Photonic Design Engineer

The first Dutch quantum computer comes from Twente: QuiX Quantum reaches a global milestone. Technologie Twente has reached another technological milestone. QuiX Quantum, an Enschede-based company and spin-off from the University of Twente, has delivered the first Dutch quantum computer. The new system, named Carina, is also the world's first universal photonic quantum computer architecture developed for deployment in real-world data centre environments. Date of Publication: 15 July 2026 Listen to audio Read time +/- 3.7 minutes For many people, quantum computing still sounds like something from the distant future. Yet the technology is already being developed in Twente today - and at a rapid pace. With Carina, QuiX Quantum demonstrates that quantum computers are no longer confined to laboratories but are moving closer to practical, real-world applications. A breaktrough from Enschede Carina was developed as part of the DLR Quantum Computing Initiative in Germany and marks an important step towards the next generation of quantum computers. While many of today's quantum systems are designed for specific calculations, Carina is capable of running virtually any quantum algorithm. This lays the foundation for future applications in areas such as healthcare, materials development, logistics, and artificial intelligence. What makes this achievement even more remarkable is that the technology operates largely at room temperature. As a result, the system can be integrated into existing data centres far more easily than many other quantum computers, which require extreme cooling conditions. Why is this happening in Twente? The fact that this breakthrough comes from Enschede is no coincidence. For years, Twente has been among Europe's leading regions in photonics, chip technology, and quantum research. Within the regional ecosystem, researchers, startups, scale-ups, and established companies work closely together to develop innovative technologies. QuiX Quantum is a strong example of this collaborative environment. The company originated at the University of Twente and is building quantum computers for an international market from its headquarters in Enschede. According to CEO Stefan Hengesbach, Carina bridges two worlds: systems that are ready for near-term applications and architectures capable of enabling universal quantum computing at scale. Opportunities for talent For students, researchers, and professionals, this development highlights the vast opportunities available within Twente's technology sector. Quantum technology is still in the early stages of its global development, meaning that the specialists who will shape the field in the years ahead are being trained right now. From quantum software and photonics to chip design, artificial intelligence, and systems architecture, companies such as QuiX Quantum are creating challenging career opportunities at the intersection of science and entrepreneurship. At the same time, they provide access to international collaborations with organisations such as Germany's DLR and other leading European technology partners. Building world-class technology With the delivery of Carina, QuiX Quantum further strengthens its position as one of the leading players in Europe's quantum sector. For Twente, it is yet another example of how groundbreaking research can evolve into technology with global impact. And for talented people who want to help build the computers of the future, the message is clear: that future is being built in Twente.

QuiX Quantum unveils Universal Photonic Quantum Computing architecture. July 14, 2026 Press play to listen to this content Developed for the German Aerospace Center's Quantum Computing Initiative (DLR QCI), Carina represents a compact, room-temperature foundation for future fault-tolerant quantum computing in data center environments ENSCHEDE, Netherlands, July 14, 2026 - QuiX Quantum today announced Carina, the world's first universal photonic quantum computing architecture designed for deployment in customer data center environments as an essential foundation for future fault-tolerant systems. Developed as part of the Universal Photonic Quantum Computer (UPQC) project of the DLR Quantum Computing Initiative (DLR QCI), funded by the German Federal Minister of Research, Technology and Space, Carina brings together key building blocks for universal quantum computing using single photons as physical qubits, and integrates the critical technologies required for measurement-based photonic quantum computing into a single stack. The compact, room-temperature system is designed to work seamlessly with classical high-performance computing, AI and data center infrastructure to prepare workflows and staff for upcoming utility-scale devices. Unlike previous special-purpose photonic systems built around narrow computational models such as boson samplers, Carina is designed to implement a universal gate-set to perform any gate-based quantum algorithm. By combining photon generation, multiplexing, state generation, measurement, photonic assembly control and fast feed-forward control, Carina establishes the physical qubit foundation for the company's next-generation Dedalo architecture and its path toward logical qubits. "When Manny Knill, Raymond Laflamme and I published our linear optics quantum computing scheme in 2001, the central question was whether the probabilistic nature of photon-to-photon interactions could be tamed into something computationally universal. The answer was yes in principle - but the engineering path looked formidable," said Prof. Gerard J. Milburn, University of Queensland. "What QuiX Quantum is showing with Carina and its measurement-based approach is that this path is not only tractable but navigable with integrated photonics. The combination of on-chip single-photon generation, feed-forward control and cluster-state generation in a system designed for deployment outside the laboratory is precisely the kind of milestone the field awaits. It moves the conversation from whether photonic quantum computing can be universal to how quickly it can be scaled." "Quantum photonics aims to bring quantum technologies to a broader audience by leveraging the remarkable capabilities of the semiconductor fabrication industry. The launch of Carina from QuiX marks an exciting milestone in this journey: the first system designed both to generate on-chip cluster states, the fundamental resource for measurement-based quantum computing, and for commercial deployment," said Prof. Andrew G. White, University of Queensland. "To ensure robust and reliable operation, QuiX has integrated photon generation and detection, real-time feedforward, and control electronics into a platform designed for end users rather than exclusively for laboratory research. Congratulations to the whole QuiX team: I can't wait to see what the next few years bring for photonic quantum computing." "Carina marks a major milestone for QuiX and the photonic quantum computing industry towards deploying utility-scale quantum systems at customer sites," said Dr.-Ing. Stefan Hengesbach, CEO of QuiX Quantum. "The field has been split between systems that could be commercialized quickly but were not built for universal, fault-tolerant computing, and architectures with long-term scalability potential that remained difficult to deploy. Carina is bringing those two requirements together into a universal architecture for installation into real customer environments." Many quantum computing platforms still depend on highly specialized operating environments, including extensive cryogenic infrastructure, which can make deployment, maintenance and integration difficult. Carina addresses the practical requirements that quantum systems need to operate where real-world workloads currently run. The full white paper is available here. About QuiX Quantum QuiX Quantum is a European photonic quantum computing company founded in Enschede, the Netherlands, in 2019. The company develops integrated photonic quantum computing hardware and describes its approach as full-stack and fabless, with systems designed for modularity, scalability, and compatibility with data center and HPC environments. QuiX Quantum has offices in the Netherlands and Germany and is developing universal photonic quantum computing systems based on its silicon nitride photonic technology. The quantum computing market is entering a new phase as commercial deployments are beginning to... 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Dekimo contributes to QuiX Quantum's PACU for scalable photonic quantum systems. July 2026. Quantum computing continues to evolve rapidly, with photonic technology emerging as one of the most promising approaches for building scalable quantum systems. Unlike traditional quantum architectures that rely on superconducting circuits or trapped ions, photonic quantum systems use light particles to perform quantum operations, offering advantages in speed, stability and energy efficiency. At the core of QuiX Quantum's technology are its Photonic Assemblies (PAs), which contain the Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs). These chips consist of complex matrices of optical channels and Thermal Optic Phase Shifters (TOPS), enabling precise control of light for quantum operations. To support and control these assemblies, QuiX Quantum worked together with Dekimo Goes on the development of the Photonics Assembly Control Unit (PACU), a compact rack-mounted control unit designed to control and regulate the Photonic Assemblies. Dekimo developed the PACU system enclosure including its internal main board and modular driver architecture. The main board supports up to 25 driver modules, with each module capable of controlling 40 independent current channels. This results in a scalable platform supporting up to 1000 independently controlled optical elements. A technical challenge in the project was the thermal management of the photonic assembly. The PIC must operate at a constant temperature to ensure stable performance. This required the PACU to actively regulate both heating and cooling and efficiently transfer excess heat away from the PIC. One of the main design goals was to achieve this without water cooling, using only ventilation inside the system. This development marks an important step in making quantum technology more scalable and practical for real-world applications, including future integration in high-performance computing environments. " A scalable electronics platform designed to control and regulate photonic assemblies for quantum computing applications.