Musings on the Mesa: Xanadu at the 2026 LANL Summer School

Both Vasilis Belis and I, from Xanadu's algorithms team, are excited to participate in this year's Quantum Computing Summer School (QCSS) at Los Alamos National Lab (LANL). Each year, the QCSS gathers a talented group of students with specialties spanning the full quantum computing stack. It’s a truly collaborative environment where students, lab experts, and visiting researchers exchange big ideas with a shared emphasis on high-impact research that makes the program uniquely rewarding for everyone involved. We are looking forward to co-mentoring students and driving research on problems at the intersection of quantum information, algorithm design, and real-world applications.

My first time attending in 2025 left a lasting impression. Throughout the summer, I had many enlightening scientific discussions with both students and LANL researchers about new approaches for quantum simulation, particularly how quantum computers will fundamentally change chemistry and materials research at the lab and beyond. Working closely on these hard scientific problems alongside the researchers at Los Alamos reinforced the strong research alignment between our two organizations. Speaking to the value of this ongoing partnership, Marco Cerezo, staff scientist at LANL, shared:

“Over the past two years, QCSS at LANL has partnered with Xanadu to co-mentor students, and I have found the experience to be tremendously positive for both the students and for me personally. Working alongside Xanadu scientists has led to meaningful collaborations, expanded my professional network, and contributed to several papers that are especially important to me. Most importantly, I have seen students grow and thrive as scientists through this partnership. This year, LANL and QCSS are excited to continue collaborating with Xanadu, and I look forward to the interesting science our students will pursue under the guidance of both LANL and Xanadu scientists.”

I am looking forward to another successful QCSS, which is starting today. This year, I will be teaming up with LANL’s John Golden to co-mentor a student on novel quantum algorithms for the simulation of materials with heavy elements, systems where classical computational approaches struggle to interpret experimental data and model the physics accurately. We'll be tackling how to optimally simulate these Hamiltonians and explore their spectroscopic properties.

Meanwhile, Vasilis will be teaming up with Su Yeon Chang, a postdoc at LANL, to co-mentor a student on a research project exploring the fundamental intersection of Quantum Resource Theories (QRTs), quantum circuits with specific symmetries that make them classically simulatable, and building Quantum Machine Learning models with specific desired biases. This exploration stems from the work done last year at the LANL QCSS, which resulted in a paper on group Fourier filtering of quantum resources in quantum phase space.

Stay tuned for updates on our QCSS research at LANL by signing up to the Xanadu newsletter, and follow PennyLane on LinkedIn or X to be notified.