Pasqal was born from academic research, and it has never stopped investing in it. With AtomIQ-Lab, our joint laboratory with CNRS and Institut d’Optique Graduate School, we have turned a long-standing relationship into a shared research program. Here is what each side brings, and why that matters for the future of neutral-atom quantum computing.
Building a quantum computer is an engineering challenge. Making it better, year after year, remains a physics challenge.
Some of the most important improvements ahead for neutral-atom QPUs, such as measuring a qubit without losing the atom or refilling a register while it runs, are the next frontier for the entire field. Bringing them into a commercial machine is a challenge at the crossroads of physics and engineering, and that is exactly where a joint lab makes the difference.
That is why Pasqal created AtomIQ-Lab with CNRS and Institut d’Optique, inaugurated in November 2025.
A relationship that never stopped
Pasqal’s technology comes from experiments developed at Laboratoire Charles Fabry, a joint research unit of CNRS, Institut d’Optique and Université Paris-Saclay, hosted by Institut d’Optique on the Université Paris-Saclay campus. Physicists Antoine Browaeys and Thierry Lahaye, who led that work, were among the co-founders of Pasqal in 2019.
The ties did not end when the company started. Browaeys and Lahaye remain scientific advisors to Pasqal. Six joint CIFRE PhD theses have been carried out between the company and the group, four of which are still underway. Researchers on both sides also exchange regularly on topics beyond the joint lab, such as quantum simulation of many-body systems using laser-controlled atom registers.
AtomIQ-Lab builds on that history. What it provides is a shared program and a clear framework for a long-standing relationship.
What research brings to Pasqal
The Quantum Optics – Atoms group at Laboratoire Charles Fabry has spent decades studying how individual atoms behave, interact and can be controlled with light. That expertise is hard to replicate inside a company, and impossible to build quickly.
For Pasqal, the joint lab means working on the hardest questions facing our core technology with a leading academic team at our side. It also offers an early view of ideas that may shape quantum computing well beyond our current roadmap. One example is PANDA, a project funded in 2022 by a European Innovation Council Pathfinder grant, which explores new schemes for quantum computing based on light-matter interactions.
And it keeps us close to the next generation of scientists. Joint CIFRE theses give students a rare dual training, in both academic research and industrial R&D, and give Pasqal access to highly qualified talent. Since October 2025, a Pasqal Research Chair at Institut d’Optique has added a dedicated academic position for a physicist working on topics shared by both teams.
What Pasqal brings to research
The exchange runs both ways. Pasqal contributes resources and people, specialized knowledge on specific parts of the technology, and engineering capabilities that an academic group rarely has in-house.
This support allows the Laboratoire Charles Fabry team to upgrade its experimental platforms in ways that would be difficult, or impossible, without a strong industrial partner.
The difference shows in the pace of work. Given the complexity of today’s experiments, building and validating a new experimental setup can take years. With Pasqal’s engineering expertise in the loop, that timeline can often be brought down to a few months, giving researchers more time for the science itself.
Why a joint lab, and not just a collaboration
Pasqal and the group were already working together. So why formalize it?
First, to choose priorities together. In 2025, a first IOGS-Pasqal workshop brought together some 50 to 60 researchers from both sides. Together, they identified the topics where a joint effort makes the most difference. Two stood out: lossless measurement of atomic states, needed for fault-tolerant operation, and continuous reloading of atom registers.
Second, to move faster from research to implementation. Exploratory R&D does not belong entirely in a company or entirely in a lab. The joint lab lets each partner take on what it does best, and shortens the path from a promising result to a working technology.
Third, to make room for long-term bets. Some projects, like PANDA, are core research for the academic group and a longer-range exploration for Pasqal. A joint lab can hold both perspectives in the same program.
Finally, to commit for the long run. A formal agreement between Pasqal, CNRS and Institut d’Optique, a dedicated Research Chair, and a program that will grow over the coming years all signal that this is not a one-off project.
Science as a competitive advantage
In quantum computing, the gap between today’s machines and tomorrow’s is still largely a scientific one. Companies that stay close to fundamental research are better placed to close it.
For Pasqal, AtomIQ-Lab is a way to keep that connection strong, with the research group whose work made our technology possible in the first place.
