The Quantum Computing Podcast with Fexingo: Qubits, Quantum Hardware, and Future Computing

Episode 79 of The Quantum Computing Podcast explores how quantum computers are being deployed to simulate plasma behavior inside fusion reactors. Lucas and Luna discuss a specific 2026 experiment where researchers at a national lab used a 1000-qubit quantum processor to model turbulent plasma flow—reducing simulation time from weeks to under a day. They break down why fusion poses such a hard comp...

In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how quantum computing is transforming portfolio risk management. They discuss a specific case: how JPMorgan Chase is experimenting with quantum algorithms to run Value-at-Risk simulations that would take classical supercomputers days. The conversation covers the limitations of classical Monte Carlo methods, the promise of amplitude estimation, and the practi...

In episode 77, Lucas and Luna dive into why silicon photonics is becoming a critical enabler for scaling quantum computers. They explain how moving data with light instead of electricity reduces heat and error rates, and highlight Intel's recent breakthrough in integrating photonic components directly onto silicon chips. The conversation covers the difference between classical photonics and the qu...

Episode 76 of The Quantum Computing Podcast dives into the emerging field of error mitigation — a practical middle ground between noisy quantum processors and full fault-tolerant quantum computing. Lucas and Luna unpack why even today's imperfect 100-qubit machines can produce useful results when noise is handled statistically, not just corrected. They discuss IBM's recent work on probabilistic er...

In Episode 75 of The Quantum Computing Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore how quantum algorithms are being applied to urban traffic optimization. They focus on Volkswagen's 2019 pilot in Lisbon, where a quantum-inspired algorithm helped 2,000 taxis reduce travel time by 15 percent. The discussion covers the limitations of classical traffic models, how quantum annealing can solve the 'traveling salesm...

Episode 74 of The Quantum Computing Podcast explores the leap from theoretical quantum error correction to real-world deployment on today's noisy hardware. Lucas and Luna break down the surface code, talk about recent experiments on Google's Sycamore processor that pushed beyond break-even, and discuss why better error correction may matter more than more qubits. They also touch on how fault-toler...

Episode 73 of The Quantum Computing Podcast explores how quantum computers are beginning to address the molecular simulation challenges that have long stalled pharmaceutical R&D. Lucas and Luna break down the specific bottleneck: classical computers cannot accurately simulate electron correlation in transition-metal catalysts and protein active sites — a problem quantum computers are uniquely suit...

In episode 72 of The Quantum Computing Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore how quantum computers are forcing a fundamental rethink of semiconductor doping — the process of adding impurities to silicon to control electrical properties. They anchor on a specific 2025 breakthrough from researchers at the University of New South Wales who used a scanning tunneling microscope to place individual phosphorus...

Lucas and Luna explore how quantum computing is beginning to improve numerical weather prediction. They focus on the specific problem of resolving sub-grid-scale atmospheric processes, like cumulus cloud formation and turbulent eddies, which classical supercomputers struggle to parameterize. The episode anchors on a 2025 Nature paper from researchers at the University of Chicago and Argonne Nation...

This episode explores how quantum computers are beginning to tackle protein folding, the notoriously complex problem that has resisted classical computation for decades. Lucas and Luna discuss recent advances in quantum simulation of molecular structures, focusing on a 2025 experiment where a 100-qubit processor successfully predicted the folding pathway of a small antimicrobial peptide. They expl...

Lucas and Luna explore how quantum computers are beginning to model portfolio risk and market scenarios in ways classical systems can't match. They focus on a real 2025 Monte Carlo simulation run by JPMorgan Chase on an IBM superconducting processor—2 million scenarios in under three minutes versus hours on a classical cluster. The episode digs into why path-dependent options, mortgage-backed secu...

Quantum computers need a network. In this episode of The Quantum Computing Podcast, Lucas and Luna explore the emerging field of quantum internet — a dedicated network that distributes entanglement between distant quantum processors. They break down the fundamental challenge: transmitting fragile quantum states over fiber optics without destroying them. Lucas explains the concept of quantum repeat...

Episode 67 of The Quantum Computing Podcast explores how quantum computing is transforming aerospace engineering, specifically the design of airplane wings. Lucas and Luna break down a concrete case: how quantum optimization algorithms model airflow around wings more accurately than classical methods, reducing drag and cutting fuel costs. They discuss recent progress from a consortium involving Ai...

Episode 66 of The Quantum Computing Podcast with Fexingo dives into the emerging field of diamond-based qubits. Lucas and Luna explore why nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond are gaining traction as a qubit platform, offering room-temperature operation and long coherence times. They discuss recent breakthroughs from teams at Harvard and MIT, where researchers achieved record single-shot readout fi...

Episode 65 of The Quantum Computing Podcast with Fexingo tackles a specific industrial chemistry problem: the Haber-Bosch process, which produces over 180 million tons of ammonia annually and consumes about 2% of global energy. Hosts Lucas and Luna explore how quantum simulations are being used to design new iron-based catalysts that could lower the process's temperature and pressure requirements,...

Episode 64 dives into the critical bottleneck of connecting quantum processors. Lucas and Luna explore why classical wiring fails at cryogenic temperatures, how photonic interconnects—using photons instead of electrons—could solve the scaling problem, and what recent experiments from a leading university lab reveal about practical entanglement distribution. They discuss the specific challenge of l...

Lucas and Luna dive into how quantum simulations are accelerating battery research. They focus on a specific breakthrough: a team at the University of Chicago used a trapped-ion quantum computer to model the electron dynamics of a lithium-oxygen battery cathode, achieving a 40 percent reduction in computational steps versus classical methods. The hosts discuss why battery chemistry is so hard to s...

Episode 62 of The Quantum Computing Podcast with Fexingo dives into the memory bottleneck facing quantum computers. Lucas and Luna explore why today's classical RAM can't keep up with qubit error correction, and how a startup called Qunnect is building a quantum memory system using diamond defects. They break down the specific challenge: logical qubits require thousands of physical qubits, and eac...

Episode 61 of The Quantum Computing Podcast with Fexingo dives into the Haber-Bosch process, the 100-year-old industrial method for making ammonia fertilizer that consumes 2% of global energy and emits 450 million tons of CO2 annually. Lucas and Luna explore how quantum computers could simulate nitrogen fixation at the molecular level, potentially enabling a room-temperature, low-pressure alternat...

Lucas and Luna dig into one of the quietest bottlenecks in quantum computing: memory that works at millikelvin temperatures. Classical DRAM freezes solid below about 40 kelvin. But today's superconducting qubits operate inside dilution refrigerators at roughly 10 to 15 millikelvin — a thousand times colder. Every control pulse and every measurement result currently has to be heat-carrying electric...

Supply chains are notoriously chaotic—disruptions ripple across continents, and traditional optimization breaks down under real-world constraints. In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how quantum computing is beginning to tackle supply chain complexity, focusing on a 2025 pilot by Volkswagen that used a hybrid quantum-classical solver to route spare parts across European warehouses. They unpack...

Episode 58 of The Quantum Computing Podcast shifts focus from qubit design to the brutal economics of fabrication. Lucas and Luna explore why the industry's biggest bottleneck in 2026 isn't error correction — it's chip yield. Drawing on real numbers from Intel's tunnel-fab and IBM's Heron processor, they explain how manufacturing defects that barely matter in classical chips can kill entire quantu...

Lucas and Luna dive into why scaling quantum computers to useful sizes demands a shift from monolithic chips to modular, networked architectures. They discuss the physical limits of packing more qubits onto a single chip, the role of photonic interconnects, and the concrete challenges of linking separate quantum modules without destroying coherence. The episode focuses on recent progress at compan...

Episode 56 of The Quantum Computing Podcast dives into quantum compilation — the unsung layer between a programmer's code and a machine's microwave pulses. Lucas and Luna discuss why today's compilers lose 80% of qubit coherence time just scheduling operations, and how a team at the University of Chicago's new method called 'temporal slicing' cuts that overhead in half. They walk through a concret...

In this episode of The Quantum Computing Podcast with Fexingo, Lucas and Luna explore how quantum sensors — not quantum computers — are already delivering real-world value by mapping underground resources. They dive into a specific case: a 2025 pilot project in Canada where a quantum gravity gradiometer located a deep lithium deposit more accurately than classical methods. The hosts explain how qu...