{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The New Quantum Era - innovation in quantum computing, science and technology","title":"Carbon nanotube qubits with Pierre Desjardins","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":1602,"description":"Pierre Desjardins is the cofounder of C12, a Paris-based quantum computing hardware startup that specializes in carbon nanotube-based spin qubits. Notably, Pierre founded the company alongside his twin brother, Mathieu, making them the only twin-led deep-tech startups that we know of! Pierre’s journey is unconventional—he is a rare founder in quantum hardware without a PhD, drawing instead on engineering and entrepreneurial experience. The episode dives into what drew him to quantum computing and the pivotal role COVID-19 played in catalyzing his career shift from consulting to quantum technology.C12’s Technology and Unique AngleC12 focuses on developing high-performance qubits using single-wall carbon nanotubes. Unlike companies centered on silicon or germanium spin qubits, C12 fabricates carbon nanotubes, tests them for impurities, and then assembles them on silicon chips as a final step. The team exclusively uses isotopically pure carbon-12 to minimize magnetic and nuclear spin noise, yielding a uniquely clean environment for electron confinement. This yields ultra-low charge noise and enables the company to build highly coherent qubits with remarkable material purity.Key Technical InnovationsSpin-Photon Coupling: C12’s system stands out for driving spin qubits using microwave photons, drawing inspiration from superconducting qubit architectures. This enables the implementation of a “quantum bus”—a superconducting interconnect that allows long-range coupling between distant qubits, sidestepping the scaling bottleneck of nearest-neighbor architectures.Addressable Qubits: Each carbon nanotube qubit can be tuned on or off the quantum bus by manipulating the double quantum dot confinement, providing flexible connectivity and the ability to maximize coherence in a memory mode.Stability and Purity: Pierre emphasizes that C12’s suspended architecture dramatically reduces charge noise and results in exceptional stability, with minimal calibration drift, over...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/0bJ0_ffy0r0O2l32QT5Tn9-3l9jtqpUcMVwNZnZXwRM/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS8yZmZl/YmRlZTAxNDY3MWJk/NmI2MGVkMGMxYmFh/MTM2Mi5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}