NEQIOS

The project Neuromorphic Quantum-Inspired Optimization and Simulation (NEQIOS) has been awarded a prestigious EIC Pathfinder Open Grant. NEQIOS was selected in a highly competitive call in which only around 2% of submitted proposals received funding, underscoring the project’s scientific ambition and breakthrough potential.

In simple terms, NEQIOS aims to build a new class of brain-inspired computers for efficiently solving problems in science and industry that today’s computers struggle with. These problems range from materials discovery and quantum chemistry to logistics, energy systems, and AI-driven optimisation.

EPIQUE

Quantum computers are one of the most promising technologies of the future, devices potentially capable of solving problems that are impossible even for the most powerful super computers, but they are still at the prototype stage and there are several possible paths of development. One of the most promising is light-based: the use of photons as qubits. EPIQUE – European Photonic Quantum Computer – was set up in order to investigate in depth the potential offered by the development of photonic quantum computing platforms, a project that aims to lead the way in a domain with wide margins for development.

HYBRAIN

HYBRAIN’s vision is to realize a radically new technology for ultra-fast and energy-efficient edge AI inference based on a world-first, unique, brain-inspired hybrid architecture of integrated photonics and unconventional electronics with collocated memory and processing. As the most stringent latency bottleneck in CNNs arise from the initial convolution layers, we will take advantage of the ultrahigh throughput and low latency of photonic convolutional processors (PCPs). Their output is processed using cascaded analog electronic linear and novel nonlinear classifier layers.

CLUSTEC

The goal of CLUSTEC is to open a radically new path for scalable quantum computing and quantum networking based on continuous variable (CV) cluster state protocols, concepts and technologies. While our long-term grand vision is to build a universal, fault-tolerant and network compatible quantum computer based on CV, the main objective of CLUSTEC is to address the fundamental scientific questions associated with technological scalability, computational universality, quantum error-correction, computational applications and quantum advantage certification.

2DNEURALVISION

The 2DNEURALVISION project is a complex endeavor focused on developing a low power consumption wide-spectrum image sensor chip enabled by 2D materials. It also involves synthesizing a non-toxic colloidal quantum dot infrared absorber material and designing 2D material-based elements integrated into a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) for an optical neural network (ONN). The project includes integrating the wide-spectrum camera system into a test vehicle, designing the opto-electronic interface, and developing control algorithms for ONN operation.

SeQuRe

The aim of the SeQuRe project is to develop a quantum receiver system that is protected against multiple attack scenarios, which simultaneously integrates several strategies to increase the security of the receiver system in the detector and combines them with novel readout methods through the electronics. The single-photon detectors and the measurement electronics, consisting of high-resolution time-to-digital converters (TDCs), are to be developed in a compact design for use as a secure and mobile receiver unit for coherent one-way quantum key distribution (COW protocol) and tested for their attack resilience.

MultiQomm

In this research project, a detector chip will be developed that contains waveguide-integrated superconducting single photon detectors with different detector properties that can be adapted to different applications. The detector chip is to be designed according to a modular principle: different functions can be combined depending on the application.

The subproject of Heidelberg University includes the research of chip-integrated electronic circuit elements and circuit-integrated coupling and readout elements.

MUNIQC-ATOMS

The HEI-group develops fast electo-optic modulators operating at a 698 nm and 317 nm wavelength to generate optimal signals for the consortium. The final goal is to fabricate a network of modulators with a modulation bandwidth of 5 GHz and a modulation depth of 60 dB, thus reaching unprecedented control. The device will be modular, accessible via fiber-coupling and wire-bonding to a PCB. The design will provide high spatial and temporal control allowing for the manipulation of hundreds of atoms on a single-atom precision.

PhoQuant

Within the PhoQuant project our group is responsible for developing photon-number resolving (PNR) detectors based on superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs). Waveguide SNSPDs with photonic beam splitter networks and PNR detectors will be realized on Lithium-Niobate-on-Insulator (LNOI) substrates. In addition, our group is working on the development of efficient coupling interfaces to PNR-SNSPDs.

SQALES

This project aims to investigate a modular optoelectronic addressing unit capable of individually addressing thousands of qubits based on neutral atoms. This unit is based on photonic integrated circuits (PICs) made of lithium niobate. The PIC is complemented by innovative electronics, active thermal management, and precision packaging technology. A 256-channel prototype will be developed in close collaboration between research institutions and industrial partners and tested on a quantum computer from PlanQC.