Scientists are close to building a quantum computer that can beat a conventional one

It's a Sunday afternoon in September, and the two co-founders of ionQ, a quantum computing startup, are meeting for a strategy session with their first hire: their new CEO. Sitting in comfy leather chairs in the Physical Sciences Complex at the University of Maryland (UMD) in College Park, the two founders are experiencing a touch of culture clash. Lifelong research scientists, UMD physicist Chris Monroe and Jungsang Kim, an electrical engineer at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, are relaxed and talkative about their company's plans, even in the presence of a reporter. They tick off reasons why trapped ions, their specialty, will make for a great quantum computer—perfect reproducibility, long lifetimes, and good controllability with lasers.