#quantumprocessor

Bluefors Inc.

The Modular Cryogenic Platform from Bluefors, the world's top quantum technology infrastructure provider, marks a dramatic leap in quantum computing. To overcome quantum scaling limits and create a “Lego-like” cryogenic system for fault-tolerant quantum computers, a new architecture is envisioned.

Quantum research from academia to industry requires infrastructure that can handle growing qubit counts. Bluefors technology is scalable, interconnectable, and holds hundreds of thousands of qubits, unlike static dilution refrigerators.

The Modular Revolution: Scaling Bottleneck Breakdown Scaling a quantum system was expensive and time-consuming. When quantum processors exceeded their cooling capabilities, companies had to buy larger, custom dilution refrigerators. As a result, quickly growing quantum hardware companies encountered infrastructure issues.

This barrier is overcome by the self-supported Bluefors Modular Cryogenic Platform, an expanding vacuum chamber. With this new “architectural philosophy,” organizations can start their quantum journey with one module and add more as computing needs grow. These modules allow easy extension without infrastructure modification by linking to produce a single, continuous payload space.

Technical Precision for Large Systems

Bluefors created the platform with unprecedented technical specifications to satisfy the demands of massive quantum processors:

Heavy Quantum Processing Units (QPUs) and intricate experimental instruments require structural stability, and each module can handle 800 kg of mechanical payloads.

Unmatched Connectivity: Each platform module includes 36 side-loading wiring ports. A major improvement is the wire architecture's functional independence from the cooling system. This allows high-density wiring and QPUs to be moved or replaced without harming the refrigeration units underneath, maximizing uptime and flexibility.

High-Density Wiring Integration: Bluefors' high-density flex wire can offer thousands of signal lines in a tiny package, making it ideal for systems with hundreds of thousands of qubits.

Standardized Form Factors: Modules' thin and broad diameters allow for different laboratory and data center layouts.

Connecting to the Data Center

The event emphasizes quantum technology in HPC data centers. As quantum computers travel from research labs to factories, their physical infrastructure must fulfill current facility standards.

Bluefors optimized the platform for data center floor layouts with a low-height form factor and minimal footprint. The solution also lets data center owners customize the exterior to match their technological specs or branding.

Bluefors Chief Product Officer Tero Tolonen said the goal is to help datacenter operators launch and scale quickly. Tolonen stated, “They facilitate that expansion from an infrastructure perspective, allowing businesses to quickly resolve issues in material development, finance, health, and all the other areas where quantum's enormous potential can be realized.”

Market View and Strategy

The launch comes with a crucial quantum market moment. The sector is predicted to grow from $1 billion in 2025 to $28–72 billion by 2035. Bluefors needs “fault-tolerant” infrastructure to grow.

CEO Kim Povlsen calls the platform Bluefors' “next big leap” in quantum computing speed. Established in 2008, Bluefors has completed over 1,800 installations worldwide. As quantum computing approaches its ability to solve the world's biggest issues, Povlsen stressed the necessity for “reliable and resilient infrastructure that keeps up with its pace”.

Ahead: APS Global Physics Summit

The industry will first see the new technology at the APS Global Physics Summit in Denver, Colorado, on March 15–20, 2026. Bluefors plans to present the system and its technical aspects, perhaps stressing how it builds on past ideas like the hexagonal KIDE platform.

Multi-module deliveries to the Modular Cryogenic Platform are scheduled in late 2026. This timeline assures that the infrastructure is ready for the next generation of QPUs and supports the industry's efforts to future-proof quantum computing capacity for commercial use.

University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) quantum information science researchers found a new, highly robust silicon qubit that could form the basis of scalable quantum technology. The hydrogen-free CN center solves silicon-based quantum emitter manufacturing problems.

The team, led by Materials Professor Chris Van de Walle, has found a stable defect that is compatible with industrial processes, suggesting a way to link laboratory quantum research with large-scale semiconductor-based quantum device manufacturing.

The Silicon Advantage

For the perfect qubit, the quantum equivalent of a classical computer bit, materials that are easy to create in vast quantities have been sought. Silicon, the core of the trillion-dollar semiconductor industry, is best for this transformation. Because silicon chip production infrastructure exists, researchers can employ this material without adopting new manufacturing paradigms.

Quantum technologies require “fab-friendly” physical systems with desirable quantum characteristics. Researchers have struggled to find silicon faults that are physically durable and can communicate across long distances using present infrastructure. CN center discovery solves communication and stability difficulties.

T Center “Hydrogen Fragility” Resolved

Before the CN center was discovered, the T center dominated scientific interest. The T center, a silicon imperfection consisting of carbon and hydrogen atoms, can store quantum information for long periods of time, like diamonds' NV center.

But hydrogen is the T center's "Achilles' heel". In a crystal lattice, hydrogen atoms are notoriously unstable because they are “slippery” and migrate easily during high-temperature heating and chemical processing for chip production. This sensitivity makes it difficult for engineers to create millions of identical T centers on a silicon wafer, which is needed for scalable quantum processors.

CN Center: Strong Alternative

To address this dependability issue, the UCSB Computational Materials Group used powerful first-principles computer simulations to find a hydrogen-free replacement. Their analysis revealed the CN center, a one-carbon (C)-one-nitrogen (N) compound.

The CN core is stronger than the hydrogen center because carbon and nitrogen produce stronger and more stable silicon lattice connections. While overseeing the experiment, UCSB postdoctoral scholar Kevin Nangoi noted, “This defect will be more robust and easier to realize in actual devices because it does not contain hydrogen like the T center does.”

The simulation findings reveal that the CN center duplicates the T center's electrical and optical features without fabrication concerns. According to project postdoctoral researcher Mark Turiansky, the core is solid and stays stable even under rigorous heat processing conditions used in conventional semiconductor manufacturing.

Transitioning to the Quantum Internet

The CN center is stable and communicatively gifted. For a global “Quantum Internet” to exist, qubits must produce light in the telecom band, which may pass via fiber-optic cables with little signal loss.

These telecom photons are naturally emitted by the CN center. A stable “spin” that serves as quantum memory can be directly coupled to a quantum communication unit, a “photon,” by building a spin-photon interface. Due to its compatibility with global fiber-optic networks, the CN center is a strong candidate for long-distance quantum networking.

Simulation of Future Hardware

First-principles computer simulations enabled this discovery. These advanced models allow researchers to predict the properties of material systems that have not yet been developed in a lab. Theoretical models guide technical efforts to create novel quantum devices, saving time and money.

Professor Van de Walle noted that if the CN center is experimentally proven, it might be used as a building block for electronics that use the same silicon material as modern computers and cellphones.

Moving Forward: Experimental Validation

This research will proceed to experimental validation. To study the CN core physically, scientists worldwide will “plant” carbon and nitrogen atoms into silicon lattices.

The CN center may become the industry standard for future quantum hardware if experiments match UCSB calculations. This suggests that a fault-tolerant quantum computer that can simulate new drugs or crack complex encryptions may require a precise silicon technology enhancement rather than a manufacturing revolution.

Quantum Simulation News Today

UCLA researchers have developed a quantum simulation framework that does not require deep circuits or a huge number of “ancilla” qubits, which could dramatically improve near-term quantum hardware. The group's method, outlined in “Quantum simulation via stochastic combination of unitaries,” simulates complex physical systems using flawed “noisy” devices.

Challenge: Depth and Dilations

A large “hardware gap” has plagued quantum computing for years. Theoretical quantum simulation methods include "deep circuits," extensive sequences of operations that accumulate errors, and many "ancilla qubits," which serve as temporary workspace but require a lot of hardware. These requirements, known as the Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) era, are often too high for current technology.

In the past, many-qubit dilations were needed to model a “quantum channel”—the way a quantum system alters and interacts with its environment. However, Prineha Narang, Scott E. Smart, and Joseph Peetz of UCLA have proposed a paradigm that replaces resource-intensive dilations with ensembles of low-depth circuits.

Stochastic Solution

Stochastic unitary combinations are the main innovation. Instead of operating a single, massive, complex circuit, the researchers use a statistical ensemble of smaller, “shallower” circuits. They can simulate quantum channels by merging the output of these smaller processes without assistance qubits or deep gates.

This approach works well for mimicking open quantum systems that interact with their environment. Most real-world quantum systems are “open,” making this trait vital for simulating fundamental physics, chemistry, and materials research.

To prove their method, the researchers created “damped” many-qubit GHZ states (highly entangled quantum states) using the ibm_hanoi quantum processor. This practical demonstration showed that the technique could maintain accuracy on contemporary IBM hardware despite noise.

Redefining Efficiency and Precision

The framework's impact on Hamiltonian simulation, a quantum computing technique used to predict atom and molecule energy and behavior, is the study's most surprising finding. The stochastic framework allowed the researchers to design two innovative algorithms with gate counts asymptotically independent of goal spectral precision.

Traditional algorithms use larger circuits to get ten times higher accuracy. The UCLA team's concept decouples high-precision simulation resource requirements from target accuracy, reducing resource requirements by several orders of magnitude for various benchmark systems. A future quantum device's efficiency improvement may make a simulation take years or hours.

Collaborative Innovation

UCLA's College of Letters and Science and Physics and Astronomy collaborated on the work. Prineha Narang directed Joseph Peetz and Scott E. Smart to construct the framework, and Peetz designed Hamiltonian approaches and conducted IBM tests.

The NSF funded the project through CNS and a CAREER Award. The researchers acknowledged IBM Quantum services use, but noted that the results may not reflect IBM's policy.

Describe quantum simulation.

IBM quantum centric supercomputing

IBM and RIKEN researchers used the Fugaku supercomputer and a quantum processor to solve complex chemical equations. This cooperation's closed-loop methodology allowed the two systems to work together and share data continuously. Using a hybrid method, the scientists mapped iron-sulfur compound electrical structures with unprecedented precision. This milestone enables real scientific applications by showing that quantum-centric supercomputing can scale. The work shows a shift toward seamless quantum-classical coordination to enhance computational power and efficiency.

Quantum-centric supercomputer chemistry beyond exact solutions

RIKEN and IBM demonstrated quantum-centric supercomputing (QCSC) at a scale never before feasible, advancing HPC. In a collaborative research initiative, the teams coordinated the Fugaku supercomputer, one of the world's most powerful classical systems, with an IBM Quantum Heron processor on-site. This partnership accomplished the largest and most exact quantum chemistry experiment on a quantum computer, marking a turning point in quantum advantage research.

IBM Director of Research Jay Gambetta presented the experiment at Supercomputing Asia 2026 on January 29. It sought to determine two iron-sulfur molecules' complex electrical structure. Since electron distribution and behavior impact a molecule's interactions and reactions with its surroundings, understanding these structures is a basic chemistry challenge. A very exact answer by the study team revealed that quantum and classical resources can be combined in a smooth, “closed-loop” execution to solve issues that are too tough for precise classical procedures.

An Innovative Method: “Closed-Loop” Workflow

This requires creating and executing a closed-loop workflow. This experiment fed data back and forth in an uninterrupted, iterative cycle, unlike conventional hybrid setups, where a quantum processing unit (QPU) finishes a task before sending results back for classical processing. Practical quantum computing in HPC, where real-world applications require close integration of various compute kinds, is more like this orchestration.

Given its enormity, the orchestration is technically complex. Researchers had to build a complicated job assignment method to use the Fugaku supercomputer and Heron processor during computing. Any idle time wastes valuable runtime for other investigations since classical and quantum resources are expensive and valuable. As a billion-dollar machine, Fugaku must maximize its uptime and avoid “sitting around” during quantum steps. The new approach lowered “time-to-solution” by running both computers as near to simultaneously as possible.

SQD: Hybrid Algorithm Power

The discovery was based on hybrid quantum-classical algorithms sample-based quantum diagonalization (SQD). These algorithms divide a problem into conventional and quantum components. The quantum computer unlatches the hardest aspect of the problem, allowing the classical supercomputer to “turn the handle and open the door,” like the “lifting pin in a lockpicking set,” according to the researchers.

Electronic structure simulations have a vast number of electron combinations that grows exponentially with molecular complexity. This vast region was sampled using the IBM Quantum Heron processor in the SQD workflow to identify traditional computer focus areas. With this understanding, Fugaku reached a conclusion. The systems achieved results similar to state-of-the-art classical approximation techniques and far more accurate than quantum approaches when working together.

Heron-Fugaku Hardware Cooperation

This milestone's hardware is cutting-edge conventional and quantum technology. The 2020–2021 world's fastest computer, Fugaku, provided the experiment's classical foundation. The huge device has 158,976 48-core chips. The system revealed future quantum-centric supercomputing architecture when paired with RIKEN's IBM Quantum Heron CPU.

Director of the Quantum-HPC Hybrid Platform Division at the RIKEN Center for Computational Science, Mitsuhisa Sato, called the achievement “very exciting development for hybrid computing”. The process was designed for Fugaku's architecture, but the researchers found it could be utilized in other cloud-based HPC setups. This shows that standard HPC infrastructures worldwide can interface with quantum computers.

Toward future

Despite this success, the route to full-scale quantum advantage continues. The RIKEN-IBM team expects to integrate GPUs as accelerators into quantum-classical processes next. GPUs using hybrid algorithms like SQD may speed up the process, according to recent studies.

The Leibniz Supercomputer Centre

Euro-Q-Exa, the first EuroHPC quantum computer deployed in Germany, was launched by the European Commission and EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (JU). The system, headquartered in the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities' Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ), changes the continent's approach to advanced computing.

A Digital Sovereignty Strategy

European researchers and startups depend on non-European enterprises' cloud-based quantum gear access. This changes with the opening of Euro-Q-Exa, a local facility.

The “sovereign” strategy aims to provide European specialists deep operational understanding. Europe manages hardware and its surroundings to keep private industry research and sensitive scientific data within its digital limits. Jointly funded, the project costs €25 million. Money is split among:

| €10 million EuroHPC JU

The BMFTR: €12 million

Bavarian State Ministry of Sciences and Arts and StMWK: €3 million

Technical Architecture: IQM Radiance Platform

The system was built using IQM Quantum Computers' Radiance platform. Current Euro-Q-Exa uses 54 superconducting qubits.

Due to its scalability and compatibility with existing microfabrication technologies, superconducting qubits lead the "quantum advantage" race.

Euro-Q-Exa's architecture is heavily integrated for HPC environments. A lattice architecture with tunable couplers and high-fidelity gates reduces latency and speeds data flow. This is crucial for “hybrid” procedures, when a quantum processor and a traditional supercomputer tackle a problem simultaneously.

Integration with SuperMUC-NG

This deployment's logical and physical interface to LRZ's SuperMUC-NG supercomputer is unique. The Munich Quantum Software Stack (MQSS) lets developers use Qiskit and PennyLane to construct and execute hybrid algorithms.

The LRZ is creating a “quantum-classical” hybrid by pairing a quantum processor with one of Europe's most powerful classical supercomputers to solve problems neither system could solve alone.

Addressing “Real-World” Issues

Euro-Q-Exa's major goal is to use quantum power to global issues, in addition to theoretical research. Research is currently focused on three topics:

Climate modeling simulates complex atmospheric interactions to better predict and mitigate global warming. Computational Pharmacology: By simulating molecular interactions at a level that classical machines cannot, computational pharmacology speeds up drug discovery. Neurodegenerative Disease Research: Studying Parkinson's and Alzheimer's complex biochemical processes.

A Growth Roadmap

Launching the 54-qubit system is just the beginning. Euro-Q-Exa's roadmap includes two major upgrades:

Another, more powerful CPU with over 150 qubits will be installed by 2026.

Another “substantial upgrade” is planned for early 2027 to increase the system's capabilities.

This phased process from small-scale proofs of concept to large-scale industrial simulations allows researchers to enhance their skills alongside hardware.

Pan-European Ecosystem

Euro-Q-Exa is not independent. Six quantum systems are placed in Europe's most advanced supercomputing centers. More: Czechia, France, Italy, Poland, Spain.

Time Crystals News

The Basque Quantum Initiative (BasQ), IBM, and NIST developed one of the largest and most complicated two-dimensional time crystals ever recorded, a major condensed matter physics breakthrough. The researchers used 144 qubits on the cutting-edge IBM Quantum Heron gadget to create a stable phase of matter that resists thermodynamic deterioration.

Redefining Matter: Time Crystals?

To understand this feat, distinguish between quantum lab crystals and natural crystals. Table salt and diamonds are examples of "space crystals" comprised of atoms or molecules that repeat in space. Thermal equilibrium allows these formations to form without energy input or release.

Frank Wilczek's 2012 idea states that time crystals create durable patterns that transcend time rather than space. Important traits include:

Non-Equilibrium Dynamics: These dynamics are not thermally equilibrium.

Subharmonic Rhythms: A laser or microwave pulse triggers a steady cycle.

Resistance to Scrambling: Instead of vibrating like the pump, the crystal flips its state every two beats to establish its own clock.

1D to 2D Complexity Leap

Most experimental time crystals were one-dimensional atom or qubit chains until recently. These 1D models are notoriously fragile, thus a single line interruption can knock the system down. As researchers added dimensions, overlapping interactions were too difficult for typical computers to predict or simulate.

The team's two-dimensional transition on the 144-qubit Heron device changes robustness. A 2D lattice is more robust because nearby qubits help preserve the beat if one section gets loud or "broken." In this experiment, scientists saw behaviors not seen in typical models or tabletop tests. Researchers like Nicolás Lorente say dimensions and size matter because larger crystals act differently.

New Quantum-Centric Supercomputing Era

This experiment used IBM's Quantum-Centric Supercomputing (QCSC) paradigm, not merely the quantum processor. This architecture sees the quantum processor (QPU) as an accelerator for HPC.

Verification was the biggest challenge since 144 qubits constitute a state space too huge for current computers to adequately duplicate. This gap was closed by the group

Using mathematical methods, tensor networks approximate quantum states by breaking down massive tensors into smaller, more manageable components.

An improved method for updating or extracting data from tensor networks is belief propagation. Error Mitigation: Classical techniques reduced error bounds and enhanced quantum execution accuracy.

The Disorder Paradox

Disorder is a fascinating aspect of the research. Ironically, time crystals need internal “disorder” or randomization to avoid overheating. The team is still searching for the "Goldilocks zone"—the exact spot where chaos stabilizes the crystal without shattering it.

Why This Breakthrough Matters

This research has practical technology and theoretical physics implications.

Information Preservation: Heat and noise induce quantum data “decoherence” and brittleness. Time crystals prevent data jumbling, making them a potential paradigm for quantum computer data security. Material Science: The discovery may illuminate “Heisenberg-type interactions,” which may affect metallic chains, single-molecule magnets, and quantum dot-based semiconductors.

Regional Leadership: The Basque Country is becoming a global quantum research hub as San Sebastián erected Europe's first IBM Quantum System Two.

Looking Ahead

Qubit vs Qudit

Quantum computing has relied on the qubit for decades. Qubits, which exist in a superposition of states 0 and 1, have propelled most quantum hardware platforms, from superconducting circuits to trapped ions and photonics. As researchers struggle to scale qubit-based systems, qudits are becoming more popular.

Qudits extend qubits by allowing quantum systems to inhabit more than two levels. Unlike binary states, qudits can exist in d quantum states, which could be 3, 5, or higher. This little change has major implications for quantum computing.

Qubits Reach Scalability Limits

Qubits are powerful but tough. Large-scale quantum computers require millions of high-fidelity qubits to be managed and connected. System scale, control electronics complexity, and coherence difficulty raise error rates.

Fault-tolerant quantum computing requires error correction, complicating matters. For many error-correcting codes to produce one logical qubit, hundreds or thousands of physical qubits are needed. This cost has slowed the transition from experimental devices to large-scale quantum machines.

These issues raise the question of whether quantum computing can only be binary.

Qudits—more information on each particle Because qudits encode information in several energy levels of a quantum system, they expand the quantum state space. Qutrits, three-level systems, can represent more information than qubits, even if higher-dimensional qudits have more processing capability.

Qudits process more data with fewer particles, theoretically. A qudit-based quantum processor may need fewer components than a qubit-based one to achieve the same processing capacity.

Trapped ions, neutral atoms, and photonic systems, where multi-level quantum systems exist, benefit from this efficiency. Scientists can use these systems' entire quantum structure instead of a two-level structure.

Error Reduction using Algorithms

Qudits excels at algorithmic efficiency. Some quantum algorithms can be implemented with fewer gates and shallower circuits using qudits instead of qubits. Due to noisy quantum technology, decreasing circuit depth immediately reduces mistake accumulation.

Qudits may boost mistake resilience. Information is spread across different states, making it easier to spot and repair mistakes. Higher-dimensional quantum states are more secure and noise-tolerant in quantum communication and encryption.

Qudits simplify entanglement structures. One qudit can sometimes replace several entangled qubits, eliminating complex, error-prone multi-qubit computations.

Technical Issues

Though talented, qudits have drawbacks. Multi-level quantum systems are harder to regulate than two-level qubits. Precision manipulation requires advanced laser systems, microwave control schemes, and calibration methods that can distinguish tightly spaced energy levels.

Another issue is measurement. More improved signal processing and higher-resolution detectors are needed to read qudit states. Energy level crosstalk can generate hard-to-find errors.

Most error-correction frameworks, compilers, and quantum software stacks use qubits. Switching to qudit-based design requires rethinking quantum programming languages, gate sets, and benchmarking standards.

Hybrid Strategies Are Popular.

Many researchers expect hybrid systems that combine qubits and qudits instead of replacing them. This paradigm uses qubits for logic operations and qudits for communication, memory storage, and specialized subroutines.

This hybrid strategy could combine higher-dimensional system efficiency advantages with quantum infrastructure compatibility for the best of both worlds. Early experimental results that qubits and qudits can coexist in a processor provide flexible, modular quantum systems.

Industrial and Research Trends

Qaddits have gained popularity in recent years, notably in scholarly study. Multi-dimensional entanglement and high-fidelity qudit gates have been observed with photonic platforms and trapped ions. Researchers say qudit-based processors can outperform qubit systems for some applications, despite today's noisy technology.

Most commercial quantum computing companies focus on qubits, although qudit research is expanding. Qudits may be used in next-generation quantum machines when hardware improves and error correction becomes more critical.

Future Path

The qubit-qudit debate aims to advance quantum computing, not pick a winner. While qudits promise efficiency, scalability, and new algorithmic possibilities, qubits provide simplicity, standardization, and a solid ecosystem.