CERN-inspired White Rabbit project welcomes Cambridge’s Nu Quantum

Nu Quantum, the Cambridge-based quantum entanglement start-up, is working with White Rabbit (WR) technology to enable data-centre scale quantum computing networks.

The White Rabbit project is a multilaboratory, multicompany and multinational collaboration started this year to develop new technology that provides a versatile solution for control and data acquisition systems.

The project started at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research – CERN, the Geneva-based intergovernmental centre that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world.

CERN’s Quantum Technology Initiative explores how emerging quantum technologies can impact particle physics research, while at the same time contributing to the development of these same technologies, by facilitating the transfer of expertise and technology to industry.

For the past 20 years, CERN has played a leading role in the design, deployment, and operations of the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG), at the base of the revolution that has led to modern distributed computing infrastructures and cloud computing.

With the advent of quantum technologies, CERN seeks to contribute to future quantum networking technologies, setting the ground to meet CERN’s future needs while at the same time contributing innovations to society.

The CERN accelerator network is sequenced by a central timing generator that needed optimising and from that process emerged the White Rabbit network which includes CERN, and now Nu Quantum. This network is now able to deliver features including sub-nanosecond accuracy and picoseconds precision of synchronisation. The technology involved is a Bridged Local Area Network using Ethernet to interconnect switches and nodes, and Precision Time Protocol to synchronise them.

The new system operates to IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Standards Association) standards, ensuring adherence to global protocols for industries including power and energy. Current R&D projects hosted by the collaboration aim to demonstrate the applicability of WR in any new domain, and improve the technology to facilitate its uptake.

WR’s open-source technology enables the highly precise timing synchronisation crucial for developing large-scale quantum networks, and Nu Quantum is the first quantum industrial partner to join the collaboration. Other members include the Deutsche Börse Group, CERN of course, the InterOperability Laboratory at the University of New Hampshire, Italian research agency INFN (the National Institute for Nuclear Physics in English) and Quincy Data, the leading microwave distributor of extremely low latency market data.

“It’s great to welcome Nu Quantum to the White Rabbit Collaboration, an initiative created to support the uptake by industry of the WR technology and foster its impact in society,” said Javier Serrano, chair of the White Rabbit Collaboration board and co-inventor of the White Rabbit technology at CERN. “We look forward to continuing to work with Nu Quantum on the quantum networks of the future.”

Edoardo Martelli, coordinator of CERN’s Quantum Technology Initiative activities in quantum networking, added: “It is fantastic to see how a technology originally developed to synchronise CERN’s accelerators can play a key role in enabling future quantum computing and networking.”

Founded in 2018, Nu Quantum is a spin-out of the University of Cambridge’s Cavendish Laboratory creating the entanglement fabric for quantum computing scale-out. Quantum computing applications require systems that are thousands of times more powerful than those available today. Based at 21 JJ Thomson Avenue, the company’s networking architecture will unlock data centre-scale quantum computing by weaving together quantum processors to accelerate the path to fault-tolerance and transformational utility.

Ed Wood, VP of product at Nu Quantum, said: “The high-value systems we are creating need very precise and synchronised orchestration: WR is the perfect tool to deliver this, and we are delighted to be collaborating with CERN to make it happen.

“We were thrilled to be previewing our Quantum Networking Unit prototype at the NQTS, a highlight of the UK’s quantum calendar.”

The Quantum Networking Unit will perform an analogous function in the quantum world as the IP switching fabric does in a conventional data centre.

More than 1,200 people attended the UK National Quantum Technologies Showcase (NQTS) 2024 in London last week.

- More on the White Rabbit Collaboration here.