University of Sussex’s Ion Quantum Technology Group Favors Trapped Ion Approach

(LabNews.UK) The University of Sussex is one of nine universities that make up a national quantum computing network, formed in 2013 as part of the UK’s government £270 million National Quantum Technologies Programme. Its mission is to commercialize the first universal quantum computer.
There are two leading quantum architectures upon which a quantum computer is based: superconducting electronic circuits – the approach favoured by IBM, Microsoft and Google in their efforts to build commercial computers – and trapped ion. Sussex favours the latter.
“We most certainly are some of the only people who have a clear route to how to build a large-scale quantum computer,” says Sebastian Weidt, from the university’s Ion Quantum Technology group. “IBM and Google are following a particular approach; we’re following a different approach where we believe we have a clear edge.”