Ross Duncan
LightNews LightNews
banner
rossquantum.bsky.social
Ross Duncan
@rossquantum.bsky.social
660 followers 380 following 200 posts
Quantum computing lifer. ZX-calculus co-inventor. Quantum compiler compiler and quantum programmer programmer. String diagrammer. Category theoriser.
Head of Quantum Software @ Quantinuum
(I cannot read DMs on Bluesky)
Posts Replies Media Videos
rossquantum.bsky.social
Meanwhile in Tokyo, the temperature has dropped to the point where wearing clothes at all starts to seem reasonable.
Cityscape of Tokyo, blue skies, fluffy clouds. Skytree visible in distance.
September 25, 2025 at 1:06 AM
rossquantum.bsky.social
And the day ended in the pub where Peter Selinger taught us that in number theory, you should always use a bigger ring.
Peter Selinger and Eddie Schoute in a bar looking at Peter's notepad while Peter explains that most of Shor's algorithm was already known to Fermat. Except the quantum part.
September 9, 2025 at 12:14 PM
rossquantum.bsky.social
The final session was Brad Chase (on certifying fault-tolerance) and Marcin Szyniszewski (on approximate simulation). I do like those yellow @unitary.foundation slides
September 9, 2025 at 12:08 PM
rossquantum.bsky.social
The continued with a bunch of great talks from
@eddieschoute.bsky.social , Erik Weilandt, Ali Javadi-Abhari (not pictured), Vivien Vandaele (looked very similar the day before), Maxime Garnier and Jordan Sullivan.
September 9, 2025 at 12:06 PM
rossquantum.bsky.social
Day 2 of #iwqc kicked off with Adam Glos talking about how compile ferminionic things. #quantum #compilers
Adam Glos pointing at a huge slide saying "Jordan-Wigner"
September 9, 2025 at 11:54 AM
rossquantum.bsky.social
Then we had to get a boat to an island for the conference dinner. I have no pictures from the dinner, or the Thirsty Scholar afterwards, but here's some from the boat. @qec.codes did not really need sunglasses it should be said.
Joschke on a boat. A group of quantum computer scientists standing on the deck of a boat. There is no view, only fog.
September 9, 2025 at 11:45 AM
rossquantum.bsky.social
And there was a later-than-planned talk from Tanuj Khattar.
Tanuj Khattar giving a talk.
September 9, 2025 at 11:41 AM
rossquantum.bsky.social
Here are some pictures from the day. Featuring @profdanbrowne.bsky.social, Madelyn Cain, and Franciso Garcia-Herrero.
Madelyn Cain standing next to a giant slide about benchmarking repeated QEC. Dan Browne giving a talk about ensemble decoding. Francisco Garcia-Herrero giving a talk about decoding on FPGAs. The giant slide says "motivations". The lecture room was very nice... but a bit too big for the small audience.
September 9, 2025 at 11:02 AM
rossquantum.bsky.social
There were a bunch of other great talks. Pictured here: Kosei Mori, Daniele Trisciani, David Wierichs, and Vivien Vandaele. I somehow failed to take a photo of Yannick Stade, who gave the second talk of the day! #iwqc #quantum #compilers
September 6, 2025 at 1:03 PM
rossquantum.bsky.social
Mark Koch opens the second session of #iwqc talking about how to optimise "dynamic circuits". Personally I don't like this term -- "quantum programs" is better! (I do like Mark's t-shirt though.)
#quantum #quantumcomputing #compilers #tket
Mark Koch on a stage in an auditorium next to a giant screen showing a very simple quantum circuit. Mark is wearing a very cool t-shirt.
September 6, 2025 at 9:01 AM
rossquantum.bsky.social
International Workshop on Quantum Compilers began this morning with a great invited talk from Olivia Di Matteo!
#iwqc #quantum #quantumcomputing #compilers
Olivia Di Matteo stands next to a giant screen showing a quantum circuit.
September 6, 2025 at 8:53 AM
rossquantum.bsky.social
There are a lot of cabinets... anyway if you were wondering what about 8 million compute cores looks like -- it looks like this. (ありがとうございます to Sato-sensei for showing us around)
#riken #fugaku #supercomputer
Some of the many cabinets of Fugaku. A visitor gets his picture taken in front of Fugaku. More cabinets of pure CPU power. Professor Sato telling visitors about the Fugaku supercomputer.
June 24, 2025 at 11:44 AM
rossquantum.bsky.social
But no one wants to see boring #quantum computers. We're here for a real celebrity : Fugaku. Each cpu has 60ish cores, each node has 2 cpus, each cabinet has ... lots... Did I mention it's water cooled?
#riken #fugaku #supercomputer
A water cooled node-board of Fugaku.
June 24, 2025 at 11:38 AM
rossquantum.bsky.social
🧵2/4 The actual IBM System Two is in the corridor, behind bullet proof glass. Pretty snazzy. Various shiny quantum paraphernalia in the hallway. #ibmq #riken #quantum
The chandelier of a dilution fridge, three of them. The Heron quantum processor. (Or at least its packaging) The IBM System Two -- it's actually working, but from the corridor you cannot tell.
June 24, 2025 at 11:30 AM
rossquantum.bsky.social
🧵 Went to visit RIKEN in Kobe today for the launch of their new IBM system. (Quantinuum's system @ RIKEN has been operational for months 😂 ) Here's some photos. Featuring: Jay Gambetta, Kentaro Yamamoto, the Fugaku supercomputer, and me.
#quantum #quantumcomputing #riken #fugaku #quantinuum #ibmq
Cool lecture room where the curtains open up to reveal the supercomputer in its hall below. Jay Gambetta giving a talk Kentaro Yamamoto giving a talk
June 24, 2025 at 11:24 AM
rossquantum.bsky.social
Was in Seoul last week for the Workshop on Quantum Software at PLDI. Nice workshop. No decent pictures, except this evidence of some "Berlin style" advertising for Qrisp....
#pldi #wqs #qrisp #quantumcomputing
A toilet. It says "Qrisp" on it.
June 24, 2025 at 6:33 AM
rossquantum.bsky.social
An auditorium with two large screens. There are some people seated, others standing at the front preparing for the show. Nathan Lysne standing behind a podium. The podium has "Quantinuum" written on it.
May 23, 2025 at 12:57 AM
rossquantum.bsky.social
Some photos from the recent RIKEN workshop on HPC-Quantum in Osaka. Featuring Enrico Rinaldi, Mike Foss-Feig, @fridaysimon.bsky.social, Keisuke Fujii, and Nathan Lysne. @johnchildren.bsky.social and I also gave a talk, as did quite a few others. #quantinuum #riken #quantumcomputing
Enrico Rinaldi standing behind a podium. The podium has "Quantinuum" written on it. Mike Foss-Feig standing behind a podium. The podium has "Quantinuum" written on it. Simon Burton giving a talk. Behind there is a screen showing a plastic model of a qubit. Keisuke Fujii giving a talk.
May 23, 2025 at 12:57 AM
rossquantum.bsky.social
We have arrived. This will be home of the next year. #tokyo
Monochrome picture of Tokyo skyline on a grey day. Tokyo Sky Tree visible in the distance,
March 31, 2025 at 11:54 AM
rossquantum.bsky.social
Starting next week I'll be based in Tokyo. Still working at Quantinuum. Still doing mostly the same stuff. If you're in the area hit me up!
Japanese visa document which claims that Ross Duncan is a "Highly Skilled Pro".
March 25, 2025 at 2:04 PM
rossquantum.bsky.social
Last but not least, Mark Koch talks about Guppy.
#quantinuum #guppylang #popl #planqc
Mark Koch standing next to a psychedelic image of a fish.
January 26, 2025 at 12:51 AM
rossquantum.bsky.social
Some more PLanQC photos : Frank Fu, Jennifer Paykin, and You-Fang Chen.
Frank Fu explaining reversal and control in Proto-Quipper Jennifer Parkin talks about projective Cliffords. Yu-Fang Chen advertising a new workshop on Verification of Quantum Computing.
January 26, 2025 at 12:45 AM
rossquantum.bsky.social
And now here's Agustin Borgna talking about HUGR at PLanQC 2025. #planqc #popl #quantumcomputing #quantinuum
January 25, 2025 at 5:29 PM
rossquantum.bsky.social
Kaitlin Smith opens PLanQC 2025 with an overview of quantum software in her keynote talk. #planqc #popl #quantumcomputing
January 25, 2025 at 4:57 PM
rossquantum.bsky.social
Blue field with a white and blue circle on it. The cover art for Underworld's 1999 album "Beaucoup Fish"
December 12, 2024 at 10:30 AM