Modular Trapezoidal Unit Cell Cryostat for Scalable Quantum Computers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing dilution refrigerators become impractical and costly to scale as the number of qubits in quantum computers grows, due to engineering limits and the need for increasingly large, cumbersome cryostats.
Innovation Solution
A modular cryogenic system comprising trapezoidal unit cells that can be joined together in a vacuum-tight manner, allowing for greater scalability and flexibility, with each unit cell containing a frame, temperature shells, and a retrofitted standard dilution refrigerator.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If a single large cryostat is built to accommodate more qubits, then the quantum computer can support more qubits, but the system becomes increasingly large, cumbersome, and costly
Solution Approach 1:
The cryogenic system is divided into multiple identical modular unit cells, each capable of housing a subset of qubits and supporting independent dilution refrigerators. These units can be joined together in series to scale the system capacity without requiring a single large cryostat, thus maintaining manageable size and complexity while increasing qubit capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple temperature shells are nested within each unit cell, with each shell maintaining a different temperature level. This nested structure allows multiple thermal environments to coexist in a compact footprint, enabling scalable qubit accommodation without linearly increasing overall system size.
2Quantity of substance
If a large cryostat is built to accommodate more qubits, then the system capacity increases, but maintenance and replacement become more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The modular unit cell design allows individual modules to be independently accessed, removed, and replaced without disturbing the entire cryogenic system. This segmentation enables targeted maintenance of specific qubit subsets or refrigerator components while the rest of the system continues operating, significantly improving ease of repair compared to a monolithic large cryostat.
3Quantity of substance
If a custom large cryostat is designed to accommodate more qubits, then the system capacity increases, but the refrigerator design becomes constrained by application-specific mechanical requirements
Solution Approach 1:
By separating the refrigerator units from the structural cryostat housing into distinct modular units, the refrigerator design is decoupled from application-specific mechanical constraints. Each standardized unit cell can accommodate different refrigerator models or configurations without requiring custom cryostat designs, thereby maintaining high adaptability and versatility in refrigerator selection and configuration.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and techniques that facilitate scalable cryostats and cryogenic systems are provided. In an embodiment, a cryogenic system can comprise a plurality of unit cells joined together, wherein each unit cell comprises: a trapezoidal-shaped frame, wherein frames from adjacent unit cells are connected in a vacuum-tight manner to form a continuous, global vacuum enclosure, and wherein the unit cells are capable of being horizontally removed from or inserted into the plurality of joined unit cells. Furthermore, each unit cell can comprise at least one temperature shell, wherein temperature shells from adjacent unit cells are connected to form a continuous, global temperature shell. Moreover, each unit cell can comprise at least one cryogenic payload located within the at least one temperature shell, that is cooled by at least one retrofitted version of a standard dilution refrigerator.