In the project “Quantum Computers with Trapped Ions for Applications” (ATIQ), quantum computer demonstrators are being developed together with users. The 25 project partners are tackling major technical challenges in order to realize German quantum computer demonstrators and make them accessible to users in 24/7 operation. The leading groups in ion trap research at the universities in Hanover/Braunschweig, Siegen and Mainz have joined forces with other leading research institutions and industrial partners for this purpose. The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. ATIQ indeed holds enormous potential for economic and scientific success. Quantum computers promise unprecedented computing power for applications where purely digital classical high-performance computers alone fail completely. The combination of a classical high-performance computer and a quantum computer, on the other hand, opens up completely new possibilities. There is therefore an urgent need for Germany to provide robust and scalable quantum hardware. The ATIQ consortium aims at optimized hardware for applications in chemistry. Novel chemical substances and the reactions to produce them could then be simulated on quantum computers. Another use case is in finance, where completely new approaches are being taken in credit risk assessment. The core of the quantum processor in ATIQ is based on ion trap technology, which is seen worldwide as one of the most promising routes to quantum computing. However, current systems are still complex laboratory machines with significant maintenance and calibration required by highly skilled personnel. ATIQ addresses the technical challenges to achieve continuous operation with reliable high quality computing operations. To this end, the ATIQ partners, in cooperation with technology and industry partners, optimize the control of the processors with electronic and optical signals and thus aim to achieve high reliability and availability so that external users can independently execute computing algorithms. In addition, such optimization also promises to scale up the quantum demonstrators from an initial 10 to eventually more than 100 qubits. The strength of the consortium is based on its knowledge as a developer of ion trap technology and the physical and technical fundamentals at the participating universities and research institutions.
Further partners are: Leibniz-Universität Hannover, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, TU Braunschweig, RWTH Aachen, Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt and Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft.
The companies are: AMO GmbH, AKKA Industry Consulting GmbH, Black Semiconductor GmbH, eleQtron GmbH, FiberBridge Photonics GmbH, Infineon Technologies AG, JoS QUANTUM GmbH, LPKF Laser & Electronics AG, Parity Quantum Computing Germany GmbH, QUARTIQ GmbH, Qubig GmbH and TOPTICA Photonics AG.
Associated partners are: AQT Germany GmbH, Boehringer Ingelheim, Covestro AG, DLR-SI, Volkswagen AG and QUDORA Technologies GmbH.