IonQ Selected for DARPA HARQ Program and Demonstrates First Remote Photonic Interconnect

IonQ has been awarded a contract by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to participate in the Heterogeneous Architectures for Quantum (HARQ) program, which aims to create a unified quantum system by integrating various qubit modalities. As part of this effort, IonQ has successfully demonstrated a remote photonic interconnect, a crucial step towards developing networked quantum architectures. This achievement marks a significant milestone in the development of quantum computing, as it enables the connection of different quantum systems over long distances. The HARQ program seeks to harness the strengths of diverse qubit modalities, such as trapped ions and superconducting qubits, to create a high-performance system¹. This advancement has significant implications for the field of quantum computing, as it can potentially lead to breakthroughs in fields like cryptography and simulation. The successful demonstration of a remote photonic interconnect by IonQ brings the possibility of a unified quantum system one step closer to reality, and this matters to practitioners because it can lead to significant advancements in quantum computing capabilities.