Quantum News Briefs June 8: Rigetti Computing founder joins quantum computing-focused venture fund QDNL Participations; Quantum sensing breakthrough: Infleqtion unveils the future of resilient navigation; Chattanooga’s “Gig City Goes Quantum” doubles World Quantum Day participation goal + MORE

Quantum News Briefs June 8: Rigetti Computing founder joins quantum computing-focused venture fund QDNL Participations; Quantum sensing breakthrough: Infleqtion unveils the future of resilient navigation; Chattanooga’s “Gig City Goes Quantum” doubles World Quantum Day participation goal + MORE.

Rigetti Computing founder joins quantum computing-focused venture fund QDNL Participations

Chad Rigetti joined quantum technology-focused fund QDNL Participations as a partner, the venture capital firm said on Wednesday. Quantum News Briefs summarizes June 7 Reuters articles.
In the new role, Rigetti will bring his know-how about developing quantum information technologies and taking them from the lab to the market, QDNL said.
Rigetti Computing started trading on Nasdaq in March 2022 after a merger with a blank-check company. Rigetti left the quantum computing firm backed by Y Combinator and Andreessen Horowitz late last year.
Backed by Europe-based Quantum Delta NL foundation, QDNL Participations is a 15 million euro ($16.02 million) fund for early-stage Dutch quantum technology start-ups. It was launched in March this year. Click here to read Reuters June 7 article in-entirety.

Quantum sensing breakthrough: Infleqtion unveils the future of resilient navigation

Infleqtion has announce breakthrough progress in advancing the field of quantum navigation by a University Colorado team in work supported by Infleqtion and the National Science Foundation. The team demonstrated the world’s first software-configured, quantum-enabled high-performance accelerometer by combining machine learning with quantum sensing. It is designed for Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) applications that operate under accelerations up to several tens of times the Earth’s gravity (g). Quantum News Briefs summarizes the announcement.
The accelerometer demonstrated a sensor volume reduction of greater than a factor of 10,000 times compared to the current state-of-the-art technology. It also withstands unwanted vibrations by a factor of 10-100 times greater than traditional atom-based sensors. This achievement demonstrates how atom interferometry’s exceptional precision can be applied in practical, real-world environments.
These results highlight the future of quantum sensing as a high-precision alternative to satellite-based GPS signals, addressing vulnerabilities associated with GPS denial or spoofing tactics employed by adversaries. This breakthrough enables optimal adaptability to mission requirements and opens new possibilities for precision in real-world GPS-denied environments. The findings will be presented at the annual APS Division of Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics Meeting. Click here to read June 7 announcement in-entirety on Infleqtion’s website.

Chattanooga’s “Gig City Goes Quantum” doubles World Quantum Day participation goal

Launched in March 2023, Gig City Goes Quantum joins organizations across Chattanooga to leverage EPB Quantum Network to accelerate the commercialization of quantum technology. Public and private organizations across Chattanooga continue collaborating to develop a quantum ecology to grow education, business and entrepreneurial opportunities. Quantum News Briefs shares June 6 announcement and coverage.
This year marked Chattanooga’s community-wide participation in World Quantum Day led by Gig City Goes Quantum, a collaboration to prepare Chattanooga for education, jobs and business opportunities in the emerging quantum sector.
“Chattanooga’s enthusiastic participation in World Quantum Day reflects how invested our community is in preparing for future innovations, positioning not just Chattanooga, but our entire country to be competitive in the quantum technology industry,” said U.S. Congressman Chuck Fleischmann (TN-03). “It’s my priority to advance our community’s efforts to create a destination for quantum technology and position innovations at home as examples to the rest of our country.”
Momentum generated by Gig City Goes Quantum and World Quantum Day reinforces the National Quantum Initiative Act to accelerate the commercialization of quantum technology by building a well-prepared workforce and supporting the growth and job creation of quantum technology companies. This has gained additional urgency as other countries threaten to surpass America’s technical leadership in this rapidly emerging industry. To address this issue, Tennessee’s U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn co-sponsored bipartisan legislation to advance the United States’ position in the global quantum race.
“As we know in Tennessee, quantum applications have great potential to be a powerful source of technological innovation,” said Senator Blackburn. “While Communist China has publicly acknowledged their goal to lead the world in quantum communications by 2049, it’s critical the United States provide an environment for entrepreneurs and companies to promote competition and continued innovation. My bipartisan legislation, the Quantum Sandbox for Near-Term Applications Act, will create a public-private partnership to accelerate the development of near-term quantum applications.”
Quantum Learning Activities continue to be available to students, teachers, parents and anyone with a curious mind at gigcitygoesquantum.com. Videos, games and lessons include contributed content from Hamilton County Schools, Chattanooga State Community College, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC), Chattanooga 2.0, Public Education Foundation Chattanooga, National Science Foundation, National Q-12 Education Partnership, EPB, Qubitekk and Xairos.

China Telecom has invested 3 billion yuan ($434 million) to establish the China Telecom Quantum Information Technology Group Co., it said in a statement on its official WeChat account Tuesday.
The new entity, to be based in the eastern Chinese province of Anhui, will focus on developing quantum technology, stepping up the pace of quantum product updates and promoting the industry nationwide, the statement said.
The investment marks the latest move by a Chinese telecommunications giant to try to tap into quantum technology and reflects Beijing’s ambition to pull ahead in the global race to harness the power of quantum computing.
“[This] is a practical action to thoroughly study and implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important instructions on the development of quantum technology,” China Telecom said in its statement.
China Telecom’s move comes after China Mobile, the world’s largest telecom carrier with 900 million mobile subscribers, last December signed a deal with Chinese startup Origin Quantum looking to use quantum computing to overcome computational bottlenecks facing 5G and 6G technologies.

Sandra K. Helsel, Ph.D. has been researching and reporting on frontier technologies since 1990.  She has her Ph.D. from the University of Arizona.