BritChips podcast: Cool Hand Rob - The Kelvin Quantum Story

Quantum computers like it cold. Very cold indeed. We're talking about temperatures close to absolute zero (-273.15°C)

However, off-the-shelf electronics subsystems that connect them to the outside world do not like it anywhere near as cold. Typically, about -40°C is as cool as they go.

Which means that the electronics have to sit outside the cryogenic environment, connected to the quantum computer with hundreds, if not thousands, of wires depending on the size of the computer.

The problem is, these wires carry heat which is detrimental to the cryogenic environment.

Belfast-born Robert Graham leads the team at University of Glasgow spinout, Kelvin Quantum, which designs ultra-low temperature interface systems that sit in the same cryogenic environment as a quantum computer and connect directly to the outside world with just four wires.

Kelvin Quantum is one of the start-ups selected for the third cohort of the Government-sponsored ChipStartUK programme, managed by incubator Silicon Catalyst.UK.

In this podcast, Robert explains how he was invited to lead the quantum computing project at the University of Glasgow and manage the spin-out process to a successful conclusion.

Robert describes the challenges the team faced in modelling and testing their designs in the absence of tool kits suitable for cryogenic semiconductor systems, and the many potential use cases beyond quantum computing.

There's so much to learn from Robert's efforts to commercialise leading-edge technology designed to be used in the most unforgiving of environments. So get listening!

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