Startups Quandela And Attocube Systems AG Selected By EuroHPC And EuroQCS-France To Provide Europe's Most Powerful Photonic Quantum Computer

​Following a call for tenders launched in January 2024, EuroHPC Joint Undertaking and EuroQCS-France announce the acquisition of the most powerful universal photonic quantum computer in Europe from a consortium formed by Quandela (France) and attocube systems AG (Germany). This system, owned by EuroHPC and co-acquired by GENCI, will be hosted and operated by the CEA at the TGCC. It will be coupled with the Joliot-Curie supercomputer and will be made available to scientific communities in 2025 as part of open research.

The consortium led by the French company Quandela and the German company attocube systems AG was selected at the end of June by the European joint venture EuroHPC following the call for tenders launched on January 30, 2024, for the acquisition, delivery and installation, software and hardware maintenance of a photonic quantum computer of at least 12 qubits. It will be, to date, the most powerful photonic quantum computer in Europe.

• EuroHPC JU is the owner of the purchased system
• GENCI is the Hosting Entity of the Photonic Quantum Computer
• The CEA is the Hosting Site, so the quantum computer is hosted at the TGCC.

This calculator will be installed in 2025 in the CEA's computing center, the TGCC, in Bruyères-le-Châtel and will be coupled with GENCI's Joliot-Curie supercomputer. This hybrid HPC-Quantum platform will be made available to serve the needs of open, academic and industrial research, French and European. When the EuroQCS-France consortium was formed, the partners ICHEC (Ireland), FZJ (Germany) and UPB (Romania) have already identified use cases that could be carried over to this photonic technology.

Lucy: a cutting-edge photonic calculator serving scientific excellence
The name chosen for the photonic quantum computer is "Lucy". It is a technology at the forefront of innovation in photonics on a European scale, but also worldwide. Photonic quantum computers offer new avenues of research in the field of quantum computing. The method used by Quandela consists of emitting single photons, which are routed by optical fiber to a chip on which they interfere to perform a calculation. The result is measured at the output of this chip by means of detectors.

With an initial capacity of 12 qubits that will be doubled by 2026, the specific architecture of the Lucy universal quantum computer will enable the resolution of existing problems and the discovery of new use cases. Among the use cases already identified that could benefit from the HPC-Quantum coupling of the Lucy system, we find for example electromagnetic simulation, structural mechanics, combustion in engines, materials simulation, meteorology and terrestrial observation.

The French part of this acquisition was carried out within the framework of the National Quantum Strategy, supported by the General Secretariat for Innovation (SGPI) via France 2030. GENCI and the CEA, alongside Inria, have set up a hybrid HPC-Quantum computing infrastructure called HQI ( France Hybrid HPC Quantum Initiative ) in which different quantum technologies will be coupled to the Joliot Curie machine at the TGCC, with support and assistance services for the communities. A neutral atom quantum computer from the Pasqal company named Ruby, acquired in the context of the European HPCQS project , is currently being installed and will be available at the end of 2024.

Like all quantum computers acquired by EuroHPC, Lucy will be made available to a wide range of users from the scientific community, industry and the public sector, throughout Europe. In order to enable communities to train in the use of photonic quantum computing paradigms ahead of the arrival of this system at the TGCC in 2025, the consortium will set up, at the end of 2024, remote access to a 6-qubit Quandela system.

The purchase of Lucy is part of an unprecedented pan-European deployment plan. EuroHPC has indeed planned the acquisition of 6 quantum computers, based on diverse and complementary European technologies. The other 5 systems will be hosted by Poland (PSNC, EuroQCS-Poland, based on trapped ions), the Czech Republic (IT4I, LUMI-Q, superconducting technology with a star topology), Spain (BSC-CNS, EuroQCS-Spain, quantum annealing system), Germany (LRZ, Euro-Q-Exa, scalable superconducting technology) and Italy (CINECA, EuroQCS-Italy, based on neutral atoms). In fact, GENCI's partners will have access to all these quantum computers, which will allow them to assess the suitability of these technologies for their physical problems.

Quandela and Attocube: a long-term partnership
Founded in 2017 based on the work carried out by Pascale Senellart-Mardon's group at the C2N (Center for Nanosciences and Nanotechnologies), the French company Quandela stands out with a very efficient manufacturing process for single photon sources. This technological building block allows them to offer modular and powerful quantum computing systems.

Attocube systems AG and Quandela have been working together since the French company started its business. The former provides compact cryogenic systems to efficiently cool the sources and detectors of the quantum computing systems designed by the latter. Lucy will benefit from this long-standing partnership.

Niccolo Somaschi, co-founder and CEO of Quandela and Peter Kraemer, CEO of attocube systems AG declare:

“Quandela and attocube systems AG, two European technology companies pioneering their field, have joined forces to present MOSAIQ-12, a state-of-the-art 12-qubit photonic quantum computer.

This revolutionary system integrates Quandela’s advanced qubit generator with attocube’s compact cryogenic system (attoCMC), along with proprietary photon demultiplexing technology, a sophisticated 24-mode photonic chip, high-precision single-photon detectors, and a comprehensive electronic and software control stack. MOSAIQ-12 represents a leap forward in the practice of quantum computing, with a remarkably compact footprint of just 2 square meters and energy-efficient operation of less than 5 kW. This achievement underscores the partners’ commitment to user-centric design and environmental responsibility.

To ensure a smooth transition, Quandela will provide access to a similar photonic quantum computing system remotely from contract signing through system delivery.

This collaboration between Quandela and attocube exemplifies the successful transition of quantum technology from theoretical research to practical real-world applications, marking an important milestone in the commercialization of quantum computing.”

“After the commissioning of a first neutral atom system, jointly acquired by EuroHPC and GENCI, the installation of Lucy, a new photonic QPU from Quandela, at the TGCC marks a new important step in the French and European quantum computing strategies. We are proud to make such innovative European quantum computing technologies available to French and European HPC users! This installation foreshadows the key role that quantum systems will play in the future world of hybrid intensive computing ,” said Jacques-Charles Lafoucrière, Director of the High Performance Computing Program at CEA and Coordinator of HQI.