PhD in Quantum Circuit Design and Simulation with Neutral Atoms

The NanoComputing Research Lab in Integrated Circuits (IC) group within the Department of Electrical Engineering of the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) is seeking to hire an excellent and motivated PhD candidate.

Project

In recent years, neutral atom quantum computing architectures have emerged as promising candidates for implementing quantum information processing due to their long coherence times, relaxed cooling environment and flexible arrangement of qubits to perform multi-qubit operations for enabling parallelism in quantum operations. However, controlling these quantum architectures through pulses is a challenge due to the presence of noise, hardware, or experimental limitations.

In addition, most quantum hardware-software co-design methods i.e., compilation, synthesis, and error mitigation are mainly geared toward superconducting qubits, whereas dedicated circuit design methods supporting and exploiting the potential of neutral atom quantum architectures based on Rydberg atoms remain largely unexplored. Such as how to take advantage of the native supported qubit operations of three- or more-qubits while also considering qubit mapping and pulse sequences. AtomCOMP, a recently funded NWO project, exploits this opportunity by developing a novel open-source hybrid compilation framework that combines both qubit mapping and circuit-level pulse generation and optimization. AtomCOMP aims to take advantage of the multi-qubit operations by appropriately mapping quantum circuits and optimizing circuit-level pulses.

Candidate

We are seeking a motivated PhD candidate to join our team working on quantum architecture based on Rydberg atoms in close collaboration with experimental group. The project aims to develop quantum circuit design toolbox to enable quantum application and algorithms implementation on quantum hardware based on cold atom platform.

Conduct cutting-edge research in quantum computing based on Rydberg atoms, with focus on:

• Quantum compilation and optimization techniques.
• Quantum error correction and fault-tolerance.
• Pulse-level control and noise mitigation strategies.
• Develop and implement algorithms and protocols for computation efficiency.
• Collaborate with interdisciplinary team members, including theorists and experimentalists.
• Present and publish findings at international conference and high-impact journals.

Qualifications:

• Master's degree Physics, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field.
• Strong background in quantum computing, quantum mechanics and computational methods.
• Proficiency in programming languages such as Python, C++ or similar, with experience in quantum computing frameworks such as Qiskit, Cirq or Q#.
• Ability to conduct independent research and work collaboratively in a team.
• Excellent spoken and written English skills.

A meaningful job in a dynamic and ambitious university, in an interdisciplinary setting and within an international network. You will work on a beautiful, green campus within walking distance of the central train station. In addition, we offer you:

• Full-time employment for four years, with an intermediate evaluation (go/no-go) after nine months. You will spend 10% of your employment on teaching tasks.
• Salary and benefits (such as a pension scheme, paid pregnancy and maternity leave, partially paid parental leave) in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities, scale P (min. €2,872 max. €3,670).
• A year-end bonus of 8.3% and annual vacation pay of 8%.
• High-quality training programs and other support to grow into a self-aware, autonomous scientific researcher. At TU/e we challenge you to take charge of your own learning process.
• An excellent technical infrastructure, on-campus children's day care and sports facilities.
• An allowance for commuting, working from home and internet costs.
• A Staff Immigration Team and a tax compensation scheme (the 30% facility) for international candidates.