OpenQARP: a modular framework for quantum application research
Stefano Scali, Vicente P. Soloviev, Antonio Márquez Romero, Brian Coyle, Giuseppe Buonaiuto, Annie Paine, Jonathan H. Fetherolf, Marcos Diez García, Michal Krompiec, Josh Kirsopp
quant-phcs.MSSubmitted Sep 14, 2026• Announced Sep 15, 2026• 0 citations
We introduce OpenQARP, the Open Quantum Application Research Package: an open-source Python framework for quantum application research, built on a compiled C++ core. In OpenQARP, an application is assembled from an algorithm library that orchestrates three interchangeable layers: blocks describe circuits, primitives describe what to extract from them, and engines describe how they run. The release spans near-term through fault-tolerant methods, targeting problems from electronic structure to combinatorial optimization, with device-aware compilation, circuit cutting, and resource estimation over a single set of numerical conventions that the code must follow. Every numerical feature is checked against an independent oracle, and every published timing carries a correctness check. Against OpenFermion, Qiskit/Aer, PennyLane/Lightning, Qulacs, qsim, and pytket, OpenQARP is one to two orders of magnitude faster on operator algebra and among the fastest on simulation. It matches mature compilers on two-qubit gate count, and expresses a complete algorithm in the lines a framework needs rather than the plumbing a primitive stack demands.
We introduce OpenQARP, the Open Quantum Application Research Package: an open-source Python framework for quantum application research, built on a compiled C++ core. In OpenQARP, an application is assembled from an algorithm library that orchestrates three interchangeable layers: blocks describe circuits, primitives describe what to extract from them, and engines describe how they run. The release spans near-term through fault-tolerant methods, targeting problems from electronic structure to combinatorial optimization, with device-aware compilation, circuit cutting, and resource estimation over a single set of numerical conventions that the code must follow. Every numerical feature is checked against an independent oracle, and every published timing carries a correctness check. Against OpenFermion, Qiskit/Aer, PennyLane/Lightning, Qulacs, qsim, and pytket, OpenQARP is one to two orders of magnitude faster on operator algebra and among the fastest on simulation. It matches mature compilers on two-qubit gate count, and expresses a complete algorithm in the lines a framework needs rather than the plumbing a primitive stack demands.
We introduce ProjectQ, an open source software effort for quantum computing. The first release features a compiler framework capable of targeting various types of hardware, a high-performance simulator with emulation capabilities, and compiler plug-ins for circuit drawing and resource estimation. We introduce our Python-embedded domain-specific language, present the features, and provide example implementations for quantum algorithms. The framework allows testing of quantum algorithms through simulation and enables running them on actual quantum hardware using a back-end connecting to the IBM Quantum Experience cloud service. Through extension mechanisms, users can provide back-ends to further quantum hardware, and scientists working on quantum compilation can provide plug-ins for additional compilation, optimization, gate synthesis, and layout strategies.
Quantum computing has become an active research field in recent years, as its applications in fields such as cryptography, optimization, and materials science are promising. Along with these developments, challenges and opportunities exist in the field of Quantum Software Engineering, as the development of frameworks and higher-level abstractions has attracted practitioners from diverse backgrounds. Unlike initial quantum frameworks based on the circuit model, recent frameworks and libraries leverage higher-level abstractions for creating quantum programs. This paper presents an empirical study of 985 Jupyter Notebooks from 80 open-source projects to investigate how quantum patterns are applied in practice. Our work involved two main stages. First, we built a knowledge base from three quantum computing frameworks (Qiskit, PennyLane, and Classiq). This process led us to identify and document 9 new patterns that refine and extend the existing quantum computing pattern catalog. Second, we developed a reusable semantic search tool to automatically detect these patterns across our large-scale dataset, providing a practitioner-focused analysis. Our results show that developers use patterns in three levels: from foundational circuit utilities, to common algorithmic primitives (e.g., Amplitude Amplification), up to domain-specific applications for finance and optimization. This indicates a maturing field where developers are increasingly using high-level building blocks to solve real-world problems.
Abstract Quantum simulation of chemistry and materials is predicted to be an important application for both near-term and fault-tolerant quantum devices. However, at present, developing and studying algorithms for these problems can be difficult due to the prohibitive amount of domain knowledge required in both the area of chemistry and quantum algorithms. To help bridge this gap and open the field to more researchers, we have developed the OpenFermion software package ( www.openfermion.org ). OpenFermion is an open-source software library written largely in Python under an Apache 2.0 license, aimed at enabling the simulation of fermionic and bosonic models and quantum chemistry problems on quantum hardware. Beginning with an interface to common electronic structure packages, it simplifies the translation between a molecular specification and a quantum circuit for solving or studying the electronic structure problem on a quantum computer, minimizing the amount of domain expertise required to enter the field. The package is designed to be extensible and robust, maintaining high software standards in documentation and testing. This release paper outlines the key motivations behind design choices in OpenFermion and discusses some basic OpenFermion functionality which we believe will aid the community in the development of better quantum algorithms and tools for this exciting area of research.
Quantum algorithms for scientific computing are specified against access models such as block-encodings, sparse oracles, state preparations, and quantum random-access memories. Their concrete realization is deliberately left open, yet it is a research variable that changes both the numerical behavior and the resource cost of the program, so every reported conclusion is attributable to one realization. In this paper, we present oracq, a Python framework that makes this choice a managed and checkable decision. Our claim is linguistic rather than infrastructural. Algorithms are stored as persistent register-level programs whose oracle slots are declared and typed but unimplemented. A separate binding pass links compatible realizations, so one stored algorithm can be re-bound to a gate network, a QRAM-backed table, or compiled reversible arithmetic and compared across them. Typed QRAM resources, a compiler from pure Python numerical formulas to reversible fixed-point circuits, and block-encoding algebra with qubitization and QSVT-style kernels supply the constructions. Two end-to-end workflows exercise the framework, a quantum finite-volume pipeline for the compressible Euler equations and a quantum homotopy-analysis pipeline that lifts nonlinear PDEs to composable linear input models. The verification methodology separates implementation error from method error, and logical resource accounts cover programs before and after binding. The framework is openly available at https://github.com/IAI-USTC-Quantum/oracq.
Quantum computing has become an active research field in recent years, as its applications in fields such as cryptography, optimization, and materials science are promising. Along with these developments, challenges and opportunities exist in the field of Quantum Software Engineering, as the development of frameworks and higher-level abstractions has attracted practitioners from diverse backgrounds. Unlike initial quantum frameworks based on the circuit model, recent frameworks and libraries leverage higher-level abstractions for creating quantum programs. This paper presents an empirical study of 985 Jupyter Notebooks from 80 open-source projects to investigate how quantum patterns are applied in practice. Our work involved two main stages. First, we built a knowledge base from three quantum computing frameworks (Qiskit, PennyLane, and Classiq). This process led us to identify and document nine new patterns that refine and extend the existing quantum computing pattern catalog. Second, we developed a reusable semantic search tool to automatically detect these patterns across our large-scale dataset, providing a practitioner-focused analysis. Our results show that developers use patterns in three levels: from foundational circuit utilities, to common algorithmic primitives (e.g., Amplitude Amplification), up to domain-specific applications for finance and optimization. This indicates a maturing field where developers are increasingly using high-level building blocks to solve real-world problems.
Resource estimation is a significant challenge in evaluating fault tolerant quantum computers. Existing approaches often rely on either fixed architectural assumptions or coarse analytical models that fail to capture the interaction between hardware constraints and circuit compilation. This challenge is particularly acute for neutral atom quantum computers, where architectural features such as atom movement, measurement zones, and multi-species arrays introduce a broad design space for implementing fault tolerant computation. Addressing the need for a tighter feedback loop between hardware design and practical application development, we present a compilation-driven framework for quantum resource estimation that translates arbitrary quantum circuits into logical primitive operations with known physical resource costs. This framework allows for easily configurable hardware assumptions that enable rapid comparison of different architectural design choices. We apply our approach to two early fault tolerant quantum simulation and optimization workloads, assuming the use of the surface code, revealing several architectural trends. While the production of magic states continues to be the dominant source of overhead for these benchmarks, access to movement can save time on cultivation and important transversal gates. As problem size grows, routing and qubit movement become dominant bottlenecks, highlighting the need for movement-aware compiler optimizations and frugal routing strategies. Finally, our results suggest that neutral atom architectures combining dual-species arrays with controlled qubit movement offer a promising path toward near-term advantage on fault tolerant devices.