Each month, the CQE highlights one of its corporate partners in a short Q&A focused on the company’s vision, their goals for engaging with the CQE community, and more. Today, we offer an interview with Vikrant Mahajan, President, Zurich Instruments USA, Inc.
Q: What is your vision for the future of quantum technologies and how Zurich Instruments will contribute?
We believe that quantum technologies will have a transformative impact on our lives, especially through their integration with many other advanced technologies being developed today. We primarily focus on quantum computing. At Zurich Instruments, we help build quantum computers by developing their control systems as a key component. This assists researchers and engineers in addressing challenges related to scaling up and improving qubit quality, enabling them to focus on their core innovations.
Q: When recruiting new quantum talent, what are the top skills or qualities you seek?
We look for individuals who are passionate about pushing quantum computing forward. To support our mission, we need skills that cover the full stack — from understanding experimental methods to electronics design and programming. Most importantly, it's about grasping the challenges our customers face today in building quantum computers.
Q: How are you engaging with the CQE community and the Chicagoland quantum ecosystem?
We highly value our partnership with CQE and engage with the community by participating in key events such as career fairs, technical workshops, and joint project calls. We also focus on talent recruitment, offering internships and showcasing Zurich Instruments as a potential employer at partner workshops. Furthermore, the exceptional support from CQE has been crucial, enabling us to extend the reach of our quantum innovations through its network researchers.
Q: What is your company’s proudest moment to date?
In 2018, Zurich Instruments introduced the first commercial Quantum Computing Control System, created to control over 100 qubits. The achievements our customers could soon celebrate with us showed that we had addressed a significant need. The community was eager for such a system to get to the next level in engineering a quantum computer. Inspired by our customers' ambitions, we have continued to advance this development, ensuring our support keeps them at the forefront of innovation.
Q: What’s one fun fact you’d like the public to know about your company or your team?
In addition to numerous bikers and mountain climbers, our company has many talented artists, which has led to the creation of our internal company band, H-DAWGs. Pronounced "H-Dog," the name was inspired by our HDAWG Arbitrary Waveform Generator, leading to a more melodic interpretation of the acronym. They made their debut at our 15th anniversary celebration, captivating the whole company with their latest song, “Zurich City.” Full of humor, this song lyrically envisions a Quantum City where qubits scale beautifully, all set to the rhythm of Guns N' Roses's iconic song "Paradise City."