From quantum physicist to CEO: how Michael Biercuk started Q-Ctrl
Quantum computers face roadblocks in development due to qubit instability. With backing from CSIRO and venture capital, Q-Ctrl will develop the firmware to stabilise the quantum revolution.
Q-Ctrl: powering the quantum revolution
Q-Ctrl Pty Ltd, the first spin-off company from the University of Sydney’s Quantum Science Group, has been established with the support of Australian and international venture capital.
Professor Michael J. Biercuk is transitioning from quantum physicist to CEO of Q-Ctrl, a start-up that will provide solutions to stabilise quantum technologies. He will jointly hold positions in the company and University.
“We aim to become the trusted provider of quantum control solutions for all quantum technologies,” he said.
The Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Dr Michael Spence, said: “This is what our University is all about: investing in people and in fundamental research that can become the real-world solutions for tomorrow.”
Q-Ctrl has attracted multimillion dollar investments from both Main Sequence Ventures – the manager of CSIRO’s innovation fund – and an international venture capital firm.
“Quantum technology, harnessing the strangest effects in quantum physics as resources, will be as transformational in the 21st century as harnessing electricity was in the 19th,” Professor Biercuk said. A recent Morgan Stanley report said the quantum economy was set to double to $10 billion in the next decade.
“Quantum computing in particular promises to totally upend the way we process information, rendering previously uncomputable problems manageable – from the chemistry underpinning pharmaceutical discoveries to major challenges in codebreaking and materials science,” he said.
Professor Michael J. Biercuk at the Sydney Nanoscience Hub. Credit: Louise Cooper
Phil Morle, partner at Main Sequence Ventures, said: “Quantum computing is an unstoppable new industry that Main Sequence Ventures wants to foster. Deep tech founder Michael Biercuk is developing solutions that will accelerate the development of this global industry, and we are proud that the company will be Australian.”
Despite the exceptional promise of quantum computing, the underlying hardware is highly susceptible to errors. Quantum bits, or qubits – the fundamental carriers of information in quantum computers – degrade rapidly.
Reducing and controlling qubit errors will be essential for quantum devices to scale up to machines that are useful. That’s where Q-Ctrl comes in, developing firmware for quantum computing.
Professor Biercuk said: “Quantum control is a powerful tool to improve the performance of quantum devices, preventing errors even before they accumulate.
“The firmware tools Q-Ctrl is building have had their performance validated in the lab and show orders of magnitude improvement in reducing qubit errors without the need for changing the underlying hardware.”
The director of the Australian Institute for Nanoscale Technology and Science at the University of Sydney, Professor Susan Pond, welcomed the launch of Q-Ctrl.
“Fundamental research is a powerful driver of economic prosperity. Our research in quantum physics will shape people’s lives for many decades,” Professor Pond said.
An ion trap at the University of Sydney's Quantum Control Laboratory. Ion traps are used to confine individual atoms for experiments in quantum control and quantum computing. Credit: Professor Michael Biercuk
