Loic Henriet (Pasqal), Christophe Jurczak (Pasqal and Quantonation) and Leonard Wossnig (Rahko) discuss in this post recent developments in the field of Quantum Machine Learning and how they impact practical applications of Quantum Computers such as Pasqal.
Loic Henriet, head of Quantum Software at Pasqal, has published an original research about the robustness of variational algorithms w/r to dissipative processes such as spontaneous emission. This result is an additional element in favor of NISQ computers towards practical applications.
BPIFrance InnoGeneration conference is the yearly major event where French entrepreneurs, corporates, tech enthusiasts, policy makers and other stakeholders in the Innovation ecosystem, gather.
A sure sign that Quantum technologies become mainstream: two panels were organized this year, respectively on Quantum sensing & communications, and post-quantum cybersecurity. Pasqal’s CEO Georges-Olivier Reymond shared with an attentive crowd his views about the Quantum sector in France, Pasqal and how he came to be an entrepreneur.
A post by Olivier Ezratty (in French) who moderated the first panel, focusing on French Quantum startups: https://www.oezratty.net/wordpress/2019/de-la-recherche-a-la-startup-dans-le-quantique/
And the panel in video (in French too …)
PASQAL’s co-founders Thierry Lahaye and Antoine Browaeys and their team at IOGS have released a pre-print on recent work demonstrating the trapping of single Rydberg atoms in micron-sized, hollow laser traps (called ‘Bottle-beam traps’).
While atoms in their ground state are already cooled down and trapped in 3D light patterns (optical tweezers), so far the Rydberg atoms were not trapped, which was expected to be ultimately limit for gate fidelities and the available time for coherent dynamics for simulation. Once trapped in the dark region of the trap, using a second set of optical tweezers in 3D, the Rydberg atoms can be kept for hundreds of microseconds, only limited by their lifetime. The teams shows that trapping does not degrade coherent manipulations of the internal state of the atom using microwave, nor the interaction-induced swapping of internal states between two atoms. These results further extend the possibilities offered by Rydberg atoms arrays for quantum computing.
Main components of the experimental setup. The zoom shows two-dimensional cuts of the reconstructed light intensity distribution near the focal plane.
Georges-Olivier Reymond and Bruno Desruelle, respectively CEOs of PASQAL and Muquans, are pleased to announce the signature of a partnership agreement. Muquans has developed a unique expertise worldwide, bringing to the market the first quantum sensor based on laser cooled atom – its absolute gravimeter. It will supply PASQAL with some of the lasers needed to prepare the samples of cold atoms and both parties will collaborate on projects.
Antoine Browaeys, Chief Scientific Officer at PASQAL, made a presentation of the technology behind the company during the “Leti Days” at CEA, in Grenoble.
BPI France, Quantonation, IBM and ATOS have organized on June 25th, in Paris, their first Quantum Computing Business conference. Leading startups such as Zapata Computing, Quantum Benchmark and IonQ, shared the stage with earlier stage companies out of France. A good occasion for PASQAL’s CEO Georges-Olivier Reymond to showcase, in a duo with Muquans CEO Bruno Desruelle, the potential of neutral Rydberg atoms for scalable Quantum Computing.
