Stefano Barison

Researcher in Quantum & Classical computing

IBM Zürich & ETH Zürich (CH)

News!


[Mar 2026] Can quantum computers help us validate real lab experiments? In our recent work published in Science, we used quantum simulations to confirm the half-Möbius topology of a recently synthesized molecule.

A molecule with half-Möbius topology

I. Rončević, F. Paschke, Y. Gao, L. Lieske, L. A. Gödde, S. Barison, S. Piccinelli, A. Baiardi, I. Tavernelli, J. Repp, F. Albrecht, H. L. Anderson & L. Gross

Science 0, eaea3321 (2026)


[Sep 2025] Our work on local high-dimensional fermion mappings to qudits has been published in Physical Review A!


[Feb 2025] Extended sample-based quantum diagonalization (Ext-SQD) has been published in Quantum Science and Technology, have a look at the publication!


[Jun 2024] Our work on variational embedding has received a huge update. Now it features not only a strategy to combine quantum variational circuits with classical methods, but also a more general framework to combine classical methods with different accuracies.


[May 2024] Our work that extends the p-VQD algorithm by introducing adaptive circuits for time evolution has been published on Physical Review Research.

About me

The limitations of computing and processing power are no small matter. Rather, they constitute a decisive question, which must be treated with the utmost respect.

- from "Computer meets Theoretical Physics"


Currently, I am a postdoctoral researcher in quantum computing at the IBM Research Lab in Zürich.

I obtained my Ph.D. in Physics at EPFL, in Lausanne, in the group of Prof. Giuseppe Carleo.

My research focuses on the development of quantum algorithms for the simulation of quantum systems.

I work to make the most of current quantum hardware, combining it with methods inspired by classical machine learning.

Publications

An efficient quantum algorithm for the time evolution of parameterized circuits

S. Barison , F. Vicentini & G. Carleo

Quantum 5, 512 (2021)

Quantum simulations of molecular systems with intrinsic atomic orbitals

S. Barison , D.E. Galli & M. Motta

Physical Review A 106 (2), 022404 (2022)

Variational dynamics as a ground-state problem on a quantum computer

S. Barison , F. Vicentini, I. Cirac & G. Carleo

Phys. Rev. Research 4 (4), 043161 (2022)

Sequence of penalties method to study excited states using VQE

R. Carobene, S. Barison & A. Giachero

Quantum Science and Technology 8 (3), 035014 (2023)

Adaptive projected variational quantum dynamics

D. Linteau, S. Barison , N. Lindner & G. Carleo

Phys. Rev. Research 6 (2), 023130 (2024)

Variational Embeddings for Many Body Quantum Systems

S. Barison , F. Vicentini & G. Carleo

arXiv:2309.08666 (2023)

Quantum-centric computation of molecular excited states with extended sample-based quantum diagonalization

S. Barison , J. Robledo-Moreno & M. Motta

Quantum Science and Technology 10 (2), 025034 (2025)

Local fermion-to-qudit mappings: A practical recipe for four-level systems

R. Carobene, S. Barison , A. Giachero & J. Nys

Physical Review A 112, 032619 (2025)

Quantum chemistry with provable convergence via randomized sample-based Krylov quantum diagonalization

S. Piccinelli, A. Baiardi, S. Barison, M. Rossmannek, A. C. Vazquez, F. Tacchino, S. Mensa, E. Altamura, A. Alavi, M. Motta, J. Robledo-Moreno, W. Kirby, K. Sharma, A. Mezzacapo & I. Tavernelli

arXiv:2508.02578 (2025)

A molecule with half-Möbius topology

I. Rončević, F. Paschke, Y. Gao, L. Lieske, L. A. Gödde, S. Barison, S. Piccinelli, A. Baiardi, I. Tavernelli, J. Repp, F. Albrecht, H. L. Anderson & L. Gross

Science 0, eaea3321 (2026)

Education

PhD in Physics

EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland

2020 - 2025

MSc in Physics

University of Milan, Milan, Italy

2018 - 2020

BSc in Physics

University of Milan, Milan, Italy

2015 - 2018

High School Diploma

Liceo Scientifico "IISS I. Versari", Cesano Maderno (MB), Italy

2010 - 2015