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arXiv:2601.15934

Automated quantum circuit optimization with randomized replacements

Marcin Szyniszewski, Aleks Kissinger, Noah Linden, Paul Skrzypczyk

quant-phSubmitted Jan 22, 2026• Announced Jan 23, 2026• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Quantum circuit optimization - the process of transforming a quantum circuit into an equivalent one with reduced time and space requirements - is crucial for maximizing the utility of current and near-future quantum devices. While most automated optimization techniques focus on transforming circuits into equivalent ones that implement the same unitary, we show that substantial new opportunities for resource reduction can be achieved by (1) allowing approximate local transformations and (2) employing mixed quantum channels to approximate pure circuits. Our novel automated protocol for approximate circuit rewriting is a refined evolution of automated optimization techniques based on the ZX-calculus, where we add a greedy strategy that selectively replaces ZX-diagrams with small phase angles with stochastic mixtures of the identity and carefully chosen over-rotations, which are designed to reduce the overall gate count in expectation while staying within a strict error budget. This approach yields modest two-qubit gate count reduction in random quantum circuits, and achieves a substantial reduction in structured circuits such as the quantum Fourier transform. Fundamentally, our protocol converts experimental noise due to gate applications into deliberately engineered random noise, outperforming many other approximation methods on average. These results highlight the potential of mixed-channel approximations to enhance future quantum circuit performance, suggesting new directions for resource-aware automated quantum compilation beyond pure unitary channels.

Comments
7 pages, 4 figures

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Quantum circuit optimization - the process of transforming a quantum circuit into an equivalent one with reduced time and space requirements - is crucial for maximizing the utility of current and near-future quantum devices. While most automated optimization techniques focus on transforming circuits into equivalent ones that implement the same unitary, we show that substantial new opportunities for resource reduction can be achieved by (1) allowing approximate local transformations and (2) employing mixed quantum channels to approximate pure circuits. Our novel automated protocol for approximate circuit rewriting is a refined evolution of automated optimization techniques based on the ZX-calculus, where we add a greedy strategy that selectively replaces ZX-diagrams with small phase angles with stochastic mixtures of the identity and carefully chosen over-rotations, which are designed to reduce the overall gate count in expectation while staying within a strict error budget. This approach yields modest two-qubit gate count reduction in random quantum circuits, and achieves a substantial reduction in structured circuits such as the quantum Fourier transform. Fundamentally, our protocol converts experimental noise due to gate applications into deliberately engineered random noise, outperforming many other approximation methods on average. These results highlight the potential of mixed-channel approximations to enhance future quantum circuit performance, suggesting new directions for resource-aware automated quantum compilation beyond pure unitary channels.
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Abstract Quantum noise in real-world devices poses a significant challenge in achieving practical quantum advantage, since accurately compiled and executed circuits are typically deep and highly susceptible to decoherence. To facilitate the implementation of complex quantum algorithms on noisy hardware, we propose an approximate method for compiling target quantum circuits into brick-wall layouts. This new circuit design consists of two-qubit CNOT gates that can be directly implemented on real quantum computers, in conjunction with optimized one-qubit gates, to approximate the essential dynamics of the original circuit while significantly reducing its depth. Our approach is evaluated through numerical simulations of time-evolution circuits for the critical Ising model, quantum Fourier transformation, and Haar-random quantum circuits, as well as experiments on IBM quantum platforms. By accounting for compilation error and circuit noise, we demonstrate that time evolution and quantum Fourier transformation circuits achieve high compression rates, while random quantum circuits are less compressible. The degree of compression is related to the rate of entanglement accumulation in the target circuit. In particular, experiments on IBM platforms achieve a compression rate of 12.512.512.5 for N=12N=12N=12, significantly extending the application of current quantum devices. Furthermore, large-scale numerical simulations for system sizes up to N=30N=30N=30 reveal that the optimal depth dmaxd_{\rm max}dmax​ to achieve maximal overall fidelity is independent of system size NNN, suggesting the scalability of our method for large quantum devices in terms of quantum resources.
The rapid advancement of Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices has driven the need for efficient design automation tools that can translate complex engineering models into executable quantum circuits. This study explores the development of automated quantum circuit design frameworks focused on gate optimization and noise-aware compilation, enabling practical quantum computation for engineering applications such as optimization, simulation, and control systems. Traditional circuit design methods often fail to account for hardware constraints, decoherence, and gate infidelity, which significantly affect computational accuracy on NISQ devices. To address these challenges, this research introduces a hybrid automation approach combining quantum transpilation, variational circuit pruning, and error-aware synthesis algorithms to enhance circuit reliability and scalability. The framework integrates quantum-classical co-design principles to optimize both logical and physical circuit layers, leveraging hardware-specific calibration data to adapt compilation strategies dynamically. Through simulations and benchmark analysis, the proposed system demonstrates significant improvements in quantum resource utilization, error mitigation, and gate depth reduction compared to conventional compilation methods. This work underscores the growing importance of design automation in quantum engineering, where algorithmic efficiency must be harmonized with physical constraints to realize functional and scalable quantum workflows. By establishing a methodology for gate-level optimization and noise-adaptive design, the study contributes to bridging the gap between theoretical quantum algorithms and real-world engineering implementations within the NISQ computing era.
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