European Quantum Flagship Launches PASQuanS2 Project with €16.6 Million ($18M USD) Funding to Find Ways to Simulate 10,000 Atomic Systems

PASQuanS2 (Programmable Large-Scale Quantum Simulation of the Atom) has the goal of building a quantum simulator capable of handling simulations of up to 10,000 atoms. This is a follow-up to the previous European Featured program EASTER which initially explored the concept of quantum simulation with smaller arrays. Although a quantum simulator is not as general-purpose as a fully programmable quantum processor, it can be very effective for solving certain computational problems beyond the capabilities of classical processors, especially for problems involving quantum chemistry.

The project will be led by the German Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics and the next phase will last 3.5 years (April 2023 – September 2026). This will include 25 academic and technological partners from Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Slovenia and Spain. The phase objectives, also called PASQuanS2.1 will develop the necessary hardware and software to support simulations of up to 2,000 atoms with a roadmap for expanding the technology further. It is hoped that this phase will have a follow-up program, PASQuanS2.2, for another 3.5 years to develop a system capable of hosting 10,000 atoms.

Additional information about the program is available on its new website Here. A list of the 25 partners in the program and their countries is shown below:

Austria
• Alpine Quantum Technologies GmbH
• Austrian Academy of Sciences
• Parity Quantum Computing GmbH
• University of Innsbruck

France
• BULL action
• Azur Light System
• National Scientific Research Center
• French electricity
• Institute of Theoretical and Applied Optics
• Go out
• PASQAL

German
• Eberhard Karls Tuebingen University
• EURICE – European Research and Project Office GmbH
• Research Center Julich GmbH
• Free University of Berlin
• Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich
• Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics
• Menlo Systems GmbH
• Qruise GmbH
• University of Heidelberg
• TOPTICA Photonics AG

Italy
• National Research Council
• University of Padua

Slovenia
• University of Ljubljana

Spanish
• Fundacio Institute of Photonic Sciences

April 3, 2023