A Hitachi research laboratory at the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, working on silicon quantum devices and next-generation computing.
The Hitachi Cambridge Laboratory, known as HCL, is a research team that Hitachi runs inside the University of Cambridge's Cavendish Laboratory, the physics department. Its goal, in its own words, is to build a practical quantum computer through deep science, and it focuses on silicon-based quantum devices, meaning tiny electronic parts built from the same material as ordinary computer chips that can hold quantum information. Past projects include a single-electron memory in 1993 and single-electron logic in 1995, and current work covers spintronics, quantum information, quantum optics and biosensors.
The laboratory was founded in 1985 and has worked with the Cavendish since 1989. It is part of the European R&D Centre of Hitachi Europe Ltd. In 2019 Hitachi and the University renewed the 30-year partnership and agreed that HCL would move into the Ray Dolby Centre, the Cavendish's new building. At that point Hitachi's European chief technology officer, Dr Masakatsu Mori, said the next step toward a practical quantum computer was to extend the work into computer science, including architecture and systems. Hitachi's group chief technology officer said academia and industry would become "part of an innovation ecosystem".
HCL is in Cambridge, on the Cavendish site in West Cambridge, and works with several Cavendish research groups, including microelectronics, optoelectronics, semiconductor physics and thin-film magnetism. A 2021 Quantum Insider profile named Professor Charles Smith as laboratory manager and Dr Normann Mertig as deputy head, and said the two led about a dozen research scientists and students. That is an older figure, so the current team may differ. The laboratory had produced more than 500 publications in about thirty years.
The culture described is that of an academic research group backed by a large company: scientists publish openly, share ideas with university colleagues, and work on long-term questions rather than quick products. The laboratory says it prioritises developing a quantum ecosystem across the university and the Cambridge technology cluster. That is the organisation's own description and we have not tested it.
Jobs here are research roles: physicists and engineers working on device design, fabrication and measurement, and later on computer architecture and software for quantum systems, together with the scientists and administrators who support the wider Hitachi Europe centre. Physics, electronics, materials and computer science are all relevant. Because it is a small team, openings will be few, so look at Hitachi Europe's website and the Cavendish for announcements.
Website: www.hitachi.com/rd/research/europe/index.html
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