Quantinuum has introduced a new software stack for its upcoming Helios quantum computer, which will be available this year. The upgraded stack includes Guppy, a new open-source programming language, and Selene, an open-source emulator. The new stack is designed to provide a full-stack platform for the Helios system, with features aimed at enabling a lower barrier to entry, faster time-to-solution, and industry-standard access for users.
Guppy is a new programming language hosted in Python, designed to support the transition to fault-tolerant quantum computing. It allows developers to write complex programs that adapt as the quantum system evolves, with native support for real-time feedback and common programming constructs. Selene is an open-source emulator built to model the behavior of Helios, supporting advanced runtime features such as measurement-dependent control flow and hybrid quantum-classical logic. It supports multiple simulation backends, including those optimized for matrix product state and tensor network simulations.
The new stack’s features, such as native support for real-time feedback and control flow, are designed to reduce barriers to implementing Quantum Error Correction (QEC). Quantinuum’s QCCD architecture is intended to provide developers with the flexibility to implement a variety of QEC codes. The stack supports the industry-standard Quantum Intermediate Representation (QIR), allowing developers to program with languages like NVIDIA CUDA-Q and Microsoft Q#. The new software stack is expected to provide benefits such as improved time-to-solution and reduced memory error for programs.
Read more about this new software stack on the Quantinuum blog here, explore the Guppy programming language on the Quantinuum blog here, and access the documentation for Guppy hereand for Selene here.
August 20, 2025
