Dr. Chris Ballance
The technical leader of IonQ's quantum computing roadmap. A trapped-ion physicist whose academic work helped establish the gate fidelity records that define the modality.
Dr. Chris Ballance serves as President of Quantum Computing at IonQ, leading the technical strategy for the company's trapped-ion systems. He joined IonQ via the acquisition of Oxford Ionics, the trapped-ion company he co-founded out of the University of Oxford's quantum computing group.
Ballance's academic research focused on high-fidelity two-qubit gates in trapped ions, an area where trapped-ion systems hold the published industry records. That same fidelity advantage is now central to IonQ's commercial positioning against neutral atom and superconducting competitors.
At IonQ he oversees the broader trapped-ion technical roadmap, including the work being done at the new Boulder R&D lab on semiconductor ion trap chips.