European Consortiums Advance Quantum Computing Tech: Week in Brief: 3/18/22

Semiconductor materials producer Soitec will establish a fabrication facility at its headquarters in Bernin, France. The facility will be used to produce Soitec’s SmartSic wafers developed at the Substrate Innovation Center at CEA-Leti, using Soitec’s SmartCut technology. The facility will support the company’s 300-mm silicon-on-insulator activities.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Panoramic imaging technology startup Circle Optics was awarded $1.75 million in funding. The company received a $1 million National Science Foundation Phase II award for “Fast Panoramic Image Capture for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.” In phase II, the company will further develop its stitchless 360º camera systems to bring emerging capabilities to UAVs and drones. The company also received a $750,000 grant through the U.S. Air Force AFWERX to develop preliminary optomechanical designs and a multitelescopic camera channel breadboard to demonstrate the potential for high-resolution panoramic, swath-scan imaging of Earth.

A drawing of a drone equipped with a Circle Optics panoramic imaging system. Courtesy of Circle Optics.

DRESDEN, Germany — Along with 24 German research institutions and companies, the Fraunhofer Institute for Photonic Microsystems IPMS is working on a quantum computer with improved error rates in the collaborative project QSolid coordinated by Forschungszentrum Jülich. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research has allocated €76.3 million (~$84.67 million) for the next five years for the project.

LIÈGE, Belgium — Precision laser micromachining technology company LASEA received a €10 million ($11.1 million) investment from private equity fund M80, with the support of Noshaq and SRIW. The funds will drive international expansion and enable further integration of recently acquired Optec. LASEA’s founder, Axel Kupisiewicz, remains the largest shareholder and will continue as its CEO.

Cryogenic setup and control of a superconducting quantum computer at Forschungszentrum Jülich. Courtesy of Sascha Kreklau/Forschungszentrum Jülich.

BOULDER, Colo. — Zayo Group Holdings Inc., a provider of fiber-based communications solutions, and Infinera, a supplier of innovative networking solutions, successfully completed what they claim to be the world’s longest known terrestrial 800G optical wavelength in a commercial network — 1044.51 km (649.03 mi.). The Zayo-owned fiber route stretches from Springville, Utah, to Reno, Nev., and is lit and powered by Infinera’s ICE6 800G coherent technology.

BIRKERØD, Denmark — Danish consortium PhotoQ will work to develop a scalable photonic quantum computer based on research from the Technical University of Denmark, one of the constituent members of the consortium. Other consortium members include AMCS Group, Molecular Quantum Solutions, Aarhus University, Kvantify, and NKT Photonics. Innovation Fund Denmark has invested close to €3 million (~$3.33 million) in the project.

ST. LOUIS, Mo. — Specialty networking solutions provider Belden acquired NetModule AG. NetModule is headquartered in in Bern, Switzerland, with 70 employees located primarily in Bern, Switzerland, and Frankfurt, Germany. The company will be integrated into Belden’s industrial automation structure and accelerate capabilities within wireless technology.

BEZONS, France — Molecular beam epitaxy technology company RIBER has been awarded €1.1 million (~$1.22 million) as part of the call for “Industry Stimulus Plan: Strategic Sectors” launched by the French Ministry of Industry. The funding will strengthen the company’s dedicated resources to implement the ROSIE 300-mm pilot line. Based on the ultravacuum deposition technique, ROSIE will be focused on depositing very thin films of materials with an epitaxy process on silicon and will offer monoatomic precision capabilities on a 300-mm wafer.

TAIPEI, Taiwan — BKSTEC, a developer and manufacturer of fiber optic cables, reported its development of what it said are the first USB 4 fiber optic cables. Developed in collaboration with FOCI Fiber Optic Communications and integrated circuit design company Rafael Micro, the cables are compliant with USB 4 Gen 3x2, providing nominal dual-lane data transfer speeds of up to 40 Gbit/s, twice the bandwidth of current USB 3.0 cables.

MENLO PARK, Calif. — Life science technology company Deepcell closed a $73 million Series B financing round. The funding will allow continued product development and early commercial introduction of its AI-powered single-cell classification technology. The round was led by Koch Disruptive Technologies and joined by new investors.