Photonic 1 QPU available

Photonic Quantum Computing

Photonic quantum computers encode quantum information in photons — particles of light — using properties such as polarization, path, time-bin, or continuous-variable quadratures. Gaussian boson sampling (GBS) machines like Xanadu Borealis manipulate squeezed states of light through linear optical networks of beam splitters and phase shifters. Measurement-based approaches are common.

Operating Temp
Room temperature
Gate Speed
Picoseconds for passive operations; detector timing ~ns
Typical Fidelity
Variable; loss-dominated; ~98% for single-photon detectors
Scalability
Potentially very high leveraging integrated photonics

Key Advantage

Operates at room temperature (no cryogenics required), photons travel at the speed of light with minimal decoherence, and photonic hardware is compatible with existing fiber-optic telecommunications infrastructure for quantum networking.

Key Challenge

Deterministic photon-photon interactions are extremely difficult to engineer, making universal fault-tolerant quantum computation challenging. High photon loss rates and detector inefficiencies limit circuit depth. Current GBS machines are specialized rather than general-purpose.

Photonic QPUs (1)

QPU Qubits Best Price Link
Xanadu Borealis
Xanadu
 216 From $0.5000/task Details

Use Cases

Boson sampling and quantum advantage demonstrations Quantum key distribution and networking Quantum sensing Gaussian boson sampling applications Quantum communication

Frequently Asked Questions

Do photonic quantum computers need cryogenic cooling?
No — photonic quantum computers like Xanadu Borealis operate at room temperature. Photons do not decohere thermally the way matter-based qubits do. This is a major advantage for deployment, as it eliminates the expensive dilution refrigerators required by superconducting and annealing systems.
What is Gaussian Boson Sampling (GBS)?
GBS is a computational task where squeezed states of light are sent through a linear optical network (beam splitters and phase shifters) and measured by photon-number-resolving detectors. The output distribution is classically hard to simulate for large inputs. Xanadu Borealis demonstrated quantum advantage using GBS in 2022.
Can photonic QPUs run general-purpose quantum algorithms?
Current GBS machines like Borealis are special-purpose. They excel at specific sampling tasks but cannot natively run algorithms like Shor's factoring or VQE. Universal photonic quantum computing requires deterministic photon-photon interactions, which are extremely difficult to engineer. This is a major area of active research.
What SDKs work with Xanadu photonic QPUs?
Xanadu provides PennyLane (their open-source quantum ML framework) and Strawberry Fields for programming photonic circuits. Both are Python-based and available open-source. The Xanadu Cloud SDK handles job submission to Borealis.
What are the main applications of photonic quantum computers?
Current photonic systems are best suited for Gaussian boson sampling experiments, quantum advantage demonstrations, and quantum networking applications. Longer-term, photonic approaches could excel at quantum communication (photons are natural carriers of quantum information over fiber optic networks) and quantum sensing.

Compare With Other Technologies

Photonic vs Superconducting

Picoseconds for passive operations; detector timing ~ns gates vs 10–700 ns per gate

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Photonic vs Trapped Ion

Picoseconds for passive operations; detector timing ~ns gates vs 1 µs – 1 ms per gate

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Photonic vs Neutral Atom

Picoseconds for passive operations; detector timing ~ns gates vs 0.1 µs – 1 ms per gate

Compare Xanadu Borealis vs QuEra Aquila →
Photonic vs Topological

Picoseconds for passive operations; detector timing ~ns gates vs Not yet characterized at scale

Compare Xanadu Borealis vs Microsoft Majorana 1 →