Bengaluru startup aims to make room-temperature quantum computing a reality
Quantum computers promise to solve problems that would take today's most powerful supercomputers years—or even centuries—to process. But there's one major obstacle holding them back: they need to operate at temperatures colder than outer space. Now, a Bengaluru-based startup believes it has found a way around that challenge by replacing electricity with light.
Most quantum computers, including those developed by companies like Google and IBM, rely on superconducting processors that must be cooled to temperatures close to -273°C using massive cryogenic refrigerators. Maintaining these ultra-low temperatures makes quantum computers expensive to build and difficult to scale.
Bengaluru-based Quanfluence is working on an alternative approach based on photonics, where light, rather than electricity, performs the computing. By eliminating superconducting electrical circuits, the company believes future quantum systems could eventually operate at room temperature.
Quanfluence was founded by Sujoy Chakravarty, Ravi Mehta and Biman Chattopadhyay. After selling their semiconductor startup, Silicon and Beyond, to Synopsys in 2018, the trio explored several quantum computing technologies—including superconducting systems, ion traps and photonics—before deciding that light offered the most practical long-term solution.
According to the founders, photonic computing is particularly well suited for countries like India, where building and maintaining the sophisticated cryogenic infrastructure required by conventional quantum computers would be significantly more challenging.
Building a commercial product first
Rather than waiting years to develop a universal quantum computer, Quanfluence has started with a commercially viable product called the Optical Ising Machine.
The company says the platform is designed to tackle highly complex optimisation problems, helping businesses solve planning and scheduling challenges more efficiently.
While it is not a universal quantum computer, the Optical Ising Machine is a quantum-inspired computing platform built for specialised workloads. It is intended to deliver practical benefits today while allowing the company to advance the underlying photonic technologies needed for future quantum systems.
Why use light?
Quanfluence argues that the biggest advantage of photonic computing is that it avoids the extreme cooling requirements of superconducting circuits.
Instead of housing processors inside giant cryogenic refrigerators operating at nearly -273°C, a photonic quantum computer could potentially function at room temperature, dramatically reducing costs, power consumption and infrastructure requirements.
That said, the company has not yet developed a universal room-temperature quantum computer. Its current Optical Ising Machine is designed for specialised optimisation tasks rather than replacing the general-purpose quantum computers being built by companies like Google and IBM.
Even so, Quanfluence believes the technology underpinning its current platform could eventually pave the way for practical, room-temperature photonic quantum computers, making the technology more affordable and accessible in the years ahead.
