Application-based benchmarks are increasingly used to quantify and compare quantum computers' performance. However, because contemporary quantum computers cannot run utility-scale computations, these benchmarks currently test this hardware's performance on ``small'' problem instances that are not necessarily representative of utility-scale problems. Furthermore, these benchmarks often employ methods that are unscalable, limiting their ability to track progress towards utility-scale applications. In this work, we present a method for creating scalable and efficient benchmarks from any quantum algorithm or application. Our subcircuit volumetric benchmarking (SVB) method runs subcircuits of varied shape that are ``snipped out'' from some target circuit, which could implement a utility-scale algorithm. SVB is scalable and it enables estimating a capability coefficient that concisely summarizes progress towards implementing the target circuit. We demonstrate SVB with experiments on IBM Q systems using a Hamiltonian block-encoding subroutine from quantum chemistry algorithms.
Application-based benchmarks are increasingly used to quantify and compare quantum computers' performance. However, because contemporary quantum computers cannot run utility-scale computations, these benchmarks currently test this hardware's performance on small'' problem instances that are not necessarily representative of utility-scale problems. Furthermore, these benchmarks often employ methods that are unscalable, limiting their ability to track progress towards utility-scale applications. In this work, we present a method for creating scalable and efficient benchmarks from any quantum algorithm or application. Our subcircuit volumetric benchmarking (SVB) method runs subcircuits of varied shape that are snipped out'' from some target circuit, which could implement a utility-scale algorithm. SVB is scalable and it enables estimating a capability coefficient that concisely summarizes progress towards implementing the target circuit. We demonstrate SVB with experiments on IBM Q systems using a Hamiltonian block-encoding subroutine from quantum chemistry algorithms.
Creating scalable, reliable, and well-motivated benchmarks for quantum computers is challenging: straightforward approaches to benchmarking suffer from exponential scaling, are insensitive to important errors, or use poorly-motivated performance metrics. Furthermore, curated benchmarking suites cannot include every interesting quantum circuit or algorithm, which necessitates a tool that enables the easy creation of new benchmarks. In this work, we introduce a software tool for creating scalable and reliable benchmarks that measure a well-motivated performance metric (process fidelity) from user-chosen quantum circuits and algorithms. Our software, called scarab, enables the creation of efficient and robust benchmarks even from circuits containing thousands or millions of qubits, by employing efficient fidelity estimation techniques, including mirror circuit fidelity estimation and subcircuit volumetric benchmarking. scarab provides a simple interface that enables the creation of reliable benchmarks by users who are not experts in the theory of quantum computer benchmarking or noise. We demonstrate the flexibility and power of scarab by using it to turn existing inefficient benchmarks into efficient benchmarks, to create benchmarks that interrogate hardware and algorithmic trade-offs in Hamiltonian simulation, to quantify the in-situ efficacy of approximate circuit compilation, and to create benchmarks that use subcircuits to measure progress towards executing a circuit of interest.
Quantum computing hardware is advancing rapidly toward utility-scale machines that will enable scientific breakthroughs. Many teams are pursuing distinct and difficult-to-compare routes to this goal, using different qubit technologies and logical architectures. Tracking progress toward quantum utility therefore requires rigorous benchmarks that measure computational capability relative to utility-scale challenge problems and enable fair comparison across disparate platforms. Here we demonstrate direct, cross-platform measurement of quantum computational capability using a new benchmark that quantifies the size of the largest computationally relevant quantum circuits that a machine can execute successfully and the speed at which it can execute them. We apply this quantum universal operation performance system (QUOPS) experimentally to leading processors from Quantinuum, Google, and IBM, computing directly on physical qubits. Translating state-of-the-art resource requirements for recognized challenge problems that represent useful quantum computation into effective QUOPS circuit sizes shows that computational capability must grow by 5 orders of magnitude, motivating fault-tolerant approaches. We use the same benchmark to assess the performance of a simple fault-tolerant logical-qubit processor implemented on up to eight [[7,1,3]]-encoded logical qubits using Quantinuum Helios-1, and project the growth of capability across successive generations of fault-tolerant quantum computers to show how QUOPS can track progress toward quantum scientific utility.
Benchmarks that concisely summarize the performance of many-qubit quantum computers are essential for measuring progress towards the goal of useful quantum computation. In this work, we present a benchmarking framework that is based on quantifying how a quantum computer's performance on quantum circuits varies as a function of features of those circuits, such as circuit depth, width, two-qubit gate density, problem input size, or algorithmic depth. Our featuremetric benchmarking framework generalizes volumetric benchmarking -- a widely-used methodology that quantifies performance versus circuit width and depth -- and we show that it enables richer and more faithful models of quantum computer performance. We demonstrate featuremetric benchmarking with example benchmarks run on IBM Q and IonQ systems of up to 27 qubits, and we show how to produce performance summaries from the data using Gaussian process regression. Our data analysis methods are also of interest in the special case of volumetric benchmarking, as they enable the creation of intuitive two-dimensional capability regions using data from few circuits.
Quantum processors are now able to run quantum circuits that are infeasible to simulate classically, creating a need for benchmarks that assess a quantum processor's rate of errors when running these circuits. Here, we introduce a general technique for creating efficient benchmarks from any set of quantum computations, specified by unitary circuits. Our benchmarks assess the integrated performance of a quantum processor's classical compilation algorithms and its low-level quantum operations. Unlike existing “full-stack benchmarks”, our benchmarks do not require classical simulations of quantum circuits, and they use only efficient classical computations. We use our method to create randomized circuit benchmarks, including a computationally efficient version of the quantum volume benchmark, and an algorithm-based benchmark that uses Hamiltonian simulation circuits. We perform these benchmarks on IBM Q devices and in simulations, and we compare their results to the results of existing benchmarking methods.
As quantum processors continue to scale in size and complexity, the need for well-defined, reproducible, and technology-agnostic performance metrics becomes increasingly critical. Here we present a suite of scalable quantum computing benchmarks developed as key performance indicators (KPIs) within the EU Quantum Flagship. These proposed benchmarks are designed to assess holistic system performance rather than isolated components, and to remain applicable across both noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices and future fault-tolerant architectures. We introduce four core benchmarks addressing complementary aspects of quantum computing capability: large multi-qubit circuit execution via a Clifford Volume benchmark, scalable multipartite entanglement generation through GHZ-state preparation, a benchmark based on the application of Shor's period-finding subroutine to simple functions, and a protocol quantifying the benefit of quantum error correction using Bell states. Each benchmark is accompanied by clearly specified protocols, reporting standards, and scalable evaluation methods. Together, these KPIs provide a coherent framework for transparent and fair performance assessment across quantum hardware platforms and for tracking progress late-NISQ toward early fault-tolerant quantum computation.
The main challenge of quantum computing on its way to scalability is the erroneous behaviour of current devices. Understanding and predicting their impact on computations is essential to counteract these errors with methods such as quantum error mitigation. Thus, it is necessary to construct and evaluate accurate noise models. However, the evaluation of noise models does not yet follow a systematic approach, making it nearly impossible to estimate the accuracy of a model for a given application. Therefore, we developed and present a systematic approach to benchmark noise models for quantum computing applications. It compares the results of hardware experiments to predictions of noise models for a representative set of quantum circuits. We also construct a noise model and optimize its parameters with a series of training circuits. We then perform a volumetric benchmark comparing our model to other models from the literature.