Researchers have been awarded an EPSRC grant to bring together expertise in quantum computing and ICT to develop distributed quantum computing.

The grant, worth a total of £3 million, has been announced by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) following calls for cutting-edge research at the interface between quantum computing and other ICT areas.

A new collaborative project

Researchers with expertise in quantum computing and communication technologies at Imperial College London and University College London (UCL) have been awarded this fund for collaborating and advancing hybrid quantum computing and quantum internet.

The funding will support joint research at Imperial and UCL, with plans to engage the UK and international researchers in the fields. Investigators will include Professor Kin Leung, Professor Myungshik Kim, Professor Ian Walmsley FRS, Dr Georgios Zervas, Dr Mario Berta, Dr Jack Jacquier and Dr Sylvain Laizet. This team will also inform and interact with other researchers of the quantum community through networking activities.

We are very honoured to be given this opportunity to advance distributed quantum computing for supporting complex computation applications. Professor Kin Leung

In the first year of the work, researchers will need to co-create a research programme to develop distributed and hybrid quantum computing that supports practical applications. 

Commenting on the grant, Professor Kin Leung of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering and Department of Computing said:

"We are very honoured to be given this opportunity to utilise our expertise in quantum computing and communication networks to advance distributed quantum computing for supporting complex computation applications.”

The project will also strengthen collaboration between academic research and industry partners in the Quantum field.

Kris Kaczmarek, Head of Product at OCRA computing, added: "We are delighted to see this investment into what we believe is a critical topic in quantum computing. The industry is waking up to the fact that networking quantum computers and combining them with classical resources is the fastest way to achieve any useful quantum advantage.

ORCA is already collaborating with some of the members in this consortium on building the quantum data center of the future, and we see this academic project as a perfect complement to that work."

Driving forward new research

This funding recognises Imperial College London as a global partner in the international Quantum community.

The College's beacon for Quantum research, Imperial Centre for Quantum Engineering, Science and Technology (QuEST), is a multi-disciplinary centre for researchers at Imperial College London. Its research is initially targeting three important themes for the future: Materials for Quantum Technologies, Quantum Internet and Applications for Quantum Computing.

Professor Ian Walmsley FRS said: "This award recognises the breadth of expertise that Imperial can bring to developing quantum computing as a future technology.

This highly multidisciplinary group will help drive forward new applications for and new approaches to quantum computing, developing the networking concept as an essential and viable platform for the next generation of computing infrastructure."

Visit the QuEST website to learn more about research into quantum technologies at Imperial College London.