The next generation
of scalable quantum
hardware

ZuriQ is an ETH Zürich spin-off building a utility-scale quantum computer with a native two-dimensional trap architecture

How We Are Scaling Quantum Computing: Reengineering the Trapped-Ion Architecture

Our technology overcomes the scaling challenges of trapped-ion quantum computing by confining ions using only static electromagnetic fields, rather than oscillating radio-frequency fields. We achieve this with micro-fabricated chips featuring an array of electrodes that hold voltages, with the chips and trapped ions embedded in a large, homogeneous static magnetic field. As a result, single ions can be trapped anywhere above the chip.

Varying the electrode voltages over time allows the trap array to be fully reconfigured in three dimensions, so ions can be rearranged and transported across the chip on demand — the capability needed to scale trapped-ion uantum computers to the thousands of qubits required for practical use.

A different way to trap ions

This image shows that capability in action: nine individually trapped ions, arranged in a native two-dimensional array on a single chip. Rather than lining qubits up in a row, as conventional radio-frequency traps require, our architecture lets us position each ion freely above the chip surface — a first step toward the fully reconfigurable, thousands-of-qubit arrays needed to make trapped-ion quantum computing practical at scale.