizmodo|date=24 September 2020 |language=en-us}}{{Cite web|last=Shankland|first=Stephen|title=Quantum computers are crazy hard to build, but their makers suddenly are making big promises of progress|url=https://www.cnet.com/news/quantum-computer-makers-like-their-odds-for-big-progress-soon/|access-date=2021-03-02|website=CNET|language=en}}{{Cite web|last=Shein|first=Esther|title=Eight leading quantum computing companies in 2020|url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/eight-leading-quantum-computing-companies-in-2020/|access-date=2021-03-02|website=ZDNet|language=en}} and develops open-source software for quantum machine learning and simulating quantum photonic devices.{{Cite web|date=2021-02-26|title=SD Times Open-Source Project of the Week: PennyLane|url=https://sdtimes.com/open-source/sd-times-open-source-project-of-the-week-pennylane/|access-date=2021-03-02|website=SD Times|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|date=2021-02-17|title=AWS joins PennyLane, an open-source framework that melds machine learning with quantum computing|url=https://siliconangle.com/2021/02/17/aws-throws-weight-behind-pennylane-open-source-framework-melds-machine-learning-quantum-computing/|access-date=2021-03-02|website=SiliconANGLE|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|date=2018-07-18|title=CDL quantum machine learning program partners with Xanadu|url=https://betakit.com/cdl-quantum-machine-learning-program-partners-with-xanadu/|access-date=2020-05-13|website=BetaKit|language=en-CA|archive-date=2020-11-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201130081329/https://betakit.com/cdl-quantum-machine-learning-program-partners-with-xanadu/|url-status=live}}
History
Xanadu was founded in 2016 by Christian Weedbrook and was a participant in the Creative Destruction Lab's accelerator program. Since then, Xanadu has raised a total of US$245M in funding with venture capital financing from Bessemer Venture Partners, Capricorn Investment Group, Tiger Global Management, In-Q-Tel, Business Development Bank of Canada, OMERS Ventures, Georgian, Real Ventures, Golden Ventures and Radical Ventures{{Cite web|date=2021-05-25|title=Xanadu secures $120 million CAD led by Bessemer to build photonic quantum computer {{!}} BetaKit|url=https://betakit.com/xanadu-secures-120-million-cad-led-by-bessemer-to-build-photonic-quantum-computer/|access-date=2021-05-25|language=en-CA}}{{Cite web|title=Today in funding ($25M): Resson, Unito, Xanadu|url=https://betakit.com/today-in-funding-25m-resson-unito-xanadu/|date=2018-05-09|website=BetaKit|language=en-CA|access-date=2020-05-13|archive-date=2020-04-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200420112151/https://betakit.com/today-in-funding-25m-resson-unito-xanadu/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|title=Xanadu raises $32 million Series A for quantum cloud computing platform|url=https://betakit.com/xanadu-raises-32-million-series-a-for-quantum-cloud-computing-platform/|date=2019-06-24|website=BetaKit|language=en-CA|access-date=2020-05-13|archive-date=2020-04-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200414131530/https://betakit.com/xanadu-raises-32-million-series-a-for-quantum-cloud-computing-platform/|url-status=live}}{{Cite news|title=Toronto startup Xanadu raises $32-million to help build 'world's most powerful computer'|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-toronto-startup-xanadu-raises-32-million-to-help-build-worlds-most/|access-date=2020-05-13|archive-date=2020-06-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200621174439/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-toronto-startup-xanadu-raises-32-million-to-help-build-worlds-most/|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|title=AI startup Xanadu raises $32 million to accelerate Photonic Quantum Computing|url=https://www.cisomag.com/ai-startup-xanadu-raises-32-million-to-accelerate-photonic-quantum-computing/|last=CISOMAG|date=2019-06-26|website=CISO MAG {{!}} Cyber Security Magazine|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-13|archive-date=2021-02-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210217162234/https://cisomag.eccouncil.org/ai-startup-xanadu-raises-32-million-to-accelerate-photonic-quantum-computing/|url-status=live}}{{Cite news |last=Silcoff |first=Sean |date=2022-05-19 |title=Toronto's Xanadu raising US$100-million led by Georgian to develop quantum computers |language=en-CA |work=The Globe and Mail |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-toronto-startup-xanadu-quantum-tech-financing/ |access-date=2022-05-23}} and innovation grants from Sustainable Development Technology Canada{{Cite web |title=Latest News – Fourteen projects across Canada will help reduce environmental impact and create a more competitive economy |url=https://www.sdtc.ca/en/news/fourteen-projects-across-canada-will-help-reduce-environmental-impact-and-create-a-more-competitive-economy/ |access-date=2020-05-13 |website=Sustainable Development Technology Canada |language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title=Canada invests in photonic quantum computation startup|url=https://www.eenewseurope.com/news/canada-invests-photonic-quantum-computation-startup|date=2020-01-30|website=eeNews Europe|language=en|access-date=2020-05-13|archive-date=2021-02-17|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210217162250/https://www.eenewseurope.com/news/canada-invests-photonic-quantum-computation-startup|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|title=Xanadu wins $4.4M investment for photonic quantum computing|url=https://optics.org/news/11/1/29|website=optics.org|access-date=2020-05-13|archive-date=2020-08-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200810060309/https://optics.org/news/11/1/29|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|title=Startup Funding: January 2020|url=https://semiengineering.com/startup-funding-january-2020/|date=2020-02-05|website=Semiconductor Engineering|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-13|archive-date=2020-05-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200514020655/https://semiengineering.com/startup-funding-january-2020/|url-status=live}} and DARPA.{{Cite web|title=Xanadu receives grant from DARPA to test QML performance on quantum hardware|url=https://betakit.com/xanadu-receives-grant-from-darpa-to-test-qml-performance-on-quantum-hardware/|date=2019-11-19|website=BetaKit|language=en-CA|access-date=2020-05-13|archive-date=2020-05-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200521235146/https://betakit.com/xanadu-receives-grant-from-darpa-to-test-qml-performance-on-quantum-hardware/|url-status=live}}
Technology
Xanadu's hardware efforts have been focused on developing programmable Gaussian boson sampling (GBS) devices. GBS is a generalization of boson sampling, which traditionally uses single photons as an input; GBS uses squeezed states of light.{{Cite web|date=2021-03-11|title=Programmable photonic chip lights up quantum computing|url=https://physicsworld.com/programmable-photonic-chip-lights-up-quantum-computing/|access-date=2021-03-26|website=Physics World|language=en-GB}}{{Cite web|date=2021-03-05|title=In the Race to Hundreds of Qubits, Photons May Have "Quantum Advantage"|url=https://spectrum.ieee.org/race-to-hundreds-of-photonic-qubits-xanadu-scalable-photon|website=IEEE Spectrum}}{{Cite web|date=2021-03-03|title=NIST/Xanadu Researchers Report Photonic Quantum Computing Advance|url=https://www.hpcwire.com/2021/03/03/nist-xanadu-researchers-report-photonic-quantum-computing-advance/|access-date=2021-03-03|website=HPCwire|language=en-US}}{{Cite journal|last1=Arrazola|first1=J. M.|last2=Bergholm|first2=V.|last3=Brádler|first3=K.|last4=Bromley|first4=T. R.|last5=Collins|first5=M. J.|last6=Dhand|first6=I.|last7=Fumagalli|first7=A.|last8=Gerrits|first8=T.|last9=Goussev|first9=A.|last10=Helt|first10=L. G.|last11=Hundal|first11=J.|date=March 2021|title=Quantum circuits with many photons on a programmable nanophotonic chip|journal=Nature|language=en|volume=591|issue=7848|pages=54–60|doi=10.1038/s41586-021-03202-1|pmid=33658692|pmc=11008968 |arxiv=2103.02109|bibcode=2021Natur.591...54A|s2cid=232105199|issn=1476-4687}}{{cite journal|last1=Bromley|first1=Thomas R.|last2=Arrazola|first2=Juan Miguel|last3=Jahangiri|first3=Soran|last4=Izaac|first4=Josh|last5=Quesada|first5=Nicolás|last6=Gran|first6=Alain Delgado|last7=Schuld|first7=Maria|last8=Swinarton|first8=Jeremy|last9=Zabaneh|first9=Zeid|last10=Killoran|first10=Nathan|title=Applications of Near-Term Photonic Quantum Computers: Software and Algorithms|journal=Quantum Science and Technology|year=2020|volume=5|issue=3|page=034010|doi=10.1088/2058-9565/ab8504|arxiv=1912.07634|bibcode=2020QS&T....5c4010B|s2cid=209386913}}{{Cite journal|last1=Vaidya|first1=V. D.|last2=Morrison|first2=B.|last3=Helt|first3=L. G.|last4=Shahrokshahi|first4=R.|last5=Mahler|first5=D. H.|last6=Collins|first6=M. J.|last7=Tan|first7=K.|last8=Lavoie|first8=J.|last9=Repingon|first9=A.|last10=Menotti|first10=M.|last11=Quesada|first11=N.|date=2020-09-01|title=Broadband quadrature-squeezed vacuum and nonclassical photon number correlations from a nanophotonic device|journal=Science Advances|language=en|volume=6|issue=39|pages=eaba9186|doi=10.1126/sciadv.aba9186|issn=2375-2548|pmid=32967824|pmc=7531882|arxiv=1904.07833|bibcode=2020SciA....6.9186V}} In 2020, Xanadu published a blueprint for building a fault-tolerant quantum computer using photonic technology.{{cite journal|last1=Bourassa|first1=J. Eli|last2=Alexander|first2=Rafael N.|last3=Vasmer|first3=Michael|last4=Patil|first4=Ashlesha|last5=Tzitrin|first5=Ilan|last6=Matsuura|first6=Takaya|last7=Su|first7=Daiqin|last8=Baragiola|first8=Ben Q.|last9=Guha|first9=Saikat|last10=Dauphinais|first10=Guillaume|last11=Sabapathy|first11=Krishna K.|title=Blueprint for a Scalable Photonic Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computer|journal=Quantum|year=2021|volume=5|page=392|doi=10.22331/q-2021-02-04-392|arxiv=2010.02905|bibcode=2021Quant...5..392B |s2cid=222141762}}
In June 2022 Xanadu reported on a boson sampling experiment summing up to those of Google and University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). Their setup used loops of optical fiber and multiplexing to replace the network of beam splitters by a single one which made it also more easily reconfigurable. They detected a mean of 125 to 219 photons from 216 squeezed modes (squeezed light follows a photon number distribution so they can contain more than one photon per mode) and claimed to have obtained a speedup 50 million times bigger than previous experiments.{{Cite journal |last=Brod |first=Daniel Jost |date=1 June 2022 |title=Loops simplify a set-up to boost quantum computational advantage |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01402-x |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=606 |issue=7912 |pages=31–32 |doi=10.1038/d41586-022-01402-x|pmid=35650360 |bibcode=2022Natur.606...31B |s2cid=249277681 |url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last1=Madsen |first1=Lars S. |last2=Laudenbach |first2=Fabian |last3=Askarani |first3=Mohsen Falamarzi |last4=Rortais |first4=Fabien |last5=Vincent |first5=Trevor |last6=Bulmer |first6=Jacob F. F. |last7=Miatto |first7=Filippo M. |last8=Neuhaus |first8=Leonhard |last9=Helt |first9=Lukas G. |last10=Collins |first10=Matthew J. |last11=Lita |first11=Adriana E. |date=1 June 2022 |title=Quantum computational advantage with a programmable photonic processor |journal=Nature |language=en |volume=606 |issue=7912 |pages=75–81 |doi=10.1038/s41586-022-04725-x |pmid=35650354 |pmc=9159949 |bibcode=2022Natur.606...75M |s2cid=249276257 |issn=1476-4687|doi-access=free }}
In January 2025, Xanadu further advanced photonic quantum computing by demonstrating a scalable modular approach to networking photonic quantum computers. This work, published in Nature, introduced key architectural improvements for integrating multiple photonic quantum processors, significantly enhancing error correction and scalability.{{Cite journal |last1=Aghaee Rad |first1=H. |last2=Ainsworth |first2=T. |last3=Alexander |first3=R. N. |last4=Altieri |first4=B. |last5=Askarani |first5=M. F. |last6=Baby |first6=R. |last7=Banchi |first7=L. |last8=Baragiola |first8=B. Q. |last9=Bourassa |first9=J. E. |last10=Chadwick |first10=R. S. |last11=Charania |first11=I. |last12=Chen |first12=H. |last13=Collins |first13=M. J. |last14=Contu |first14=P. |last15=D’Arcy |first15=N. |date=2025-01-22 |title=Scaling and networking a modular photonic quantum computer |journal=Nature |volume=638 |issue=8052 |language=en |pages=912–919 |doi=10.1038/s41586-024-08406-9 |issn=1476-4687|doi-access=free |pmid=39843755 |pmc=11864973 |bibcode=2025Natur.638..912A }}
References
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