IQOQI Innsbruck — Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information
- Institution
- University of Innsbruck + Austrian Academy of Sciences (joint)
- Lab / Centre
- IQOQI Innsbruck · Institut für Experimentalphysik · Institut für Theoretische Physik
- Location
- Innsbruck, Austria
- Group website
- https://www.iqoqi-innsbruck.at/
The foundational European quantum-information centre. The Cirac–Zoller trapped-ion gate proposal (PRL 1995) originated here in collaboration with MPQ, and Rainer Blatt's group ran many of the first multi-qubit ion-gate demonstrations through the 2000s. IQOQI is a multi-PI centre, not a single-PI group: theory under Peter Zoller and Hans Briegel (the latter co-authored the measurement-based quantum-computing framework), experimental ions under Blatt and Thomas Monz (also the AQT spinout founder), and ion–photon network interfaces under Tracy Northup.
Current focus: Quantum optics and quantum information — Per IQOQI Innsbruck's own framing (iqoqi.at): "Pioneering Quantum Science", organised across six research groups spanning experimental platforms (ultracold atoms, ion traps, optical tweezers, superconducting circuits) and theoretical work in quantum optics, quantum simulation and quantum information, with applications in quantum computing, metrology and networking.
Milestones
- 2018-05 Fault-tolerant operation of a logical qubit in a trapped-ion processor — Innsbruck demos of repeated QEC cycles paper
- 2018 AQT (Alpine Quantum Technologies) spun out to commercialise the Innsbruck ion-trap stack press
- 2011-02 14-qubit GHZ entanglement in a string of trapped calcium ions paper
- 2001-05 Measurement-based one-way quantum computer proposed (Raussendorf and Briegel, PRL 86, 5188) paper
- 1995-05 Cirac–Zoller proposal — first scalable quantum-computer architecture (trapped ions with shared phonon bus), PRL 74, 4091 paper
People
- Peter Zoller — Scientific Director (theory) — many-body quantum optics, quantum simulation (since 1994) ↗
- Rainer Blatt — Principal Investigator (experimental) — trapped-ion quantum computing (since 1995) ↗
- Hans J. Briegel — Principal Investigator (theory) — measurement-based quantum computing (since 2003) ↗
- Tracy E. Northup — Principal Investigator (experimental) — ion–photon interfaces, cavity QED (since 2015) ↗
- Thomas Monz — Principal Investigator (experimental) — scalable ion-trap architectures; founder of AQT (since 2018) ↗
Funding
- Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) — Host of the IQOQI institutes; core institutional funding
- European Research Council (ERC) — Advanced Grants and Synergy Grants to Zoller, Blatt, Monz, Northup and others
- Austrian Science Fund (FWF) — National programme grants and SFB / cluster funding
References
- Cirac & Zoller, PRL 74, 4091 (1995) — trapped-ion quantum computer proposal (paper)
- Raussendorf & Briegel, PRL 86, 5188 (2001) — measurement-based one-way quantum computer (paper)
- Monz et al., PRL 106, 130506 (2011) — 14-qubit GHZ entanglement in trapped ions (paper)
- Alpine Quantum Technologies — Innsbruck ion-trap spinout (cross-link to companies/aqt.yaml) (press)