DLR space center relies on know-how from Tyrol

Numerous research groups around the world are involved in the planning and construction of quantum computers – a real race was said to have broken out. The aim is to solve certain computational tasks many times faster than conventional computers using quantum physics. Unlike the smallest unit of information (bit) of a conventional computer, which can only have exactly two states (0 and 1), the quantum computer’s units of information, called qubits, can represent multiple states at once. Qubits can be realized in different ways, for example with ions, atoms, photons or superconducting circuits.

Physicists from the University of Innsbruck and the Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI) of the Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) have had great success in implementing programmable quantum computers based on ions that can be trapped in traps and manipulated with lasers. ParityQC is involved in, among other things, the commercial exploitation of the findings from the university environment.

One of the largest quantum computer orders to date
According to the company’s research, the DLR contract is one of the largest ever awarded in this field, Hauser said. A total of five quantum computers will be built in Hamburg in the coming years. The Innsbruckers are involved in two. According to Hauser, who also expects a profit for the company from this “very well-financed order” for the year 2023, how much of the total order amount will go to Tyrol for contractual reasons.

Nearly 45 employees are currently working on further developing the approach in the Tyrolean capital. This is a special approach to the construction of quantum computers that one would like to establish as a future standard. In any case, they don’t provide hardware for the computers, but construction plans, algorithms and operating systems, explains Lechner, who works alongside the “quantum architecture firm” at the Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of Innsbruck. The basis for this was developed and patented over many years of research by Lechner and his Innsbruck colleagues Philipp Hauke ​​and Peter Zoller.

Local researchers at the forefront of quantum computing
In the great international race for quantum computers, which can actually be used to solve “industry-relevant” questions, Austria and Europe would be in a good position thanks to groundbreaking basic research – for example from Zoller, Rainer Blatt, also in Innsbruck, or physics Nobel laureate Anton sailor. However, when it comes to commercial implementation, they are lagging behind the US and China, Hauser said. However, the DLR order could be a kind of first spark for Europe in this area. According to Lechner, it would be “a scandal” if Europe were to lose contact here.

Together with the partner companies, ParityQC will design a “quantum computer demonstrator” with ten ion trap qubits within a year. It is intended as a kind of training platform on which researchers can look for ways to best solve common problems such as the decomposition of prime numbers. This is followed by a system consisting of many separate modules with ten qubits each, the structure of which is tailored to the solution of more specific problems, explains Lechner.

He is convinced that the first major, economically relevant questions to be solved with quantum computers will be optimization problems. Think of logistical problems, such as the question in which order a truck fleet should travel a certain route in order to save fuel. Conventional supercomputers will soon reach their limits here, but quantum computers will not. For example, the DLR then calculates how to position satellite fleets to achieve maximum coverage, the physicist said.