Inside Quantum Technology

Bring that FIYAH.

Brian Siegelwax
Quantum Fiery Voices

I animated the dragon that I have used for Quantum Fiery Voices. It’s a small club that currently counts only Olivier Ezratty, Jensen Huang, Jack Krupansky, Prof. Chris Ferrie, and Dr. Bob Sutor as members. The moral of the story is that your favorite dragons (it should be all of them) are about to become animated. Enjoy this first one:

This week’s IQT News:

This week’s The Premium Quantum Dragon (Substack):

This week’s Friends of The Quantum Dragon (inline):

In this edition:

QUANTUM + AI 2026 EARLY BIRD SAVINGS!

Q+AI October 25-27 in New York City is fast approaching. Savings of 20 percent is available for those registering by September 24. The 2026 event includes a unique one-day track devoted to PQC and the special opening night dinner cruise on New York Harbor. Q+AI offers numerous networking opportunities and a focused exhibit hall. Complete information: www.iqtevent.com.

“Are you ready for Q-day?”

Carlos Creus Moreira, Founder and CEO of WISekey and SEALSQ (NASDAQ $LAES and $WKEY) asks the big question. Want answers? Mr. Moreira will give the Main Conference Keynote and sit on the Senior Executive Panel at Q+AI 2026 (3.0): Uncovering the Coming Wave of Quantum + AI, which is coming to New York City October 25-27, 2026. SEALSQ is the Titanium Sponsor.

“We see the need for bold investments.”

Following the announcement of Project VANGUARD, Photonic Inc.’s proposal to establish a CAD$500M multi-tenant semiconductor manufacturing facility to help accelerate commercialization of quantum, AI and defense innovation in Canada, Don Mattrick, CEO, Photonic Inc., provided this exclusive comment:

“Photonic is proposing Project VANGUARD because we see the need for bold investments in the infrastructure that underpins innovation. As demand for advanced semiconductor manufacturing continues to grow, this facility would provide critical capacity for Canadian companies while helping establish global leadership in the technologies and supply chains that will shape the decades ahead.” 

Tyrannosaurus Rex! I’m the best hunter!

Yuval Boger’s “Quantum Bits” explains the Rydberg Blockade of neutral atom quantum computing with a T-Rex. That’s just good, clean, wholesome family fun right there. And it’s educational, too. Okay, technically it involves one of our protagonists in a T-Rex costume, as opposed to an actual T-Rex, but since I’ve never used a T-Rex analogy before, I’ll allow it.

Benedict Arnold signed the Declaration of Independence

No, he didn’t. But that’s one heck of an analogy for Mark McGuire to use in “The Signature on That Transaction Can Be Forged Retroactively” to characterize “Trust Now, Forge Later” (TNFL). I’m awarding an awful lot of admittedly worthless bonus points for the inclusion of the map, which contains a theme-appropriate history lesson.

Everything you always wanted to know about New Mexico

… but were afraid to ask. Sam Lucero’s “Quantum in the Land of Enchantment” reveals more about the Great State of New Mexico’s quantum ecosystem than I’ve seen… well… probably everywhere combined. In all honesty, the only question I’ve ever had about New Mexico is: why does The Quantum Dragon keep taking a left turn at Albuquerque?

Eat Dr. Corey O’Meara’s shorts.

Don’t have a cow, man. You don’t really need to eat Dr. O’Meara’s shorts, but you really want to read his post. I’ve invoked Kent Brockman before, but I concede pop culture defeat to Bart Simpson on the blackboard. The ants in space episode was only epic, but the recurring blackboard is downright legendary. This link may require a LinkedIn account.

Issuing The Quantum Kid a Challenge

If The Quantum Kid wants to play Dr. James “The Dungeon Master of Quantum Computing” Wootton’s game on Roblox and Dr. Tamás Varga’s Quantum Chess, you know who else likes to play quantum games, Roblox games (too much), and chess? The Quantum Dragon. I’ve pitched a couple of ideas to Katia Moskvitch….

B-2 vs Boeing 777

QuEra is apparently building the Boeing 777 of quantum computers. I thought they were going to go with the B-2, because he who has the B-2 wins. But if we leave the payloads in the hangars for a moment, one of these 2 aircraft is indeed significantly more accessible than the other. This link may require a LinkedIn account.

Quantum as a metaphorical wonder drug

Yuval Boger makes the cut again this week, and probably for the 3rd time. First, we’ve got the T-Rex, which is right out of his book. Then, we’ve got B-2 vs Boeing 777, which he must’ve either come up with or been a part of. But I can’t ignore a penicillin reference, so his Fast Company plug has to give him the hat trick this week. This link may require a LinkedIn account.

Inside Quandela’s Toys

This 6:19 video is not about Rey Mysterio. It’s supposedly about Quandela, but the interesting moments are the brief peeks inside their lab, inside their microscopes, at their benches, and even inside their boxes. It’s important to note that you can go to Quandela Cloud and play with their photonic quantum computers with up to 200 free credits per month.

Strange Superconducting Bedfellows

“Run a quantum computer backwards and you get a dark matter detector” is way outside my wheelhouse, but it argues that superconducting quantum computers and superconducting detectors, despite diametrically opposed goals, have identical engineering challenges, and that it might behoove researchers on both sides to collaborate.

“Convert electroplated Cu damascene structures into superconducting interconnects.”

Following the publication of “Superconducting Damascene Interconnects from Electrodeposition and Solid-State Metal Exchange” in IOPscience’s Journal of The Electrochemical Society, Qiang Huang, Associate Professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Styslinger College of Engineering, The University of Alabama, provided this exclusive comment:

“Copper damascene technology has been used for interconnects in state-of-the-art VLSI semiconductor circuitry. We have discovered and demonstrated a metal-exchange process to convert electroplated Cu damascene structures into superconducting interconnects, in which the damascene features themselves are filled with superconducting metal. The process is fully compatible with and can be easily integrated into the current damascene process flow. We hope this technology can help enable the integration and manufacturing of very-large-scale quantum circuits in the near future.”

IQT The Quantum Dragon Podcast Episode 90 – Of Algorithms and Analogies

I spoke with Dr. Ulrich Hoff, Quantum Engagement Specialist at Kvantify, about Koffee and Qrunch for quantum chemistry, why Qrunch features the variational quantum eigensolver so prominently, the use of Nvidia’s DGX-Spark to simulate 60-80 qubits, onion layers and other analogies, the significance of stressing “practical advantage,” the definition of “intermediate algorithms,” and more.

Rapid Scaling on Both Sides of the Atlantic

Following the announcement that Phasecraft will establish its new US headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, Ashley Montanaro, co-founder and CEO of Phasecraft, provided this exclusive comment:

“Offering a thriving quantum ecosystem that we look forward to contributing to, a rich talent pool and proximity to our partners such as DARPA, we’re thrilled to be establishing our new HQ in Arlington, VA. Over 6 X the size of the previous U.S. office, this move underlines our commitment to rapidly scaling our global quantum algorithms company on both sides of the Atlantic.”

Instantly protect applications that previously had no quantum-safe path.

Following the release by F5 Labs of its 2026 State of Post-Quantum Cryptography report, Simon Pamplin, CTO at Certes, commented:

“When you read the full report, a couple of statements stand out:

‘enterprise environments remain weighed down by legacy operational habits and outdated protocols’

‘Critical infrastructure and high-value industries post alarmingly low post-quantum success rates: Government sits at only 35%, Oil & Gas at 34%, and Telecommunications at 35%. For public sector and critical infrastructure entities whose proprietary operational data, intelligence, and citizen records carry multi-decade confidentiality requirements, this sluggish migration pace invites acute exposure to persistent Harvest Now, Decrypt Later campaigns.’

Legacy applications are very often core systems for finance and banking as well as the other industries mentioned in the report. These legacy systems either cannot be upgraded to use embedded quantum resistant algorithms or they dare not touch them as they are so critical to the business. In these situations there is a choice, the Cryptographic Abstraction Layer from Certes, a data layer control that wraps the existing data flowing to and from the legacy applications with quantum resistant encryption and sovereign keys that change every 60 minutes. This instantly protects applications that previously had no quantum safe path. Anyone exfiltrating data in a HNDL scenario will get a quantum encrypted bundle of useless unreadable data. All done without modifying either the application or the infrastructure in a matter of days not years. This not only protects the data for the business but also instantly complies with the government mandates we are seeing globally being published.”

Simon Pamplin, CTO of Certes, will be speaking at PQC+IQT, which is coming to New York City October 25-26.

VISIONARY: Dr. Merritt Moore, Quantum Physicist and Ballerina

Aerith Quantum Report (AQR) has a nice format: headline, summary, “what does it mean,” “this matters to …,” and then a direct URL. It makes the cut this week, though, because you don’t see ballet references all too often in quantum. Different kinds of spin, yeah, yeah, yeah, but you’d think there would be memes or jokes by now, not just someone’s hobby.

Improving Quantum Error Correction on an Abandoned Architecture

Quantum Elements “improv[ed] quantum error correction by meshing surface code with IBM’s heavy-hex architecture,” which IBM has abandoned with its newest Nighthawk chip line. Maybe the research has a future and maybe it doesn’t, but it’s odd to celebrate solving a problem that IBM no longer needs solved.

I’ve loved quantum computing since childhood.

This meme has 2 things going for it: 1) It uses Stewie from Family Guy; and 2) J. M. Landsberg is using it to shamelessly promote the book “Quantum Computation and Quantum Information (Graduate Studies in Mathematics).” The irony is that the book sample shows maths, in stark contrast to the lighthearted meme promoting it. Also, the meme has an incorrect title.

Make quantum games in Scratch with Quokka.

I’ve apparently never used “the most famous, most widely used programming language in the world,” but who am I to question hyperbole? More importantly, who am I to stand in the way of you adding quantum computing to your video games? I’m awarding admittedly worthless bonus points for Prof. Chris Ferrie starting the video with “hey, everyone, I’m down here.”

Image generated by an AI model provided by Microsoft Copilot.

Quantum Noise Detector

Alan Ho and Prof. Michael Biercuk inspired the Resuscitated Quantum Bullshit Detector, but the original(?) has resurfaced on Bluesky. It’s back to reposting a simple “bullshit” or “not bullshit,” so The Quantum Dragon will continue to monitor for challenges, controversies, and debates under this new name from Dr. Bob Sutor.

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