During the first year, several key activities has performed towards achieving the core objectives and milestones of the HEISINGBERG project, advancing its goal of developing a comprehensive photonic quantum annealer solution.
1) HEISINGBERG Architecture initial design: The design of HEISINGBERG’s architecture encompasses both the software design of the control library and the development of the portal. During the first year, key stakeholders were identified, and the functional and non-functional requirements were thoroughly defined to guide the development process.
2) Experimental SPIM configurations: Three distinct experimental configurations were developed by the experimental partners, SAP, FORTH, and QUBI, to advance the experimental capabilities and progress of the HEISINGBERG machine. SAP's efforts are centered on implementing the vector-matrix multiplication scheme, FORTH is dedicated to transitioning the system to the quantum regime, and QUBI, as the industrial partner, focuses on prototyping and practical implementation
3) Encoding schemes: Two encoding schemes for the parameters of the Ising Hamiltonian were designed and developed, effectively overcoming the current limitations of SPIMs in addressing Ising Hamiltonians with a full-rank interaction matrix. These advancements significantly improve the system's scalability and address connectivity challenges, paving the way for more robust and versatile computational capabilities.
4) Control algorithms: During the first year, various control and optimization algorithms were designed and developed to streamline both the control and optimization processes. Among these, some algorithms were specifically tailored to enhance the operation of SPIMs, while others, inspired by physical principles, were created to serve as benchmarking tools for evaluating system performance.
5) Quantum Upgrade : Significant advancements were achieved in both theoretical and experimental domains. On the theoretical front, progress was made in describing SLM-modulated quantum light states and exploring quantum measurement techniques. Meanwhile, the experimental efforts concentrated on developing quantum light sources based on heralded photons and refining methods for their efficient detection in the context of SPIM.
6) Control Software prototype: As an initial step in designing the complete software stack, the first release of the control software library was made available to consortium users as part of an iterative design process. This library integrates multiple functionalities, including hardware control, algorithms, and Hamiltonian objects, enabling users to conduct experiments in an efficient and effective manner
