Universal Quantum

Weidt is an Associate Professor in Quantum Technologies at the University of Sussex, where he has more than 12 years of experience in trapped-ion quantum computing research. Before his academic career, he worked as a management consultant in Berlin. Together with Winfried Hensinger, he published the first practical blueprint for a large-scale trapped-ion quantum computer in 2017, proposing the use of microwave fields rather than lasers to drive qubit operations — enabling room-temperature control electronics and modular chip-to-chip connections. He co-founded Universal Quantum in 2018 to realize this architecture commercially.

Hensinger is Professor of Quantum Technologies at the University of Sussex and director of the Sussex Centre for Quantum Technologies, where he has worked since 2005. In 2016, his group invented a new approach to trapped-ion quantum computing that replaces laser beams with voltage-controlled microwave fields applied to the quantum chip, dramatically simplifying scalability. He co-published the first blueprint for a large-scale trapped-ion quantum computer in 2017 with Sebastian Weidt, and co-founded Universal Quantum in 2018. He serves as Chairman and Chief Scientist, guiding the company's trapped-ion hardware strategy.