Pasqal’s Chief Science Officer and Chief Executive Officer, Antoine Browaeys and Georges-Olivier Reymond, give an in-depth interview on the technology behind Pasqal on the latest episode of the Decode Quantum podcast. Listen below:
Cambridge, UK, July 7, 2020 – Cambridge Quantum Computing (CQC) and French quantum computing start-up Pasqal announced today that they have entered into a partnership in which CQC’s quantum software development platform t|ket⟩ will be utilised on Pasqal’s cutting edge quantum information processors. t|ket⟩ – translates machine independent algorithms into executable circuits, optimising for physical qubit layout whilst reducing the number of required operations.
“We are excited to work with Pasqal, a trailblazer in the quantum computing industry”, said Ilyas Khan, CEO of CQC. “With Pasqal using t|ket⟩ on their full stack computer, our quantum computing software will be running on more platforms than ever, helping to advance quantum computation for real life applications”, he added.
“Through this partnership, we offer access to CQC’s t|ket⟩ therefore allowing our customers and partners to exploit the full capabilities of our neutral atom device”, said Christophe Jurczak, Chairman of Pasqal.
In April 2020, CQC released a new version of t|ket⟩ v0.5 with important enhancements to existing capabilities as well as a variety of new features.
These enhancements include the addition of backend support for new quantum processors such as those built by AQT and Honeywell Quantum Solutions, and also for the Microsoft Q# simulator and resource estimator. With simpler interfaces to backends and more flexible pass constructors, as well as new methods for error mitigation, t|ket⟩ v0.5 represents a major new tool that will allow the widest variety of users to more efficiently access the widest variety of quantum computers and quantum simulators.
Pasqal is building quantum processors made of arrays of 2D and 3D arrays of neutral atoms manipulated by optical tweezers. This technology has unique properties in terms of scalability and connectivity between qubits, which makes it a prime candidate to achieve quantum advantage for practical applications in fields such as computer-aided drug design and finance.
About CQC
Cambridge Quantum Computing (CQC) is a world-leading quantum computing software company with over 60 scientists across offices in Cambridge (UK), London, San Francisco area, Washington, DC and Tokyo. CQC builds tools for the commercialisation of quantum technologies that will have a profound global impact. CQC combines expertise in quantum software, specifically a quantum development platform (t|ket⟩™), enterprise applications in the area of quantum chemistry (EUMEN), quantum machine learning (QML), quantum natural language processing (QNLP) and quantum augmented cybersecurity (IronBridge™).
About Pasqal
Pasqal is a Quantum Computing startup, located in France and born out of works performed at Institut d’Optique / CNRS. Pasqal’s teams build on a decade of expertise and numerous achievements in the engineering of lasers, atom manipulation and detection systems, to manufacture Quantum Information Processors and hybrid quantum – classical full stack computers. Pasqal is backed by Quantonation, a leading early stage venture capital fund focusing on Deep Physics and Quantum Technologies.
Palaiseau, June 25th 2020 – Quantum Computing startup Pasqal collaborates with the R&D department of electric utility EDF to bring fast solutions to hard optimization problems.
Quantum computers have the potential to solve hard computational problems more efficiently than their classical counterparts. Applications notably encompass computational drug design, materials science, machine learning, and optimization problems. With the rapid developments of quantum hardware, practical quantum advantage is within reach.
With many cities turning to e-mobility to tackle environmental challenges, electric utilities have to account for a growing and more complex load to manage for their production facilities and the grid. One example is the need to schedule resource allocation for shared electric vehicles while taking into considerations their expected and real time availability as well as charging constraints. This class of problem is computationally hard to solve even with large supercomputers and it is expected that a quantum algorithm called Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm (QAOA) could improve its resolution.
EDF made smart charging and the development of its infrastructures one of the strong point of its Electric Mobility Plan, launched in October 2018. EDF views smart charging as a true asset for electric vehicle’s users and for the electrical system. Through its subsidiaries, IZIVIA and DREEV, the EDF Group already provides V2G solutions.
Through its Pulse Explorer Program, EDF R&D routinely reaches out to start-ups to explore new ideas in a collaborative way. EDF and Pasqal have formalized a partnership to explore how this algorithm could be implemented on the neutral atoms’ quantum processor developed at Pasqal and take benefit from its unique properties.
The core of the partnership is to finely tune the algorithms according to the hardware’s possibilities and to mitigate the impact of the errors. The level of performance will be gauged on a classical emulator, prior to a real hardware implementation.
Loïc Henriet, head of software development at Pasqal explained: “we have developed our full software stack with specific tools for generic optimization problems, but it is very important that we engage directly with partners working on applications. We need to focus on practical use cases to show that quantum processors can provide a real advantage.”
Marc Porcheron, head of EDF R&D’s Quantum Computing project, said: “utilities such as EDF have to be at the forefront of innovation in high performance computing. It is great to collaborate with Pasqal to explore the new possibilities opened by Quantum Computing for hard optimization problems like the ones we face in the decisive field of smart-charging. I am impressed with the results that have already been achieved with Pasqal, and look forward to implement on their upcoming hardware the quantum algorithms we investigate together.”
About Pasqal
Pasqal is a Quantum Computing startup, located in France and born out of works performed at Institut d’Optique / CNRS. The team builds on a decade of expertise and numerous achievements in the engineering of lasers, atom manipulation with lasers and detection systems, to manufacture Quantum Information Processors that tackle complex issues, from fundamental science to grand challenges. Pasqal is backed by Quantonation, leading early stage venture capital fund focusing on Deep Physics and Quantum Technologies.
We just released our technical white paper, an in-depth description of our technology and our full stack, from atoms to application layer.
Pasqal and Rahko are excited to announce a 2-year collaborative project co-funded by Région Île-de-France, as part of the Innov’up Leader PIA programme.
Within the project, Pasqal and Rahko will jointly develop algorithms to solve advanced chemistry problems, and fully implement them on Pasqal’s upcoming Rydberg atoms Quantum Processor.
I am very glad to work hand-by-hand with Rahko and to leverage both their unique quantum machine learning skills and the scaling potential of neutral atoms. This joint project is key to bring practical solutions for Quantum Chemistry, in the short term.
Georges-Olivier Reymond, Chief Executive Officer of Pasqal
We are really pleased to be working with the world-class research team at Pasqal, with the support and funding of Région Île-de-France. Rydberg atom quantum hardware holds great promise for scalability and low error rates, and we are thrilled to be working with Pasqal on algorithms that will enable us to jointly explore the full potential of a Rydberg atom device.
Leonard Wossnig, Chief Executive Officer of Rahko
About Rahko
Rahko is a London-based quantum machine learning company building the capability to better model the behaviour of drugs, chemical reactions and the design of advanced materials with greater speed and accuracy than current state-of-the-art technologies. With its ambition to ‘Solve Chemistry’, Rahko brings together a multidisciplinary team of experts in machine learning, quantum chemistry and quantum computing, to solve some of the world’s most complex problems. The company has the backing of Balderton Capital, Europe’s leading early-stage venture capital investor and a scientific advisory board with many leading figures in computational chemistry and quantum machine learning.
About Pasqal
Pasqal is a Quantum Computing startup, located in France and born out of works performed at Institut d’Optique / CNRS. The team builds on a decade of expertise and numerous achievements in the engineering of lasers, atom manipulation with lasers and detection systems, to manufacture Quantum Information Processors that tackle complex issues, from fundamental science to grand challenges. Pasqal is backed by Quantonation, an early stage venture capital fund focusing on Deep Physics and Quantum Technologies.
Paris, 15 juin 2020 – La startup Pasqal annonce le lancement d’un programme de recherche et développement co-financé par la Région Île-de-France et l’État visant l’ingénierie de molécules complexes par un ordinateur quantique.
La Région Île-de-France en partenariat avec l’Etat et Bpifrance soutient l’innovation dans les filières franciliennes stratégiques à travers une déclinaison territoriale du Programme d’Investissement d’Avenir (PIA) et des appels à projets réguliers. Le programme vise à accélérer l’émergence de futurs leaders sur leur marché, pouvant prétendre à une envergure internationale et porteurs de projets d’innovation de rupture.
Pasqal développe un ordinateur quantique reposant sur une technologie de rupture, la manipulation d’atomes par laser, qui permet de réaliser des calculs avec un grand nombres de qubits, les unités élémentaires du calcul quantique. Cette plateforme a des capacités inégalées de passage à l’échelle au-delà de 100 qubits, avec une reconfigurabilité en 2D et même 3D qui en fait une des technologies de pointe pour atteindre un « avantage quantique » à brève échéance.
L’ingénierie de matériaux et molécules complexes est l’une des applications phares des processeurs quantiques développés par Pasqal. L’objectif du projet QUACHA (« Quantum Chemistry with Atoms Arrays ») lauréat de l’appel à projets est de progresser dans la compréhension des interactions entre certaines classez d’enzymes et leurs substrats, avec des applications pour le développement de médicaments mais aussi pour la recherche de catalyseurs plus performants dans l’industrie. Pasqal s’est associée à la startup Rahko, spécialiste d’algorithmes associant quantique et machine learning, pour développer le software quantique optimisé qui sera utilisé sur son processeur disponible en 2021. Le processeur quantique Pasqal aura par ailleurs la particularité de consommer beaucoup moins d’énergie qu’un ordinateur haute performance, avec une empreinte carbone réduite d’autant et des coûts de fonctionnement drastiquement réduits.
Basée à Palaiseau, la startup francilienne créée en 2019 compte d’ores et déjà plus de 10 employés et s’insère dans un écosystème riche. Georges-Olivier Reymond, PDG de Pasqal, déclare : « grâce au projet Innov’up leader PIA, Pasqal va accélérer ses développements logiciels pour être en mesure de répondre aux besoins de ses futurs clients dans l’Industrie et la Santé, et positionner l’ordinateur quantique comme une brique technologique indispensable pour résoudre des problèmes d’intérêt fondamental pour nos sociétés ».
« Le territoire francilien possède un environnement quantique unique en France et en Europe, d’un niveau scientifique exceptionnel, reconnu internationalement et soutenu par un écosystème formé par la présence des grandes entreprises et de start-ups comme Pasqal. Dans le cadre de son plan de relance, la Région Île-de-France souhaite accompagner la croissance dans le domaine de la Recherche et du Développement, car c’est à la fois un enjeu stratégique pour le secteur du numérique et enjeu de souveraineté » souligne Alexandra Dublanche, Vice-présidente chargée du Développement Economique et de l’Attractivité au Conseil Régionale d’Île-de-France.
À propos de Pasqal
Pasqal a été fondée en 2019 avec la vision de tirer parti de la technologie développée à l’Institut d’Optique à Palaiseau (France) pour construire des processeurs quantiques à partir d’atomes neutres et tout l’environnement software nécessaire. Le but de Pasqal est d’apporter un avantage quantique à ses clients industriels et académiques. Pasqal est soutenu par Quantonation, le fonds d’investissement leader dans le domaine des technologies quantiques. Pour plus d’informations, ou postuler pour des emplois dans une équipe ambitieuse, visitez le site www.pasqal.io.
Contact: Georges-Olivier Reymond – georges@pasqal.io
Palaiseau, April 28th 2020 – Quantum computing startup Pasqal leverages Cirq framework on their upcoming platform to bring arrays of single atoms to quantum software developers.
The application of quantum computers has the potential to reduce the time it takes to compute the solution of hard problems, such as computational drug design, classification challenges, or optimisation problems, compared to current classical supercomputers. Furthermore, quantum computers promise to not be only faster, but also consume less energy. Scientific discovery is poised to benefit most from these new hybrid platforms.
Pasqal was founded in 2019 with the vision to leverage the technology developed at Institut d’Optique in Palaiseau (France) for more than 10 years to build quantum processors based on neutral atoms ordered in large 2D arrays. Pasqal is funded by Quantonation, a Paris based VC fund focusing on Deep Physics and Quantum Technologies.
Pasqal is collaborating with application developers and end-users to explore the capabilities of its architecture and prepare for the upcoming quantum advantage. Each approach to quantum computing (atoms, ions, photons, superconducting circuits…) is based on different concepts with an impact on the software stack, from the physical qubit up to the application. Some parts of the software are specific to the underlying physics, which makes it challenging for software programmers to acquire familiarity and confidence to make the best implementation decisions, ideally regardless of the underlying platform.
With this in mind, Pasqal has been collaborating with Google to give access to its technology through Cirq, an open-source framework dedicated to the development and implementation of quantum algorithms on arbitrary platforms. Pasqal’s API is currently able to run instances on an emulator, while the first processor is being built.
Dr. Markus Hoffmann from Google explains: “It’s great to see the adoption of Cirq following the spirit of the Apache 2.0 open source license and making further hardware platforms accessible to the Cirq developer community.”
Pasqal’s CEO, Dr. Georges-Olivier Reymond, says: “We are delighted to provide such an intuitive and effective interface between our quantum computing hardware and software developers all over the world. This will greatly benefit the emergence of a global quantum ecosystem that is necessary for this new industry to thrive.”
It is to be noted that the development of Pasqal’s API has benefitted from discussions with and support by the team at AQT, an Austrian startup developing a quantum computer based on trapped ions. AQT has been one of the early adopters of Cirq. Dr. Thomas Monz, CEO at AQT, explains that “together with Dr. Markus Hoffmann, AQT happily supports Pasqal and the European quantum ecosystem to work towards a versatile quantum algorithm and quantum application platform.”
To know more about Pasqal – Cirq integration and start running programs on Pasqal’s platform emulator:
- Watch the replay of Le Lab Quantique’s video presentation of the Cirq-Pasqal framework.
- Start working with custom Pasqal objects in Cirq with getting_started.ipynb
- See how to use Tensorflow Quantum with Pasqal devices with TFQ-cirq-pasqal.ipynb (advanced).
Documentation for working with Pasqal classes in Cirq is available on Github, where the two tutorials are hosted.
Muquans, an industry leader in quantum sensing, and Pasqal, a French company developing quantum processors built out of arrays of neutral atoms have signed a strategic partnership agreement. The purpose is to develop cutting edge laser and control solutions to push the technological boundaries of quantum computing.
Pasqal is building quantum processors out of large arrays of neutral atoms. Senior Hardware Engineers Adrien Signoles and Lucas Béguin present in this post the physics behind the preparation of a sample of Rydberg atoms, and the way they are manipulated to perform logic operations.
Antoine Browaeys and Thierry Lahaye, co-founders and scientists at Pasqal, review in this paper recent developments in the field of quantum simulation with systems of individually controlled neutral atoms, interacting with each other when excited to Rydberg states. They show how they have emerged as a promising platform for this task, particularly for the simulation of spin systems. They review the techniques necessary for the manipulation of neutral atoms for the purpose of quantum simulation—such as quantum gas microscopes and arrays of optical tweezers—and explain how the different types of interactions between Rydberg atoms allow a natural mapping onto various quantum spin models. We discuss recent achievements in the study of quantum many-body physics in this platform, and some current research directions beyond that.
Experimental platforms for realizing arrays of individually controlled neutral atoms. a: In a quantum gas microscope, a high- numerical-aperture objective is used to observe the fluorescence of ultracold atoms trapped in an optical lattice obtained by interfering several laser beams.