The Montana Instruments-Using Dragon
Electrical, Optical, and Cryogenic Tools for Whole Dragon Broods to Enjoy
Montana Instruments provides essential high-precision electrical, optical, and cryogenic tools for The Quantum Dragon. These products are also applicable to quantum computing, quantum education, quantum networking, and quantum materials research, but I know deep down inside you’re here for the dragon.
MONTANA INSTRUMENTS is now a sponsor/exhibitor at IQT Nordics 2025
Montana Instruments has recently become an exhibitor at IQT Nordics 2025 taking place in Gothenburg, Sweden this May 20-22. IQT Nordics takes place annually in either Denmark, Finland or Sweden. Over 20 organizations will be participating as exhibitors or sponsors. For additional information visit www.iqtevent.com.
IQT Nordics 2025 welcomes Quantum Delta NL as a platinum sponsor for the May 20-22 event taking place in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Quantum Delta NL is also sponsoring the wonderful evening cruise and dinner on the evening of 21 May. Complete conference and exhibition information can be found at www.iqtevent.com.
Early Bird discounts for IQT Nordics 2025 end on 10 April.
Significant savings are available to those who register by end of day 10 April. IQT Nordics offers over 60 speakers, lab tours, and evening networking opportunities. See www.iqtevent.com for the schedule taking place 20-22 May in Gothenburg, Sweden at Chalmers University.
Cat fight!
If you’re a fine art connoisseur and/or a cat aficionado, you might want to follow Steve Vaile. It looks like he’s going to be in this newsletter a lot, but I’m obviously not going to be able to include everything. Follow him now to see what I’ll be missing! Oh, and he writes about quantum cybersecurity. This link might require a LinkedIn account.
The Korean Quantum Machines
First, I wondered how Cierra Choucair and The Quantum Insider missed such a golden opportunity with this Insider Brief. Then I wondered how I missed an article suggesting that SDT Inc. could build multiple modalities with just a few million dollars. But then I discovered that SDT makes control systems and deleted my jokes.
Quantum Sunscreen
Thanks to Mark McGuire for sharing this post from the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. The Quantum Dragon decided to try on some sunscreen and he is very confused by it, but he nonetheless suggests his human friends check it out. This link might require a LinkedIn account.
Quantum Poetry Competition
The key takeaway is that there are cash prizes in the amounts of £1,000 for first place, £500 for second place, and £250 for third place. Explore science through poetry for a chance to be published, to be featured during a live reading event, and to pocket some of this cold hard cash.
H2 Demo
Thanks to Dr. Jennifer (Sebby) Strabley of Quantinuum for showing off this H2 demo. I’m not even going to attempt to describe it, just click on the link and watch the 80-second video. I can’t imagine anyone being disappointed… well, unless you work at Quantinuum and you’ve seen it already. This link might require a LinkedIn account.
Pigeon Trap Quantum Computers
According to Iftach Yakar, and confirmed by one automatic translator, the Hebrew word for “ion trap” also translates to “pigeon trap.” This Bluesky post includes a screenshot of what happens if you Google מלכודת יונים, which I just confirmed by searching for מלכודת יונים on Google myself.
April Fools!
In case you looked for them and missed them, here are some good April Fool’s jokes. If you somehow didn’t notice any at all, I highly recommend reading some books. In your defense, however, it’s getting harder these days, with all of the hype and bovine excrement, to determine what’s not an April Fool’s joke.
- CERN (thanks Dr. Erik Garcell)
- Ema P.
- Henry Legg
- Iftach Yakar
- IQM
- Qiskit
- Quantum Formalism Academy
- The Quantum Insider
My Dad Was A Wood Elf
Steve Vaile has to make the cut again with the invocation of wood elves. I mean, seriously, how can I possibly ignore that?!?!? To further pique your interest, this article is about Alice & Bob optimizing gate synthesis for quantum circuits by framing it as Boolean satisfiability problems. This link might require a LinkedIn account.
Comic Strip!
Big kudos to Toptica Photonics for the old school comic strip. I’m awarding bonus points for the cup of coffee. This link might require a LinkedIn account.
The Quantum Dragon Podcast: Sergio Gago
I spoke with The Quantum Dragon’s uncle, Captain Sergio Gago, about his Quantum Pirates newsletter, curating noise, snarky remarks, the Ion Maiden band, The CTO Toolbox, AI, Risitas, and a whole bunch of other stuff.
“Chandelier” type cryostats are obsolescent. “Meat Locker” type cryostats are the new emerging standard.
Meat Lockers
I wish I had a link to the entire message, but I can only find these two wonderful sentences in an email from Dave Chapman. He seems to be a big fan of PsiQuantum and its “meat locker” cryostats—a term I haven’t seen anywhere else—relegating everyone else in the industry to the middle of the pack, at best.
Bullshit Meter
Joan Arrow has a bullshit meter on Bluesky. Unlike the Quantum Bullshit Detector, which is limited to “bullshit” and “not bullshit” verdicts, the bullshit meter apparently awards 1 to 5 poop emojis on a bullshit scale. The “technology” appears to be in its infancy, but I’m curious how it’ll develop. The 1st 5-poop reading was “multiverse.”
HHL Portfolio Optimization, Round 1
The Quantum Dragon wants a better return on his wealth than he can earn by hoarding it in his cave, so he used QCentroid to take the HHL algorithm for a test flight to optimize a stock portfolio. As the “round 1” suggests, this is the 1st article in a series that will use QCentroid to compare quantum SDKs and classical solvers.
Quantum Illustrated
“Beware Of The Sinister Ghoul Of Quantum Computing Education” is too well illustrated and too creatively written to ignore. That said, I’m a little surprised this wasn’t published around Halloween. Upon closer scrutiny, however, it’s undated, so maybe it was?
Zapata AI Job Seekers… only 1 left on this list!
If you were laid off by Zapata AI and would like a free listing in this newsletter, please reach out and let me know. I’ll maintain a list in The Quantum Dragon until everyone on the list has been gainfully employed elsewhere or is otherwise no longer actively job seeking. I might extend this offer to all job seekers, but I’ll start with these layoffs.
- Shawn Gibford Industrial PHDc: Quantum Applications in the Life Sciences
Quantum Noise Detector
Alan Ho and Prof. Michael Biercuk inspired the Resuscitated Quantum Bullshit Detector, but the original(?) has resurfaced on Bluesky. It’s back to reposting a simple “bullshit” or “not bullshit,” so The Quantum Dragon will continue to monitor for challenges, controversies, and debates under this new name from Dr. Bob Sutor.
- During April Fool’s Day week, who can tell?
