Bart Machielse

PhD, Co-founder and Director of Photonic Technology, Lightsynq Technologies

Lightsynq is tackling one of quantum computing's biggest challenges: how to scale from isolated quantum processors to interconnected, modular systems that can work together. Their breakthrough? Universal optical interconnects using integrated diamond photonic circuits, technology that's enabling the next generation of quantum computers and laying the groundwork for the quantum internet.

Lab-to-Launch Lounge

Thursday, March 26, 2026

Bart Machielse, PhD is Director of Photonic Technology at IonQ, where he develops integrated photonics systems that connect quantum computers into scalable networks. He joined IonQ following its acquisition of Lightsynq, a Cambridge-based quantum networking startup he co-founded and where he served as Chief Technology Officer. At Lightsynq, Bart led the development of optical interconnect technologies designed to enable modular quantum computing architectures by transmitting quantum information between separate processors.

Before IonQ, Bart was a Senior Quantum Research Scientist at Amazon Web Services, where he co-founded the AWS Center for Quantum Networks and helped build the team developing practical quantum networking infrastructure. He previously completed his PhD in Physics at Harvard University in the Lukin and Lončar groups, focusing on quantum information science and long-distance quantum communication. His doctoral work advanced diamond nanophotonic quantum memories and included a first experimental demonstration of memory-enhanced quantum communication, a key step toward secure communication and large-scale distributed quantum computing.

One piece of advice to Venturing@Harvard

The lab teaches you rigor. The startup teaches you to ship. You need both, but you can't confuse which mode you're in.