Quantum information: QInfo, a new project team to explore this key issue

From cybersecurity and digital simulation to optimisation and artificial intelligence, quantum technology is revolutionising IT and its applications.

In Auvergne Rhône-Alpes, a region which is behind only Ile-de-France when it comes to quantum computing in France, Inria has joined forces with academic and industrial partners with a view towards anticipating future changes in the digital sphere linked to quantum algorithms.

Based in both Lyon and Grenoble, the team will enjoy complementary support from two research environments

This new project team, involving both the Lyon and Grenoble Alpes University Inria centres, will be supported by its partners the ENS de Lyon, Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 (UCBL) and Grenoble Alpes University. The 12 members of the team (researchers, teacher-researchers, PhD students and postdoctoral researchers) are to be split between the ENS de Lyon and the Minatec campus in Grenoble.

This is the first Inria research team in the Auvergne – Rhône-Alpes region to focus on IT and the mathematical side to processing quantum information.

The multidisciplinary team, comprised of researchers in mathematics, IT and physics, will be based in both Grenoble and Lyon, giving it access to the complementary skill sets of its members.

• In Lyon, the majority of the team come from mathematics backgrounds, and will contribute essential tools such as large-scale convex geometry, optimisation and quantum entropy inequalities for the theoretical processing of quantum resources.
• The team in Grenoble work more closely with physicists, most notably from the Institut Néel, providing ideas and resources taken from the foundations of quantum theory, such as quantum reference frames or coherent control.

The QInfo team

© Inria / Photo B. Fourrier

Permanent members of the team:

Omar Fawzi, head of QInfo (Director of Research, Inria)

Alastair Abbott (Research fellow, Inria)

Guillaume Aubrun (Lecturer, UCBL)

Daniel Stilck França (Inria Starting Faculty Position, Inria)

Mischa Woods (Research fellow, Inria)

Research aimed at looking at quantum algorithms from a different perspective

Quantum computers will have significant potential when it comes to processing, communication and cryptography. As a result, IT has to be rethought, which will include developing new algorithms.

The information processing devices currently available with the capacity to make use of the laws of quantum theory are all affected by unwanted noise: the actual performance of a device only roughly corresponds to the model it was designed for. Such differences can prove highly damaging when it comes to information processing. In the context of quantum computing, for example, a build-up of noise can render a result completely unusable.

QInfo's aim is to develop mathematical methods and algorithms which are capable of effectively reducing the adverse effects caused by noise on tasks involving the processing of quantum information.

Here are a few of the questions the team will be seeking to find answers to:

• Is it possible to accurately characterise the noise model for a given quantum device?
• What is the maximum level of noise a given algorithm is capable of tolerating while producing usable results?
• What noise models can be used to correct errors and improve reliability? And at what cost? What degree of processing efficiency is possible when performing the relevant decoding procedures? Can new processing models be found where it is easier to reduce the effect of noise?

A crucial field of research for anticipating future changes to IT

Here are some of the things the team is aiming to achieve:

• the development of new methods for characterising and certifying quantum devices with noise present
• new applications in processing and cryptography for future quantum devices operating in noisy environments
• improvements in the mechanisms for correcting errors and boosting reliability within future quantum architecture
• new models for processing quantum information which demonstrate original approaches with a quantum advantage

The research carried out by the team could prove beneficial in a range of different fields, from analysing quantum cryptography protocols and identifying new applications for quantum computers to the ultimate goal: the development of a quantum computer.