SDT participates in the national flagship project, "Development of a 1,000-qubit ytterbium-based neutral atom QPU platform."

Quantum standard technology specialist SDT (CEO Jiwon Yoon) announced on the 22nd that it will join the national flagship project of ‘Development of a 1,000-qubit neutral atom QPU platform based on ytterbium (Yb).’

This project is being led by the Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS), with SDT participating as a joint research and development organization alongside LG Electronics and Wooshin Engineering & Construction. Stanford University and MIT also participated as international joint research and development organizations, forming a "dream team" that brings together the highest-level research capabilities from both Korea and abroad. The research team includes Dr. Jong-cheol Moon of KRISS, Professor Soon-won Choi of MIT, Professor Jun-hee Choi of Stanford University, and Ji-won Yoon, CEO of SDT. All are graduates or affiliated researchers at the MIT-Harvard Center for Supercold Atoms (CUA).

Neutron atom platforms demonstrate strengths in high-reliability quantum gates, qubit scalability, and flexible connectivity control, and their commercialization is accelerating at global companies like Qera Computing. Securing a 1,000-qubit QPU is considered a national strategic technology goal.

This project is based on the ytterbium atom. Ytterbium's simple spin structure and long coherence time make it ideal for securing large-scale physical qubits. KRISS aims to develop its own QPU, including a next-generation architecture and control methodology, leveraging ytterbium control technology.

SDT plays a key role in the development of the QPU physics unit. It is primarily responsible for building an FPGA-based high-speed laser control system and integrated control solution, and is also responsible for developing a modular optical system optimized for commercialization. This modular optical system overcomes the bulk, vibration, and maintenance constraints of existing optical table-based equipment, while enhancing installation, management, and expandability.

This flagship project aims to establish a full-cycle technology development system that connects core technologies into integrated technologies and encompasses platform development and industrialization. SDT possesses both quantum computing hardware and optical equipment modularization technologies, and has experience in commercializing research-level technologies, such as miniaturizing control equipment and photon pair generation technology.

Yoon Ji-won, CEO of SDT, said, “This project is a key first step toward realizing the quantum computing industrialization in Korea with the best ‘dream team’ at home and abroad,” and added, “We will build a successful foundation for a 1,000-qubit QPU platform by concentrating our precision control and optical modularization capabilities.”

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