HRL Laboratories Launches Open-Source Solution for Solid-State Spin-Qubits

HRL Laboratories introduces spinQICK, an open-source extension to the Quantum Instrumentation Control Kit (QICK) designed to control electrostatically confined solid-state spin-qubits.

MALIBU, Calif. July 16, 2025 — HRL Laboratories developed an open-source extension to the Quantum Instrumentation Control Kit (QICK), designed to control electrostatically confined semiconductor spin-qubits.

Called spinQICK, HRL’s solution provides a cost-effective way to rapidly utilize high performance and affordable field-programmable gate array (FPGA) hardware with spinQICK’s firmware and software to control spin-qubits.

“By creating a cost-effective solution for academic and industry partners, HRL is helping to advance the quantum computing industry and spin qubit community,” said Andrew Oriani, a spinQICK Principal Investigator at HRL.

Abbie Wessels, a spinQICK Principal Investigator and Lead Developer at HRL, elaborated, “As leaders in quantum science and engineering, we believe that making tools like spinQICK freely available will accelerate scientific progress and push the boundaries of what’s possible in spin qubit research.”

The spinQICK package builds on the standard QICK API, an open source toolkit developed and deployed by Fermilab, with additional low-level extensions tailored for spin-qubit systems. Fermilab is America’s particle physics and accelerator laboratory. It is the lead institution for the Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center, plays a major role in the Quantum Science Center headquartered at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and is a leader in quantum networks and controls including cryoelectronics.

• The hardware intended for use with spinQICK is vastly more affordable than comparable custom or other commercial hardware systems currently available, without compromising on performance.
• This enables faster and more affordable adoption of standardized measurement and control methods used for electrostatically confined spin-qubits.
• The new tool also drives workforce development and quantum outreach by encouraging speedy, efficient engagement with research labs and educational institutions entering the field of semiconductor quantum computing.

Sponsoring a clinic team at Harvey Mudd College, HRL is bringing spinQICK and accessible quantum computing solutions to engineering communities. This year’s Harvey Mudd team recently showcased their end of year project at HRL, where they integrated spinQICK with custom analog control hardware.

Key features of HRL spinQICK:

• Support for low-cost, off-the-shelf Xilinx Radio Frequency System-on-Chip (RFSoC) Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) to rapidly develop novel application-specific experimental hardware and software for spin-qubit control.
• Enables methods that accommodate single-spin (Loss-DiVincenzo) qubits, including:
  • Charge-stability and electrostatic tune-up
  • Initialization and parity readout
  • Single-spin coherent control and characterization of key properties and gate operations, including:
    • T1, T 2 ∗, T2-Echo, Ramsey and All-XY
  • Exchange calibration
  • Two-qubit gates
• Provides features for parameter management, plotting and demonstrations to help users get started with spinQICK.

“SpinQICK is a great example of how open-source systems such as QICK grow across boundaries, including national labs, academia and industry. We are very impressed with the work done by HRL” said Gustavo Cancelo, leader of QICK development at Fermilab.

The HRL spinQICK package is now available here.

HRL Laboratories, LLC, California (hrl.com) pioneers the next frontiers of physical and information science. Delivering transformative technologies in automotive,aerospace and defense, HRL advances the critical missions of its customers. As a private company owned jointly by Boeing and GM, HRL is a source of innovations that advance the state of the art in profound and far-reaching ways.

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