Completed Computing & AI Physics & Astronomy

Full-Stack Superconducting 24-Qubit Quantum Computing Testbed With Tunable Couplers and Scalable Control System

Funder InnovateUK (part of UKRI)
Recipient organisation Rigetti UK Limited
Funding £3.1M
Period Jan 2024 — Mar 2025

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

Rigetti is building a 24-qubit quantum computer at the UK’s National Quantum Computing Centre, using tunable couplers that let qubits talk to each other faster and more reliably than before. This matters because today’s quantum computers are still too error-prone and small to outperform classical machines for most real-world tasks. The new architecture—a square lattice of qubits linked by tunable couplers—improves gate speed, fidelity, and connectivity over earlier designs. Riverlane is simultaneously developing a digital error-correction stack called Deltaflow, which will let researchers run error-correction experiments using fast decoders that talk to the quantum hardware through a universal interface. If this testbed succeeds, it will give UK researchers and companies hands-on access to a full-stack quantum system—from the physical qubits up through the compiler and cloud services—that can be upgraded and scaled. That could accelerate progress toward fault-tolerant quantum computers, which in turn might one day transform drug discovery, materials design, logistics optimisation, and cryptography. For now, the project is a practical engineering step: building a working testbed to learn what it takes to make quantum computing reliable enough to use.

View original technical description
Rigetti proposes delivering a 24-qubit quantum computing system based on its fourth-generation architecture at the NQCC facility on Harwell Campus. In this project, Riverlane also will develop proprietary digital control interfaces for superconducting Quantum Processing Units (QPUs) and integrate them with Rigetti's system. The proposed 24-qubit quantum computer will feature Rigetti's fourth-generation QPUs, the basis of its US-based 84-qubit quantum computer, expected to be available publicly at the end of 2023 and currently internally deployed for R&D and to select partners. The architecture features tunable couplers and a square lattice, which enables faster gate times, higher fidelity, and greater connectivity compared to Rigetti's previous generations of QPUs. Rigetti's full stack, including custom-built control systems and Rigetti QCS (Quantum Cloud Services), will be deployed, offering users the opportunity to harness the full spectrum of the quantum computer's capabilities. Rigetti's software development framework includes proprietary tools such as pyQuil, enabling the creation and execution of quantum computing algorithms, the Quilc compiler, and Quil-T for pulse-level access. Concurrently with Rigetti's testbed implementation, Riverlane will deliver the Quantum Error Correction (QEC) stack, Deltaflow, which allows execution of error-correction experiments using Riverlane’s fast and accurate decoders. Deltaflow communicates with the quantum computers through a universal QEC Interface, enabling flexible upgrading and scaling up of the decoders and the control systems.

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Related Research

Grants with similar aims, by meaning.

HERMES - Highly Enhanced Real-time Metrics for Error-corrected Superconducting quantum computers
QEC Readout Testbed – SEEQC’s scalable digital QEC ready qubit readout chip integrated with Rigetti’s Novera QPU
Quantum Computer Scaling with Optical Arrayed Readout (QC-SOAR)
DECIDE: Dimon Error Correction Integrated into a Data-centre Environment.
The QUantum Advantage-Ready Trapped-Ion Exploration Testbed: QUARTET

Original classification

Small Business Research Initiative

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