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Cover Story
JUNIQ machinery park
For all those who want to use quantum computers, an Eldorado is in the making at Jülich. The first systems are already available.
Quantum computers are considered the computers of the future. While there is still a long way to go, the first experimental systems, prototypes and commercial devices can already be used today. JUNIQ – short for “Jülich UNified Infrastructure for Quantum computing” – provides science and industry with access to various of these quantum machines. Some systems are located directly at Jülich, others are in partner facilities. The Jülich supercomputers are also part of this infrastructure through links with quantum systems. JUNIQ also supports users in the development of algorithms and applications for quantum computing.
Emulators are programmes that run on ordinary computers and mimic quantum computers. In this way, for example, algorithms that will run on quantum computers in the future can already be tested today.
JUQCS – Jülich Universal Quantum Computer Simulator
Access: since January 2022
Location: Jülich
Number of qubits: 43 (simulated on Jülich’s supercomputer JUWELS)
Feature: JUQCS runs on both laptops and supercomputers. Only supercomputers, however, can simulate more than 32 qubits. JUQCS holds the record with 48 qubits, simulated on K (Japan) and Sunway TaihuLight (China).
ATOS Quantum Learning Machine
Access: since January 2022
Location: Jülich
Number of qubits: 30 (simulated on Jülich’s ATOS QLM-30)
Feature: The emulator runs on a special hardware infrastructure about the size of a simple business server with large storage capacity. In its maximum configuration, an ATOS-QLM can simulate up to 41 qubits.
Like other quantum computers, a quantum annealer uses quantum mechanics to perform calculations. Annealers, however, are not universally programmable. They are specialists in optimizing tasks and processes, for example to simplify supply chains or control traffic flows.
D-Wave Advantage System JUPSI
Access: since January 2022
Type: First Production System
Location: Jülich
Type of qubits: superconducting qubits
Number of qubits: max. 5,760
Feature: It is the first quantum computer in Europe with over 5,000 qubits. The Annealer is to be integrated into the Jülich supercomputer infrastructure in order to combine the systems’ capabilities. (see Europe’s number one has over 5,000 qubits).
A quantum simulator is a kind of quantum computer “lite” – in other words, it is still a quantum system, but less flexible and only suitable for certain problems, such as when many particles interact with each other. Basically, it is about simulating another, usually more complex quantum system with a known, controllable quantum system. In the course of 2023, a quantum simulator with about 100 qubits is scheduled to start operation in Jülich.
Feature: The quantum simulator at Jülich and another one are to be closely linked with two European supercomputers – one of them being Jülich’s supercomputer JUWELS – in the EU project “High-Performance Computer and Quantum Simulator hybrid” (HPCQS). This hybrid system is expected to make it possible to harness the power of quantum computers for the first practical hybrid applications.
Quantum computers they are, so to speak, the premium class, and hopes are that they will be able to solve complex tasks in the future at which today’s supercomputers fail. Experts speak of “universally programmable quantum computers” – in other words, quantum computers that can perform any calculation that computers can perform.
OpenSuperQ
Access: expected by late 2022
Type: experimental quantum system
Location: Jülich
Type of qubits: superconducting qubits
Number of qubits: 6
Feature: The OpenSuperQ project is part of the EU’s Quantum Flagship research initiative launched in 2018. The goal is a European quantum computer with 50 qubits.
QSolid
Access: expected by 2024
Type: experimental quantum system
Location: Aachen
Type of qubits: superconducting qubits
Number of qubits: 10
Feature: In the QSolid project, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, quantum demonstrators have been under development since the beginning of 2022. It aims at qubits with a low error rate and, by 2027, at reaching a number of 30 qubits.
DAQC
Access: expected by 2024
Type: experimental quantum system
Locations: Jülich and Munich
Type of qubits: superconducting qubits
Number of qubits: 54
Feature: A digital-analogue quantum computer (DAQC) is being built in the project that combines the advantages of an analogue quantum computer that is not very prone to errors with the flexibility of digital circuits. The DAQC is to be paired with supercomputers and take over the task of a computing accelerator there.
QUASAR
Access: expected by 2027
Status: new hardware concept
Location: Aachen or Jülich
Type of qubits: spin-based qubits (semiconductor qubits)
Number of qubits: 25 (until 2027)
Feature: In the QUASAR project, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, work on a semiconductor quantum processor “made in Germany” is ongoing. A system with 25 qubits is to be developed in an expected follow-up project.
Illustration: Andrzej Koston