QCBRIEF
The Swiss technical university is the first in the country to route a commercial quantum processor through its existing high performance computing batch workflow, called SCITAS, alongside the classical simulations researchers already run.
EPFL has folded a commercial quantum computer into the same SCITAS batch workflow its researchers use for classical simulations (HPCwire), becoming the first Swiss academic institution to route Quantinuum's trapped-ion hardware through its in-house supercomputer rather than a separate cloud portal.
The agreement between EPFL's Center for Quantum Science and Engineering (QSE) and Quantinuum was implemented with SCITAS Operational Director Gilles Fourestey. Research groups led by Prof. Giuseppe Carleo (Computational Quantum Science Laboratory) and Prof. Zoë Holmes (Quantum Information and Computing Group) can now submit hybrid classical-quantum jobs through the same interface used for conventional HPC work.
QSE Academic Director Prof. Vincenzo Savona said state-of-the-art quantum hardware demands capital that academic institutions rarely hold, so they access it through industrial partners. He called Quantinuum's trapped-ion systems, which use individual charged atoms as quantum bits prized for accuracy, "among the most powerful, cleanest, most advanced quantum computers in the world with the lowest level of decoherence." Carleo said the access "opens the door to experiments that go beyond purely theoretical or small-scale numerical studies."
QSE Master's Program Co-Director Prof. Nicolas Macris is extending hardware access to the program's coursework, letting students design and run trapped-ion circuits rather than only simulate them on classical machines.
Other academic centers have exposed commercial QPUs through separate portals, but EPFL is the first Swiss institution to fold that access into its existing HPC batch queue (Quantum Computing Report).