Highlights from the QT4HEP Conference at CERN

From January 20 to 25, 2025, Ed Wood (VP Product), Simone Eizagirre Barker (Product Manager), and Romerson Oliveira (Senior FPGA Engineer) attended the QT4HEP Conference at CERN, in Geneva. The visit was part of our ongoing collaboration with CERN as part of our adoption of WR technology in our quantum networking hardware, which was first developed to synchronise devices in the particle accelerators.

Simone gave an invited talk on the first day of the conference Main Auditorium, sharing our vision for quantum networks for quantum computing scale-out, and Romerson played an active role in the precision & timing workshop, as well as visiting the WR laboratories and using the opportunity to work with our collaborators in person. There were representatives from many top-tier academic groups and companies allowing us to make some new contacts for future collaborations.

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Here are our key takeaways from the conference:

• Quantum computing will have a big impact in physics research: one of the main use-cases cited for quantum is the ability to solve hard problems in physical sciences, high-energy physics, and materials science, by enabling new simulations to help scientists understand the natural world.

• Interdisciplinarity underpins big successes: CERN and high-energy physics research are a prime example of how to unite experts from different fields under a common, ambitious goal. Quantum technologies are a somewhat similar endeavour, in that building quantum computers requires people across physics, engineering, software, design, theory, computer science, mathematics, to build the computing machines of the future.

• Collaboration is key: innovations in one field can often drive significant impact in others. Conferences like QT4HEP are a great way to share ideas, foster international collaboration, and leverage insights from different perspectives. The deployment of CERN-born White Rabbit Technology for time distribution and precise synchronization in several quantum networking scenarios is a clear example of this.

• Quantum networking is a key enabling technology: of the many excellent presentations one by Olivier Ezratty stood out - “quantum computing roadmaps towards fault-tolerance”, which illustrated the limitations of scaling monolithically and the need for distributed entanglement to create utility-scale quantum computers. We presented Nu Quantum’s work on creating quantum networks to scale quantum computers, and several other companies shared their progress on building quantum networking testbeds for long-range communication and security.
  

We were treated to an amazing visit underground to the ATLAS experiment, one of the detectors involved in the discovery of the Higgs boson. It was truly an honour to visit such an incredible and awe-inspiring feat of technology, and an experience none of us will forget. To finish off an amazing first day, we also enjoyed our fair amount of chocolate and cheese at a delicious conference dinner!

We are grateful to the CERN Quantum Technology Initiative, CERN Knowledge Transfer, the White Rabbit Collaboration, and Amanda Diez Fernandez for the invitation and fantastic organisation.

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