CNRS, l’Institut d’Optique, Pasqal inaugurate AtomIQ-Lab
This collaboration between academic research and business aims to push back the technical limits of laser-cooled atom manipulation. The goal is to considerably increase the performance of quantum processors based on this technology.
The French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), the l’Institut d’Optique Graduate School and the scaleup Pasqal have inaugurated the AtomIQ-Lab associated research laboratory. This collaboration between academic research and business aims to push back the technical limits of laser-cooled atom manipulation, according to a media release.
The goal is to considerably increase the performance of quantum processors based on this technology, which are marketed by Pasqal, as well as to extend the range of accessible phenomena in the fundamental physics experiments conducted by the team from the Charles Fabry Laboratory (CNRS/Institut d’Optique).
Located at the heart of l’Université Paris-Saclay, this associated research laboratory between the enterprise Pasqal, the CNRS, and l’Institut d’Optique seeks to considerably increase the performance of quantum processors based on this technology. To this end, the team of scientists and engineers will work for four years on developing more effective techniques for laser-cooled atom manipulation. The goal is to reduce the time it takes to generate such registers, thereby accelerating the processor’s overall execution time.
The LabCom also aims, over the long term, to explore quantum photonics, with a view to developing quantum computers that use photons as qubits, the media release said.
“I am delighted with the creation of the AtomIQ-Lab LabCom with Pasqal, the result of a long-standing relationship of trust between public research and a company that grew out of our shared laboratory with the Institut d’Optique,” said Antoine Petit, President and CEO of the CNRS. “This new partnership will mobilise our scientists for four years to take on a major industrial challenge: to participate in building the computer of the future by pushing the limits of laser manipulation of cold atoms, at the heart of quantum technologies.”
“This project fully embodies the spirit of public-private partnership in research and innovation, which has been part of our institution’s DNA for over a century and opens up fascinating prospects in the field of quantum technologies,” said Rémi Carminati, Director General of the Institut d’Optique.
“Pasqal is proud to partner with the CNRS and the Institut d’Optique to create AtomIQ-Lab,” said Loïc Henriet, CEO of Pasqal. “As a spin-off of the CNRS and the Institut d’Optique, this partnership illustrates the strength of the relationship between public research and industry, which is essential for transforming French scientific excellence into concrete technological advances.”
