During the whole project, the PASQuanS partners have worked in five interconnected directions, which were the five main objectives of the consortium.
1. We have developed, in collaboration with the industrial partners, the next generation of underpinning technologies that will be used to build scalable and programmable quantum simulators, with a medium-term goal within the 10-year Flagship of reaching over 1000 interacting atoms in industry-ready platforms. We have set the foundation for this by:
• merging cryogenic techniques with standard atomic and optical physics techniques for an improved shielding from noise and relaxation processes,
• enhancing the level of control of atomic-physics-based platforms using the latest technological developments from industrial partners (laser stabilization in phase and intensity, higher power, and flexibility of optical potentials), enabling systems integration and miniaturisation,
• scaling up the number of atoms/ions, while enhancing the level of control on each, with now particle numbers above 50 (ions), 300 (tweezer array), and 1500 (optical lattices).
2. We have developed the theoretical tools required to certify and benchmark quantum simulators. Some were demonstrated on existing platforms within the consortium: randomized unitary operations to measure energy variance or entanglement in small system size.
3. We have performed simulations with these systems beyond the reach of classical simulation. Quantum advantage has been reached on scientific problems involving dynamics of phase transitions and quantum transport in strongly interacting systems. This lays the ground for the platforms’ developments towards quantum advantage for real-world problems in a next phase.
4. We have developed new control techniques and architectures to perform quantum simulation, making use of the programmability and enhanced control over our platforms. We have developed and tested hybrid variational quantum methods and assessed the potential of optimal control methods.
5. In collaboration with key industrial end-user partners in Europe, (i) we have identified their demand in terms of quantum simulation, (ii) in return we have presented them the capabilities and opportunities brought by quantum simulation, and (iii) we have developed means to use our new quantum simulation platforms for “real-world” problems relevant to these end-users. Through a fruitful dialog with industry end-users, we have explored use-cases in quantum metrology, combinatorial optimization, machine learning, medical applications, in the finance industry, in solving partial differential equations, in big-data problems and in high energy physics. We have explored in-depth a specific application from EDF and its potential implementation on Rydberg quantum simulator.
At the end of PASQuanS, we thus provide: (i) modular systems to be implemented as building blocks on experiments, (ii) a mapping of problems of interest to the industrial world onto our simulation platforms (Deliverable 5.1) and (iii) a roadmap for the next phase of the Flagship (Deliverable 5.2). These outcomes pave the way towards the transfer of the building blocks to industrial partners, for industry-driven production of quantum simulators expected in the next phase of the Flagship.
Finally, the technological and conceptual developments carried out within PASQuanS led already to the filing of several patents and to the creation of three startup companies: (i) Pasqal (
https://pasqal.io(se abrirá en una nueva ventana)) (ii) ParityQC (Austria) (
https://parityqc.com(se abrirá en una nueva ventana)) which aims at developing platform and method agnostic quantum software solutions, and (iii) QRuise GmbH (Germany).
Besides these scientific developments, PASQuanS was committed to dissemination, communication and outreach activities in many forms: participation to scientific conferences and schools, interviews in the media, press releases about scientific achievements or events. We maintain an active website (www.pasquans.eu) and Twitter account (@pasquans).
Due to the Covid it was almost impossible to hire post-docs in RP2. In our case we therefore use the salaries to pay long period master students (1 year and 6 months respectively), hence the low salaries.
