Research Associate for the Project “BeRyQC” (Postdoc) § 28 Abs. 3 HmbHG

Duties include academic services in the project named above. Research associates may also pursue independent research and further academic qualifications.

• conduct original theoretical research on the development of application-oriented benchmarking protocols for Rydberg quantum computing platforms, with a focus on both quantum annealing and circuit-based approaches
• develop and implement specialized emulators for classical simulation of Rydberg quantum computing hardware, focusing on the effects of interaction characteristics, error models, and controllability of Rydberg atom arrays
• investigate the scalability and reliability of generating highly entangled states (including Clifford, graph, hypergraph, Dicke, and matrix product states) on Rydberg quantum computers and their implications for benchmarking quantum resources
• design and evaluate benchmarks for assessing the solvability of combinatorial optimization problems (e.g., QUBO) on Rydberg annealers, including the impact of hardware-specific interaction bandwidth, coherence times, and error rates
• study variation of benchmark results under circuit transpilation, hardware-adapted optimization, and error mitigation techniques, aiming to identify requirements, limitations, and pathways for improvement of both hardware and algorithms
• analyze variational ansatz circuits for continuous optimization problems within the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) and similar frameworks, benchmarking their efficiency, robustness against imperfections, and the mitigating of ‘barren plateaus’
• develop and document measurement schemes and data processing protocols to efficiently certify key quantum resources (such as entanglement fidelity), minimizing experimental overhead
• collaborate closely with theory and experimental groups within the consortium, as well as with industrial partners, to incorporate realistic experimental parameters and relevant application cases from science and industry
• write and publish research papers for internationally refereed journals, and present results at national and international conferences and workshops
• manage the research project on a day-to-day basis and regularly report progress to Prof. Dieter Jaksch
• contribute to the writing of project reports as required and assist with other administrative duties, as necessary
• contribute to the positive atmosphere, maintenance and smooth running of the group, as required
• engage actively in the intellectual life of the research group and project consortium, including regular participation in workshops, video calls, and other collaborative meetings, both locally and internationally