Rigetti Computing (NASDAQ:RGTI) on Thursday said it was awarded a three-year, $5.8 million contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to advance superconducting quantum networking.
Rigetti will be collaborating with Dutch quantum technology startup QphoX on the project.
Quantum networking is being explored for its potential revolutionary use cases, such as distributed quantum computing and developing a secure quantum internet.
“Building on Rigetti and QphoX’s successful demonstration of qubit-transducer systems working together to perform optical single-shot qubit readout, the team plans to combine superconducting microwave qubits developed by Rigetti with single-photon microwave-optical transducers developed by QphoX,” the company said.
The project aims to deliver systems providing entanglement between superconducting qubits and optical photons, the essential building block of quantum networking, it added.
