EPIQ stands for ‘Development Partnership for Ion-Trap Quantum Computers in North Rhine-Westphalia’ (Entwicklungspartnerschaft Ionenfallen-Quantencomputer in NRW in German). The Jülich Supercomputing Centre and the Siegen-based start-up eleQtron are jointly developing JION – short for ‘Jülich trapped ION’. The system combines quantum computing with classical high-performance computing.
JION operates on the basis of ion traps: its qubits consist of individual ions, which are held in place in a vacuum by electromagnetic fields and strung together like beads on a necklace. Microwave technology developed at the University of Siegen is used to control the ions.
EPIQ is set to open up new possibilities for optimisation, the natural sciences, medicine, materials research and artificial intelligence. JION will be made available to the scientific community and industry via Jülich’s user infrastructure, JUNIQ. The inauguration marked a further step along this path.
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