ML4Q

Matter and Light for Quantum Computing

About

“Matter and Light for Quantum Computing” (ML4Q) is a Cluster of Excellence established in 2019 within the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments. In ML4Q, scientists from the universities of Cologne, Aachen and Bonn as well as Forschungszentrum Jülich come together to spearhead quantum computing research.

Using the principles of quantum mechanics, it is the long-term goal of ML4Q to develop new computing and networking architectures with a power beyond anything classically imaginable. Quantum computers could be powerful tools in key areas such as materials design, pharmaceutics, or artificial intelligence. Quantum communication could be made effectively secure. ML4Q builds on the complementary expertise in the three key research fields of solid-state physics, quantum optics, and quantum information science to develop the best hardware platform for quantum information technology, and provide comprehensive blueprints for a functional quantum information network.

Goal

The long-term goal of the cluster is to realize network and processing architectures protected by error correction protocols and eventually connected to a quantum version of the internet. This goal defines a hierarchy of challenges, both in fundamental science and in technology, which must be overcome at early and intermediate stages.