Brisk Rydberg Ions for Scalable Quantum Processors

The goal of BRISQ is to realize a prototype of a fully scalable quantum computer which has the capability to run quantum algorithms with a circuit depth exceeding one million. Achieving this goal will deliver a breakthrough in quantum information processing and simulation. This will directly impact on current efforts of the industrial sector which seek to employ quantum technology for computational tasks, such as the design of materials and drugs, or various optimization problems - tasks that are also limited by possible computational depth.

Our technological approach exploits the interaction of trapped ions excited to electronically high-lying Rydberg states. The distinctive advantage of this platform is that it offers coherence times in the range of up to a minute together with fast entangling gate speeds on the order of 100 ns. These two factors are key for achieving an unprecedented circuit depth and thus computational complexity. Research on Rydberg-ion devices is performed solely in two European research labs, and the first nanosecond-timescale entangling gate based on this approach has been achieved by one of the members of the BRISQ consortium. This brings the consortium in a unique position and gives Europe a decisive lead for advancing the development of this new platform towards maturity. To facilitate this effort, the BRISQ project assembles a research consortium that consists of two experimental and two theoretical academic research groups. They are joined by the SME HQS and the industrial partner Infineon Technologies. This combination of expertise permits us to advance our ambitious project on a broad front, ranging from industrial grade hardware to user-driven quantum algorithms and compiler software, which can directly feed into simulation of physical models and potentially quantum chemistry.