Quantum computing has been touted as a revolutionary advance that uses our growing scientific understanding of the subatomic world to create a machine with powers far beyond those of conventional computers – Copyright AFP/File LUCA SOLA
What do diamonds have to do with running a quantum computers at room temperature? We asked Quantum Brilliance’s technology & innovation manager, Andreas Sawadsky.
With the installation of a Quantum Brilliance system in its Advanced Computing Ecosystem testbed, the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility has its first on-site quantum computer cluster. It will be used by OLCF staff to explore how to integrate this emerging technology into classical high-performance computing, or HPC. Unlike many experimental quantum computers, the Quantum Brilliance platform comes in a small package and does not require extreme cooling to maintain quantum coherence.
Digital Journal: What sort of quantum computer system has Quantum Brilliance installed at the OLCF?
Andreas Sawadsky: The system we’ve deployed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory is called the Quantum Development Kit, or QDK. It’s a hybrid full-stack platform that integrates a quantum processing unit (QPU) alongside GPU and CPU components, allowing it to support parallel and hybrid quantum-classical workflows.
Each built-in QPU has two qubits. This is particularly exciting for us, as it’s the first time we’re delivering a multiple-hybrid system parallelized in a cluster — a significant milestone as it represents the world’s first cluster of parallelized QPUs integrated into an HPC environment.
DJ: Is this the company’s first quantum computer system?
Sawadsky: While this is our first deployment in the United States, it is not our first overall. Our first system was delivered in 2022 to the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre in Perth, marking the world’s first on-premise integration of a QPU into an HPC environment. Since then, we’ve also delivered an upgraded QDK model to the Fraunhofer IAF in Freiburg, Germany. The ORNL installation is a significant step as it brings our technology into one of the world’s leading research institutions in hybrid computing.
DJ: What is the underlying technology of Quantum Brilliance’s quantum computers?
Sawadsky: Quantum Brilliance’s platform falls under the category of solid-state spin-based quantum technologies. At the core of our QPUs are nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centres in diamond, which are atomic-scale defects where a nitrogen atom sits next to a vacant lattice site in the diamond crystal. These NV centres host nuclear spins that serve as qubits, the fundamental units of quantum information.
We manipulate these qubits using laser light and microwave (MW) pulses to initialize, control, and read out their quantum states — enabling the execution of quantum algorithms. One of the most distinctive advantages of this approach is that, unlike many quantum platforms requiring cryogenic environments, our diamond-based QPUs operate at room temperature, making them more accessible and scalable for integration into standard computing environments.
DJ: Why doesn’t the Quantum Brilliance platform require extreme cooling to maintain quantum coherence and accuracy?
Sawadsky: Most qubit technologies are vulnerable to decoherence caused by heat and electromagnetic noise, which is why most of them require cryogenic temperatures or complicated laser and vacuum systems to keep the qubits stable. In our case, the use of diamond as a host material changes the equation entirely. Diamond is extremely hard, so even at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, there isn’t sufficient thermal energy to generate the vibrations that would typically disrupt qubit coherence. Additionally, diamond can be manufactured to be extremely pure, virtually eliminating internal sources of electromagnetic noise.
As a result, NV centres in diamond experience at room temperature an environment that is effectively equivalent to millikelvin conditions in other materials. This intrinsic stability allows our QPUs to function without the complexity and cost of cryogenics, laser, and vacuum systems. This allowed us to engineer a revolutionary QPU solution that operates efficiently at room temperature while dramatically reducing size, weight, and power consumption. This makes our platform ideal for deployment in real-world settings such as data centres, satellites, and edge devices.
DJ: How is Quantum Brilliance’s approach to quantum computers different from other companies?
Sawadsky: Quantum Brilliance takes a distinctive approach by focusing on practical quantum utility within HPC environments. While many in the industry aim to demonstrate quantum advantage in isolation, our goal is to build QPUs that can outperform classical systems of the same size, weight, and power — such as comparing a QPU directly to a single GPU. Because our diamond-based QPUs operate at room temperature, we avoid the need for cryogenics and bulky infrastructure, enabling significant miniaturization and portability. Our long-term vision is to package all critical quantum components into a compact, rugged QPU, potentially small enough to fit in a lunchbox. This allows us to pursue a distinct mission: quantum technology everywhere — portable, power-efficient, and application-ready quantum computing that competes directly with classical accelerators like GPUs in real-world environments.
At ORNL, we’re exploring a future where clusters of QPUs can scale like classical accelerators — the idea being that if a single QPU can outperform a single GPU in a given task, then a cluster of 100 QPUs should similarly outperform a cluster of 100 GPUs. Our architecture supports massive parallelization and hybridization, which is precisely what the ORNL deployment is designed to investigate. In short, Quantum Brilliance develops compact, rugged, and scalable QPUs that bring quantum utility to HPC and beyond — a vision of quantum technology everywhere.
DJ: The Quantum Brilliance installation team came up with an unusual name for the system
Sawadsky: The cluster is named “Quoll,” after the Australian marsupial. Since Quantum Brilliance is an Australian startup, and the animal’s name starts with a “Q,” it felt like a fitting and playful nod to our roots. Quoll is not just a symbolic name — it reflects a novel architectural approach where multiple QPUs work together within HPC systems to explore scalable quantum acceleration.
With operations in Australia and Germany, Quantum Brilliance’s mission is to enable the mass deployment of quantum technology, facilitating its integration into everyday devices and high-performance computing systems. Quantum Brilliance has attracted world-leading scientific and commercial talent in Australia and Europe. Its international partnerships extend into North America, Europe and the Asia Pacific, and include governments, supercomputing centres, research organizations, and industry partners.
To learn more about the technology, check out the companion article Quantum brilliance: ORNL pioneer quantum-classical hybrid computing