42 cells
Aurora · 42 GBS cells
Xanadu's Aurora photonic quantum computer (Nature, January 2025), whose light sources sit in exactly 42 Gaussian boson sampling (GBS) cells holding 84 squeezers.
Aurora is a quantum computer that works with light instead of electric circuits. Its builders at Xanadu described it in Nature in January 2025. The light starts in 84 squeezers, small devices that make special quantum light, grouped into 42 cells and spread over 21 chips, plus 3 spares. In all, 35 photonic chips linked by optical fibre built a web of 86.4 billion entangled light modes.
What it supports
An exact, intentional apparatus count printed in the primary: "This machine hosts a sources subsystem with 84 squeezers within 42 GBS cells." Same grammar as Kepler's 42 CCDs and the ATA's 42 dishes: an instrument built with forty-two of something.
What it does not
Not 42 chips (Aurora used 35) and not 42 qubits (12 physical qubit modes per clock cycle). The authors call it a sub-performant scale model, so not a claim of useful quantum advantage. Not Adams.
ExactnessCount
Form42
UnitGBS cells
Strengthhard
When2025
Hung6 October 2026