APS 2026 March Meeting
The APS March Meeting 2026, an annual event that acts as the main platform for ground-breaking findings in the field of quantum science, is drawing the world’s physics community to Denver this week. Two well-known European quantum hardware startups, Alice & Bob and Qilimanjaro, will present important developments in fault-tolerant architecture, analog quantum processing, and high-performance computing (HPC) integration to the thousands of researchers and business executives present.
Alice & Bob: The Vanguard of Cat Qubits
Alice & Bob’s Paris-based team travels to Denver with a full schedule that revolves around their patented cat qubit technology. The goal of their study, which will be presented throughout the week, is to address the most important problem facing the industry mistake correction at scale.
Central to their presentation is the work of Hugo Jacinto, a theoretical physicist who will detail a protocol for producing magic states with error rates dropping below 10−10. This milestone is widely considered a fundamental requirement for large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computation. By leveraging noise-biased qubits, Jacinto’s work suggests a two-layer distillation scheme that significantly reduces the hardware overhead traditionally associated with surface-code implementations.
The team’s experimental side is just as busy. The stabilization of four-legged cat qubits, which provide first-order protection against phase-flips while retaining exponential suppression of bit-flips, will be covered by Louis Lattier. However, this progress necessitates exact control over higher-order nonlinearities. To address these complexities, Simon Dupouy will present a redesigned autoparametric cat-qubit architecture. This architecture aims to reduce dephasing and lengthen bit-flip times by operating at a flux “sweet spot,” bringing complex cat-state operations closer to a stable regime.
Marco Paradina will present a technique that uses a DC-biased Josephson junction to produce two-photon dissipation via inelastic Cooper-pair tunneling, further pushing the limits of stabilization. This technology may provide dissipation rates 100 times higher than those of existing microwave pumping techniques, providing a more effective way to stabilize quantum memory.
You can also read Qilimanjaro’s EduQit for Quantum Education in Barcelona
Computational Mastery and Theoretical Insights
The contributions made by Alice and Bob go beyond hardware. Using rare-event sampling methods from statistical physics, Elie Gouzien will demonstrate a unique method for calculating ultra-low logical error rates. This makes it possible to reconstruct error rates that direct Monte Carlo sampling would not be able to quantify.
Adrien Moulinas and Emilio Rui will demonstrate the capabilities of Tensor Network (TN) techniques in modeling. While Rui concentrates on a non-perturbative framework for modeling driven many-mode circuit-QED systems, Moulinas’ study employs similar techniques to simulate open bosonic systems with an exponential speed-up in system size.
There are also plans for experimental advancements. The first experimental implementation of microwave quantum key distribution (QKD) utilizing superconducting circuits is scheduled to be presented by Florian Fesquet. With promise for future outdoor applications, our work shows that unconditional security may be attained in the microwave regime under freezing circumstances.
Qilimanjaro: Revolutionizing Analog Quantum Computing
With its distinct emphasis on analog quantum architectures, Qilimanjaro is causing a stir, while Alice & Bob concentrate on the digital, fault-tolerant route. The Barcelona-based group is promoting the use of fluxonium qubits to reduce flux and dielectric noise.
Senior Measurement Engineer Lorenzo Scarpelli will discuss Qilimanjaro’s most recent advancements in flip-chip fluxonium processors. These qubits, characterized by low transition frequencies and high anharmonicity, have already achieved coherence periods approaching 1.5 milliseconds . Coherent time evolution controlled by tailored Hamiltonians is made possible by this platform’s primary analog regime operation, which is essential for certain optimization and simulation jobs.
You can also read Unfolded Distillation: Alice & Bob and Inria’s Quantum Leap
Bridging the Gap: HPC Integration and Business Leadership
SpeQtrum, Qilimanjaro’s multimodal quantum data-center stack, is one of their biggest announcements. SpeQtrum’s integration into the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) will be discussed by CEO Marta P. Estarellas and Head of Systems and Engineering David Eslava. This integration shows how quantum nodes may be accessed natively alongside traditional HPC infrastructure, marking a significant step for European sovereign computing. Through a single programming interface, the QiliSDK, the SpeQtrum platform enables cross-paradigm hybridization, routing workloads across digital circuits, analog evolution, and classical compute targets.
Additionally, Qilimanjaro is tackling the “how” of quantum algorithms. In his “coherent approach” to quantum-classical optimization, Josep Bosch will emphasize coherence entropy as a crucial parameter for enhancing the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm’s (QAOA) efficacy.
Qilimanjaro is assuming a leadership position in the quantum ecosystem outside of the lab. A 90-minute panel discussion titled “Physics at Work for Humankind – Building Startups that Matter” will be facilitated by CEO Marta P. Estarellas. The session aims to guide the next generation of physics entrepreneurs through the challenges of funding, team building, and intellectual property protection in the volatile quantum market.
The Global Physics Summit Experience
At the week-long event, both companies emphasize face-to-face collaboration. Alice & Bob offers a booth #901 for community discussions on their plan and newest publications. At booth #1202, Qilimanjaro is providing in-depth explanations of their “SpeQtrum” stack and “EduQit” educational resources.
The presentations from Alice & Bob and Qilimanjaro highlight a developing industry as the APS March Meeting 2026 progresses. The research presented in Denver this week is laying the groundwork for the next ten years of quantum utility, whether it is the deployment of analog nodes in Barcelona or the quest for “ridiculously low” error rates in Paris.
You can also read Qilimanjaro 2025: Advances in Multimodal Quantum Computing
