Photon Queue, a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign spinout building free-space photonic quantum memories, has secured $500,000 in expansion funding to establish a device assembly, test and verification hub in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Non-Dilutive State Grant Plus Roadrunner Match
The package includes a $200,000 non-dilutive grant from the newly launched New Mexico Quantum Technologies Award program, plus $300,000 in commercialization support and matching capital from Roadrunner Venture Studios. Photon Queue will hire locally, lease space inside the Roadrunner Quantum Lab and stand up manufacturability testing for its quantum memory modules.
Photons On Loop — No Cryogenics Required
Founded in 2024 and spun out of physics professor Paul Kwiat's group at UIUC, Photon Queue is developing quantum memories that store single photons in free-space optical loops at room temperature — no cryostats, ovens or vacuum systems. The devices are aimed at solving one of quantum computing's hardest problems: making sure photons arrive at the right processor at exactly the right moment. Company specs list >1 THz memory bandwidth, up to 5 MHz burst repetition rate and fidelity above 0.99.
New Mexico's Quantum Cluster Grows
Photon Queue is one of six companies to receive backing from a $1.2 million tranche of New Mexico Quantum Technologies Awards this month. "New Mexico is quickly becoming one of the most important places in the country for quantum technology," said Photon Queue founder and CEO Nathan Arnold. Roadrunner CEO Adam Hammer added that the studio is trying to seed a broader quantum cluster around Albuquerque and Los Alamos.
The grant follows other quantum-industrial moves covered by The Robotics Media, including Zhongqi Wuliang's rack-mounted quantum computer, the Classiq / ParityQC compiler merger, and the Planckian / Quantum Elements digital-twin partnership.
Reporting based on coverage from The Quantum Insider.