“Essentially, it’s an office job like any other. I sit down at my computer in the morning. The only difference is that I work with the most advanced computers currently available,” says Dr. Madita Willsch. At the Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC), the physicist is pushing quantum computers to their limits. These are computers that operate according to the exotic rules of the quantum world. They have the potential to be far more superior than classical supercomputers for certain applications. In theory, for instance, they could crack encryption codes that are commonly used today.
“My work involves investigating how well these systems perform on specific tasks,” explains the researcher. Universal quantum computers, which are freely programmable, are, at best, still at the prototype stage, she says. “Nevertheless, we want to start exploring now which tasks could usefully be solved with future quantum computers.” The physicist is particularly interested in what quantum computers should theoretically be capable of and what they are already capable of. “Everything works perfectly in theory. It’s only when we actually work with the computers that we see where the challenges still lie.”
The “Jülich UNified Infrastructure for Quantum computing” (JUNIQ) offers ideal conditions for doing so. It brings together a range of quantum systems that cover a broad spectrum both in terms of their type and their level of technological maturity. The commercial quantum annealer (JUPSI) from Canadian company D-Wave is particularly well-suited to optimization problems, such as those in logistics. The JADE quantum simulator developed by Pasqal can simulate quantum processes. European researchers and industry will also have access to the experimental quantum computer being developed as part of the large-scale QSolid project, which is coordinated by Forschungszentrum Jülich.
“As a user, I can try out all the models and see which system is best suited to a specific application or a particular quantum algorithm,” says Willsch. “Because every computer has its own specific advantages and disadvantages – for example, its speed or how well the individual information carriers are coupled together.”
Another strength of JUNIQ is that, in addition to the quantum systems, JSC’s classical supercomputers can also be utilized. This combination is particularly appreciated by physicist Dr. Jaka Vodeb, who is currently setting up his own research group at the Jožef Stefan Institute in Slovenia. Vodeb previously worked at Jülich on the quantum annealer built by Canadian company D-Wave. “Initially, the aim was to test the system’s capabilities. Once we saw that it could be used to carry out some interesting experiments, we turned our attention to a relevant physical problem,” says Vodeb.
The scientist simulated processes that are thought to have taken place shortly after the Big Bang. The question was whether the vacuum in the early universe had already reached its lowest energy state or whether it remained stuck in a slightly higher energy state. To investigate this, Vodeb utilized the full potential of the annealer – more than 5,500 qubits – for the first time. He then compared the results with a simulation he had run on a JSC supercomputer. “We obtained broadly similar results. This demonstrates that the annealer is capable of producing correct results in principle, which gives us confidence that, in future, quantum computers will also be able to correctly solve more complex problems that conventional computers are unable to handle.”
There is also potential in combining the two types of computing systems – for instance, when a high-performance computer with an integrated AI module supports a quantum computer. “By combining their different modes of operation, highly complex problems could be tackled in a unique way,” says Vodeb. With its computing ecosystem, Jülich is playing a pioneering role in this field.
How it all began
Scientific computing has a long tradition at Jülich. In 1961, the Central Institute for Applied Mathematics (ZAM) was founded – an unusual combination at the time of a mathematical research institute and a computing centre. In 1984, it put Europe’s fastest supercomputer into operation, a CRAY X-MP/22. Like all high-performance computers installed at ZAM and its successor, the Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC), it was used for scientific and industrial research. Since 2025, Jülich has been home to a special type of supercomputer: Europe’s first exascale computer, JUPITER. JUNIQ is expanding JSC’s portfolio to include another type of computing technology: quantum computers.
This text is taken from the 1/26 issue of effzett. Text: Arndt Reuning
