Google has announced it’s expanding its quantum computing efforts to include a neutral atom approach, having previously focused on the development of superconducting qubits for more than a decade.

In a blog post outlining its updated roadmap, Hartmut Neven, founder and lead of Google Quantum AI, said the unit will seek to broaden its impact by “exploiting the complementary strengths of two modalities,” adding that investing in both approaches increases Google’s ability to deliver on its mission sooner.

Neven said the neutral atom program is built on three pillars: quantum error correction, modeling and simulation, and experimental hardware development. The program will be led by Dr. Adam Kaufman, a researcher in atomic, molecular, and optical physics and an associate professor at the University of Colorado Boulder School of Physics.

Kaufman will continue to teach at CU Boulder while also leading a neutral atoms hardware team at Google. The company will also continue to collaborate with QuEra, Neven said, noting that the company’s researchers “pioneered foundational methods and are advancing progress in neutral atom computing.”

Unlike superconducting qubits, which have already scaled to circuits with millions of gates, neutral atoms have only scaled to arrays with about ten thousand qubits, Neven explained. However, neutral atoms make up for slower cycle times by having a flexible connectivity graph that allows for efficient algorithms and error-correcting codes.

“The road ahead reflects these distinct starting points: an outstanding challenge for neutral atoms remains demonstrating deep circuits with many cycles, while the next task for the superconducting modality is to demonstrate computing architectures with tens of thousands of qubits,” Neven said.

“By advancing both, we cross-pollinate research and engineering breakthroughs, and can deliver access to versatile platforms tailored to different types of problems.”