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QCE: A Simulator for Quantum Computer Hardware

Kristel F. L. Michielsen, Hans A. De Raedt

Published May 1, 2003• 4 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

The Quantum Computer Emulator (QCE) described in this paper consists of a simulator of a generic, general purpose quantum computer and a graphical user interface. The latter is used to control the simulator, to define the hardware of the quantum computer and to debug and execute quantum algorithms. QCE runs in a Windows 98/NT/2000/ME/XP environment. It can be used to validate designs of physically realizable quantum processors and as an interactive educational tool to learn about quantum computers and quantum algorithms. A detailed exposition is given of the implementation of the CNOT and the Toffoli gate, the quantum Fourier transform, Grover's database search algorithm, an order finding algorithm, Shor's algorithm, a three-input adder and a number partitioning algorithm. We also review the results of simulations of an NMR-like quantum computer.

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The Quantum Computer Emulator (QCE) described in this paper consists of a simulator of a generic, general purpose quantum computer and a graphical user interface. The latter is used to control the simulator, to define the hardware of the quantum computer and to debug and execute quantum algorithms. QCE runs in a Windows 98/NT/2000/ME/XP environment. It can be used to validate designs of physically realizable quantum processors and as an interactive educational tool to learn about quantum computers and quantum algorithms. A detailed exposition is given of the implementation of the CNOT and the Toffoli gate, the quantum Fourier transform, Grover's database search algorithm, an order finding algorithm, Shor's algorithm, a three-input adder and a number partitioning algorithm. We also review the results of simulations of an NMR-like quantum computer.
Quantum computation is becoming an increasingly interesting field, especially with the rise of real quantum computers. However, current quantum processors contain a few tens of error-prone qubits and the realization of large-scale quantum computers is still very challenging. Therefore, quantum computer simulators are particularly suitable for testing and analysing quantum algorithms without having a real quantum computer at one's disposal. In this thesis, different quantum algorithms such as Grover's and Shor's algorithm as well as key quantum routines such as the Quantum Fourier Transform (QFT) and a quantum adder/subtractor are described and analysed (optimal number of iterations, time complexity). Some of them have been implemented for an arbitrary number of qubits and have been simulated using two different quantum simulators, the QX simulator developed at QuTech and the Liquid simulator from Microsoft. In addition, how errors affect the success rate of the algorithms has been investigated.
As quantum computers of non-trivial size become available in the near future, it is imperative to develop tools to emulate small quantum computers. This allows for validation and debugging of algorithms as well as exploring hardware-software co-design to guide the development of quantum hardware and architectures. The simulation of quantum computers entails multiplications of sparse matrices with very large dense vectors of dimension 2n, where n denotes the number of qubits, making this a memory-bound and network bandwidth-limited application. We introduce the concept of a quantum computer emulator as a component of a software framework for quantum computing, enabling a significant performance advantage over simulators by emulating quantum algorithms at a high level rather than simulating individual gate operations. We describe various optimization approaches and present benchmarking results, establishing the superiority of quantum computer emulators in terms of performance.
A quantum computer simulator is presented. This simulator is an engineering work and no deep understanding of quantum mechanics is required from the user. The simulator is based on the circuit model of quantum computation in which quantum gates act on quantum registers which comprise a number of quantum bits (qubits). The inputs to the simulator are the initial states of the qubits that form a quantum register and the quantum gates applied at each computation step. The inputs are entered through a graphical user interface. The outputs of the simulator are the matrices that represent the quantum register state at each quantum computation step and graphical outputs that show the probability of measuring each one of the possible quantum register base states and the phase of each state at each computation step. The well-known Deutsch's algorithm and the quantum Fourier transform, which is the base of many quantum algorithms, are presented using this simulator. Furthermore, the generation and variation of entanglement during quantum computations can be calculated using this simulator. The quantum computer simulator is a useful tool for the study of quantum computer circuits, quantum computing, and the development of new quantum algorithms.
Quantum computing is based on the exploitation of quantum effects to perform some important computations more efficiently than ever possible on classical computers. Well known quantum algorithms are Shors polynomial time factoring algorithm and Grovers data base search scheme. Their potential is due to the parallelism of a quantum computation increasing exponentially with the size of the computing device. IBM has succeeded in building a first working quantum computing device with up to 7 qubits based on NMR technology, however, the construction of large multi-qubit systems appears to become extremely difficult due to the loss of coherence of the quantum states. Like the design process of modern microprocessors which is carried out by means of sophisticated software, modelling and simulation of the entire QC device is even more relevant. Simulation is required in order to understand the functioning of quantum algorithms, to construct novel quantum algorithms, to write quantum programs, to teach quantum computing, to construct real quantum computers, to understand and fight de-coherence and to understand and control the influence of the environment. Since quantum parallelism increases exponentially with the size of the quantum computer, parallel supercomputers are required for realistic simulations. I intend to give an introduction into the simulation of quantum computers using conventional computers. The simulation is based on a generic physical model of quantum computer hardware. Issues like parallel gate level simulators, modelling of QCs, simulators for physical quantum computers are addressed.