Jeremy O'Brien and Chetan Nayak: Betting on Photons and Majorana Qubits

Updated 2026-10-11 | 4 min read | QUANTUM (QNT) community

Two bold approaches

Most of the best known qubits are superconducting circuits or trapped ions. Two other ideas aim for a more scalable path: use particles of light, or build qubits protected by the mathematics of topology. Jeremy O'Brien and Chetan Nayak are two scientists tied to these bets. Both approaches carry real risk, which is part of the story.

Profiles on this site cover public professional activity only, drawn from the sources listed at the bottom. Nothing here suggests any person named has any connection to the QNT memecoin.

Jeremy O'Brien and PsiQuantum

Wikipedia describes O'Brien as a former professorial research fellow in physics and electrical engineering at the University of Bristol and director of its Centre for Quantum Photonics. It lists his University of New South Wales background and a 2003 Nature paper demonstrating the first optical quantum controlled NOT gate. Honors listed include the 2010 Adolph Lomb Medal of the Optical Society of America, the 2010 IUPAP Prize in Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics and the 2010 Moseley Medal and Prize of the Institute of Physics.

PsiQuantum was founded in 2016 in Palo Alto by O'Brien, Terry Rudolph, Peter Shadbolt and Mark Thompson, all physicists with backgrounds at Bristol or Imperial College London. The company says its mission is to build and deploy useful, fault tolerant quantum computers using photonic qubits and mature semiconductor manufacturing. Wikipedia reports a 1 billion dollar Series E round in 2025 and a groundbreaking at the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park the same year.

A title that changed

This is a useful example of why titles need checking. The older page in our guide lists O'Brien as chief executive. PsiQuantum's own about page now lists him as Co-Founder and Executive Chairman. Reporting says that on February 10, 2026 the company named Victor Peng, formerly of AMD and Xilinx, as interim CEO with O'Brien becoming executive chairman, while the company said it would search for a permanent CEO. We found no confirmation of a permanent appointment. Even so, O'Brien remains a founder who guides strategy, according to the company announcement as reported.

The photonic path is described in photonic quantum computing explained. Its argument: photons run at room temperature in transit and chips can be built in existing semiconductor factories, though the cooling needed for detectors and the large number of components remain challenges.

Chetan Nayak and Microsoft

Per Wikipedia, Nayak was born in New York City in 1971, earned a bachelor's degree at Harvard in 1992 and a PhD in physics at Princeton in 1996 under Frank Wilczek. He is described as a technical fellow and distinguished engineer on the Microsoft Azure Quantum hardware team. The article also notes his University of California, Santa Barbara faculty role was listed through 2024, so his current academic status is unclear from that page. Check Microsoft and UCSB for current titles.

His theory work, as listed, includes identifying a type of non Abelian statistics in paired quantum Hall states with Wilczek in 1996, and a 2005 proposal with Michael Freedman and Sankar Das Sarma for a topological qubit based on the 5/2 fractional quantum Hall state. Those ideas matter because a topological qubit would store information in a way that is naturally resistant to noise, if it can be made. See topological qubits explained.

The debate over Majorana 1

When Microsoft announced the Majorana 1 chip in February 2025, many in the community were skeptical, citing a lack of data supporting the proposed qubits, according to Wikipedia. Nayak has said supporting measurements exist. This guide takes no side. The responsible reading is that the claim is still being tested by independent researchers and more data. Treat any strong claim, for or against, with patience.

What these bets share

• High payoff, high difficulty. If either works at scale, the engineering path to millions of qubits looks different.
• Long timelines. Company roadmaps are targets, not results. See the quantum timeline.
• No link to the memecoin. Neither scientist nor their employers have any tie to QNT. Nothing here is financial advice.

The hopeful takeaway

The field is not betting on one design. Superconducting, ion, neutral atom, photonic and topological efforts are all running at once, and competition spreads risk. A surprise from any one of them could pull the whole field forward. See types of quantum computers.

Sources and further reading

• PsiQuantum: about, leadership and mission
• The Quantum Insider: PsiQuantum appoints Victor Peng as interim CEO
• Wikipedia: PsiQuantum
• Wikipedia: Jeremy O'Brien
• Wikipedia: Chetan Nayak

Reported as of 2026-10-09. Titles and roles change, so check each person's own organization. This page is education, not financial advice, and it is not an endorsement of any person, company or asset. The QNT memecoin is an independent community project with no link to any person or organization named here, including Quantinuum Ltd.

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Keep reading

• Photonic Quantum Computing Explained
  How does photonic quantum computing work? See how single particles of light become qubits, why photon loss is the main hurdle, and where the approach stands.
• Topological Qubits Explained: Promise and Debate
  What are topological qubits? Learn the idea behind Majorana-based protection from noise, why it is so hard to build, and why claims in this area remain debated.
• IonQ, Microsoft, PsiQuantum, Rigetti, D-Wave and the Rest of the Field
  Short profiles of the other major quantum players: what each builds, what they announced, and what to watch.
• Types of Quantum Computers: Superconducting, Ion, Photonic and More
  A guide to the main ways quantum computers are built, with the strengths and trade-offs of each approach.

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