Researchers from 14 institutions have collaborated to tackle one of the significant challenges in quantum computing: scaling. Through the Co-design Center for Quantum Advantage (C2QA), a Department of Energy National Quantum Information Science Research Center, they developed the ARQUIN framework. This initiative aims to simulate large-scale distributed quantum computers by organizing them into different layers. Their findings were published in ACM Transactions on Quantum Computing.
Michael DeMarco led the research team from Brookhaven National Laboratory and MIT, utilizing a standard computing strategy of combining multiple nodes into a unified framework. However, superconducting quantum systems require qubits to be kept at extremely low temperatures using dilution refrigerators, complicating efforts to scale up.
The ARQUIN project involved researchers from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Brookhaven, MIT, Yale University, Princeton University, Virginia Tech, IBM, and others. Samuel Stein from PNNL noted that isolated quantum research is akin to "gathering ingredients without knowing how they will work together in a recipe." The ARQUIN team addressed this by breaking down the problem into layers, with each institution focusing on its expertise area.
Mark Ritter from IBM highlighted that creating a multi-node quantum computer is an "optimization problem," requiring assessments of technology and algorithms followed by simulations to identify improvements. The ARQUIN framework emphasizes superconducting quantum devices connected via microwave-to-optical links.
Professor Isaac Chuang of MIT stated that such cross-domain research is crucial for advancing useful quantum information processing applications. At PNNL, researchers like Ang Li and James Ang contributed by designing simulation pipelines and generating models connecting all components for future quantum computers.
Chenxu Liu from PNNL stressed the importance of multi-institutional collaboration for embedding individual contributions into the overall pipeline view. After assembling these pieces, ARQUIN became a framework for simulating and benchmarking future multi-node quantum computers—a step toward scalable quantum communication and computation.
While no functional multi-node quantum computer has been created yet under this framework, it provides a roadmap for future co-design efforts in hardware and software development. Li emphasized that their layer-based hierarchical simulation environment was vital in understanding design tradeoffs within distributed quantum computing communication stacks.
Some software products developed through ARQUIN are already being used in other projects like HetArch, which explores different superconducting architectures further. Ang described this as applying co-design principles from exascale computing to their design explorations.
The ARQUIN study received support from various organizations including the Department of Energy's Office of Science and National Science Foundation projects focused on practical-scale quantum computation and hybrid architectures.