Scalable Orchestration Solutions

Hybrid Control is QM’s approach of bringing classical decision-making directly into the quantum experiment — programs measure, compute, branch, and update parameters while the sequence is still running, rather than analyzing results only afterward. This is powered by the Pulse Processing Unit (PPU), an advanced classical processor central to QM’s Hybrid Control approach that positions classical compute as close as possible to the quantum hardware, enabling ultra-fast feedback loops and real-time adaptive control based directly on measurement outcomes. It’s essential because operations must complete faster than qubits decohere — the PPU shapes pulses, enforces deterministic timing, performs mid-circuit measurement, and applies feed-forward within hundreds of nanoseconds, the regime where real quantum control happens.

Yes — this is the core “labs to scalers” design. The same controllers and QUA programs run from a single OPX+ on a benchtop experiment up to large OPX1000 clusters, where any combination of low-frequency and microwave modules and any number of units are programmed together and operate as one. The OPX1000 is built to cost-effectively scale control to 1,000 qubits and beyond, so teams grow their system without redesigning their software.

Experiments are written in QUA, a Python-embedded, pulse-level language that reads like pseudocode while exposing full real-time capability — it unifies quantum operations at the pulse level with classical resources, including Turing-complete computations and rich control flow such as if/else, for, and while loops using real-time parameters. Routine bring-up and tuning are handled by QUAlibrate, QM’s automated calibration solution, and a library of pre-built programs for most characterization experiments, including contributions from leading research groups, accelerates development. For gate-level work, an OpenQASM3-to-QUA compiler lets algorithms run out of the box.

A QM controller is processor-based, not a static waveform player: instead of defining pulses point by point as an arbitrary waveform generator requires, you describe the experiment in a few lines of QUA and the PPU does the heavy lifting in real time. As QM puts it, the OPX skips the point-by-point waveform definition that makes AWGs so cumbersome — you write a few lines of high-level QUA and the PPU inside handles the rest. That difference is what enables real-time branching, feedback, and adaptive protocols that simply aren’t possible on conventional test-and-measurement gear.