aQCess: the “centrepiece of a transnational quantum ecosystem”

What was behind the creation of project aQCess?

We are at a fascinating turning point in history, in which the first “quantum processors” that apply the principles of quantum physics to compute are now capable of solving important problems that are beyond the reach of conventional computers. Based on this observation, we wanted to set up the first facility of its kind on French soil, which would use the latest scientific and technological advances to make quantum computing more accessible to academics and industrialists, both nationally and internationally. Our initiative is a continuation of previous projects in Strasbourg including: two Écoles Universitaires de Recherche (EUR) and the new Centre Européen des Sciences Quantiques (CESQ), co-founded in 2019 by the University of Strasbourg and the CNRS.

What does the project involve?

Thanks to this latest EquipEx+ call, we obtained funding to construct a new type of computer in Strasbourg, housed in a state-of-the-art laboratory within the Centre Européen des Sciences Quantiques. The platform, known as aQCess (“Atomic Quantum Computing as a Service – aQCess”) will make it possible to carry out calculations that are currently impossible to perform, even with the biggest supercomputers, by using the quantum effects at work in systems of atoms trapped by lasers. A genuinely public facility dedicated to quantum computing, aQCess will mainly be a tool used for research, multidisciplinary teaching and training, but also by businesses and start-ups investing in quantum technologies.

Which laboratories are involved?

aQCess is spearheaded by the University of Strasbourg and brings together a consortium of researchers from five partner institutes in Strasbourg (ISIS, IC, IPCMS, ICube and IRMA), one partner institute in Nancy (LPCT) and one in Montpellier (ICGM). Together we will develop the key features of the project, from software interfaces through to the users in mathematics, chemistry and IT. aQCess also includes international partners, including two institutes from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany, the University of Vienna in Austria, Europe’s leading chemical company, BASF, and two emerging quantum “hubs”: the Institut Quantique of the Université de Sherbrooke in Canada and the Forschungszentrum Jülich, a global leader in supercomputing.