QSCOUT

QSCOUT is a trapped ions quantum computer operated by Sandia National Laboratories in USA. It has 6 physical qubits. It ranks 15 of 15 trapped ion machines in this table by physical qubit count. 9 sourced specs are in the spec sheet. No benchmark figures are recorded for it yet.

Also known as Quantum Scientific Computing Open User Testbed

Sandia's trapped-ion testbed offered to outside researchers through proposal calls, with a linear chain of six 171Yb+ qubits. Sandia reports two-qubit Molmer-Sorensen gate fidelities of roughly 0.95 to 0.99 depending on the qubit pair. Sandia states the program is to be discontinued by the end of fiscal year 2026 after a DOE funding redirection. It is a research testbed with no co-located supercomputer link stated.

Spec sheet

Technical details as the builder or a paper states them, each with its own source. A blank is a fact we could not source, not a zero. Fidelity and coherence figures are in the benchmark table below.

Spec	Value	Basis	Note	Source
Processor	Sandia HOA-2.1 surface-electrode ion trap holding a linear ytterbium chain	Peer reviewed	The 2021 design paper says HOA-2.1 was used; the current Sandia page says only a Sandia surface ion trap.	arxiv.org sandia.gov
Qubit type	171Yb+ hyperfine clock-state qubits	Vendor reported	Both sources are from Sandia authors; qubits use hyperfine clock states of ytterbium-171.	sandia.gov arxiv.org
Topology	Linear ion chain with all-to-all connectivity through shared vibrational modes	Vendor reported	Sandia page lists a linear chain with all-to-all connectivity; the paper explains connectivity via vibrational modes.	sandia.gov arxiv.org
Native gates	Parameterized single-qubit rotations and Molmer-Sorensen two-qubit gate, with pulse-level access via Jaqal	Vendor reported	Sandia authors state Jaqal natively exposes full single-qubit rotations and the MS gate.	meetings-archive.aps.org sandia.gov
Cooling and environment	Room temperature ultra-high vacuum chamber with Doppler and sideband laser cooling	Vendor reported	Sandia page lists the system as room temperature; the paper describes the UHV chamber and Doppler cooling.	sandia.gov arxiv.org
Fabrication	Ion trap fabricated at Sandia National Laboratories	Vendor reported	Paper says the HOA-2.1 trap was fabricated at Sandia; the project page says QSCOUT uses a Sandia surface ion trap.	arxiv.org sandia.gov
Software	Jaqal assembly language, JaqalPaq, JaqalPaw	Vendor reported	Sandia page lists Jaqal specs and the JaqalPaq and JaqalPaw tools.	sandia.gov
Access and pricing	Research proposals to Sandia; program ends by end of fiscal 2026 with limited capacity for short projects	Vendor reported	Page says users submit whitepapers or call-for-proposal submissions and to contact Sandia before submitting; checked 2026-10-09.	sandia.gov
Roadmap	Entangling gates for more than 2 ions and mid-circuit measurements coming; program to be discontinued by end of fiscal 2026	Vendor reported	Sandia page is undated for the feature plans; the discontinuation notice cites a DOE funding redirection.	sandia.gov

Timeline

2026-10-04: Status checked: operational

Comparable trapped ion machines

Closest in physical qubit count within the same technology. Counts of different qubit types are not interchangeable across technologies.

Machine	Operator	Qubits	Status
IonQ Harmony	IonQ	11	decommissioned
AQT IBEX Q1	AQT	12	operational
Quantinuum H1	Quantinuum	20	upgraded
Reimei	RIKEN	20	operational
AQT LRZ Ion-Trap System	LRZ	20	operational
PIAST-Q	PSNC	20	operational