Key milestones achieved at half-time: The QSolid Quantum Computer Project is heading towards the prototype of the 10-Qubit demonstrator

Since January 2022, QSolid has been working on a high-quality quantum computer "Made in Germany" based on superconducting quantum chips. Now, 30 months into this large-scale project led by Prof. Frank Wilhelm-Mauch from Forschungszentrum Jülich, the team has successfully reached the mid-term: In this first half of the project, the team of more than 160 people from 25 partner institutions already succeeded in developing key technologies for an initial 10-qubit prototype of the final demonstrator. This achievement creates the basis for the implementation, continued development and scaling of the system in the remaining project phase until December 2026.

QSolid’s primary focus is on quantum bits, or qubits for short, of very high quality with a low error rate. The susceptibility of qubits to errors is currently considered one of the greatest challenges in quantum computer development. Hence, the project aims to develop a system that contains various quantum processors based on next-generation superconducting circuits designed to reduce error rates.

At this stage of the project, almost all partners have reached their individual milestones, resulting in the development and installation of larger subsystems for cabling, electronics and software on the central system. As a particularly significant milestone, a first prototype of the QSolid half-time demonstrator with 10 qubits, low error rates, an integrated software stack and cloud user access will soon go into operation. Users will then be able to access this computing power via the JUNIQ quantum computer infrastructure at Forschungszentrum Jülich. At the core of that prototype are quantum processors, which already demonstrate very impressive performance. These are currently being integrated by system engineers. In the meantime, the team is calibrating two parallel systems, making final adjustments at this midway point of QSolid.

Carlos Gonzalez Calaza, JUNIQ Lead Developer, explains the role of the Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC) as follows: "JSC’s task is to integrate the QSolid quantum computer into the institute’s HPC infrastructure as well as to provide cloud and HPC access to the device for project and external users through the JUNIQ cloud platform.“ With regard to the project’s requirements, he adds: “The mid-term milestone for JSC demands that at least one user can perform at least one simple quantum circuit on the QSolid midterm demonstrator via JUNIQ. We are happy to say that this has been demonstrated through the successive smoke tests presented to our partners this and last year."

Prospects of 30 qubits for industry and science applications

The 10-qubit prototype is only the initial step towards greater scalability. By the end of the project in December 2026, the system is to be further developed so that it can control 30 qubits at best with the highest possible error correction. The first preparatory work for this second project phase is already in progress.

"Over the past two and a half years, we have established excellent capacities and an ecosystem. Despite some challenges, the team was able to achieve almost all of the interim goals set and launched a system with promising performance values,” says project coordinator Prof. Frank Wilhelm-Mauch and adds: “While we are still integrating and fine-tuning the last subsystems, work is already underway to improve the performance of the prototype, which is designed to perform complex computing operations for industrial and scientific applications."

The QSolid project is supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), funding programme ‘Quantum technologies - from basic research to the market’.

For more information visit the JUNIQ and QSolid Websites.

Contact: Kristel Michielsen (JSC)