Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

Quantum Information Processing

Advanced exact synthesis of Clifford+T circuits

Philipp Niemann, Robert Wille, Rolf Drechsler

Published Aug 27, 2020• 24 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Abstract Quantum systems provide a new way of conducting computations based on the so-called qubits. Due to the potential for significant speed-ups, this field received significant research attention in recent years. The Clifford+T library is a very promising and popular gate library for these kinds of computations. Unlike other libraries considered so far, it consists of only a small number of gates for all of which robust, fault-tolerant realizations are known for many technologies that seem to be promising for large-scale quantum computing. As a consequence, (logic) synthesis of Clifford+T quantum circuits became an important research problem. However, previous work in this area has several drawbacks: Corresponding approaches are either only applicable to very small quantum systems or lead to circuits that are far from being optimal. The latter is mainly caused by the fact that current synthesis realizes the desired circuit by a local, i.e., column-wise, consideration of the underlying unitary transformation matrix to be synthesized. In this paper, we analyze the conceptual drawbacks of this approach and propose to overcome them by taking a global view of the matrices and perform a separation of concerns regarding individual synthesis steps. We precisely describe a corresponding algorithm as well as its efficient implementation on top of decision diagrams. Experimental results confirm the resulting benefits and show improvements of up to several orders of magnitudes in costs compared to previous work.

DOI
10.1007/s11128-020-02816-0

Related papers

Improved synthesis of Clifford+T quantum functionality

Philipp Niemann, Robert Wille, Rolf Drechsler

The Clifford+T library provides robust and fault-tolerant realizations for quantum computations. Consequently, (logic) synthesis of Clifford+T quantum circuits became an important research problem. However, previously proposed solutions are either only applicable to very small quantum systems or lead to circuits that are far from being optimal- mainly caused by a local, i.e. column-wise, consideration of the underlying transformation matrix to be synthesized. In this paper, we suggest an improved approach that considers the matrix globally and, by this, overcomes many of these drawbacks. Preliminary evaluations show the promises of this direction.

Design, Automation, and Test in Europe•Mar 1, 2018•35 citations

Efficient synthesis of quantum circuits implementing clifford group operations

Philipp Niemann, Robert Wille, Rolf Drechsler

Quantum circuits established themselves as a promising emerging technology and, hence, attracted considerable attention in the domain of computer-aided design. As a result, many approaches for synthesis of corresponding netlists have been proposed in the last decade. However, as the design of quantum circuits faces serious obstacles caused by phenomena such as superposition, entanglement, and phase shifts, automatic synthesis still represents a significant challenge. In this paper, we propose an automatic synthesis approach for quantum circuits that implement Clifford Group operations. These circuits are essential for many quantum applications and cover core aspects of quantum functionality. The proposed approach exploits specific properties of the unitary transformation matrices that are associated to quantum operations. Furthermore, Quantum Multiple-Valued Decision Diagrams (QMDDs) are employed for an efficient representation of these matrices. Experimental results confirm that this enables a compact realization of the respective quantum functionality.

Asia and South Pacific Design Automation Conference (ASP-DAC)•Jan 1, 2014•49 citations

High-Precision Multi-Qubit Clifford+T Synthesis by Unitary Diagonalization

Mathias Weiden, Justin Kalloor, John David Kubiatowicz +2 more

Resource-efficient and high-precision approximate synthesis of quantum circuits expressed in the Clifford+T gate set is vital for Fault-Tolerant quantum computing.Efficient optimal methods are known for single-qubit R Z unitaries, otherwise the problem is generally intractable.Search-based methods, like simulated annealing, empirically generate low resource cost approximate implementations of general multi-qubit unitaries so long as low precision (Hilbert-Schmidt distances of ε ≥ 10 -2 ) can be tolerated.These algorithms build up circuits that directly invert target unitaries.We instead leverage search-based methods to first approximately diagonalize a unitary, then perform the inversion analytically.This lets difficult continuous rotations be bypassed and handled in a postprocessing step.Our approach improves both the implementation precision and run time of synthesis algorithms by orders of magnitude when evaluated on unitaries from real quantum algorithms.On benchmarks previously synthesizable only with analytical techniques like the Quantum Shannon Decomposition, diagonalization uses an average of 95% fewer non-Clifford gates.

arXiv:2409.00433•Electronic Proceedings in Theoretical Computer Science•Aug 19, 2025•1 citation

More efficient Clifford+T synthesis for small-angle rotations and application to Trotterization

Marius Bothe, Christoph Sünderhauf, Michael J. Witham +2 more

Clifford+T synthesis of rotation gates is an important routine in fault-tolerant quantum compilation. While Clifford+T synthesis is scalable, it has a high overhead of tens of T gates per rotation in practice, translating to high resource estimates for many fault-tolerant algorithms. However, these well-known results, including those using probabilistic mixtures [Quantum 7, 1208 (2023)], are independent of the rotation angle $θ$, requiring $O(\log 1/δ)$ T gates. We show that it is possible to do much better for small angles, reducing the T cost to $\tilde{O}(θ^2/δ)$, and returning to existing $O(\log1/δ)$ results in the worst case. This is particularly important since many algorithms, such as Trotterization, are dominated by small-angle rotations. Further, we perform a detailed theoretical and numerical study of quasi-probabilities, which can further reduce the total T cost of large circuits by orders of magnitude with only a small overhead in sample complexity. We also develop a scheme based on quasi-probability mixtures of Clifford+T fallback channels. We derive new $θ$-dependent formulas that can be used for resource estimation of fault-tolerant quantum algorithms. As an application of our results, we show that the gate cost of Trotterization circuits compiled to a Clifford+T gate set is constant in the small Trotter step size limit, and can be reduced by orders of magnitude even for large step sizes. The cost of fault-tolerant Trotterization for a variety of applications should be re-examined in light of these results. Our work dispels the widely-stated claim that Clifford+T rotation synthesis has a high cost independent of $θ$, and further develops a scalable quasi-probability method for rotation synthesis. We also expect our results to bring forward useful early fault-tolerant quantum computing by reducing required magic state resources.

quant-pharXiv:2605.31544•Jun 1, 2026•0 citations

Parallelizing quantum circuit synthesis

Olivia Di Matteo, Michele Mosca

Quantum circuit synthesis is the process in which an arbitrary unitary operation is decomposed into a sequence of gates from a universal set, typically one which a quantum computer can implement both efficiently and fault-tolerantly. As physical implementations of quantum computers improve, the need is growing for tools that can effectively synthesize components of the circuits and algorithms they will run. Existing algorithms for exact, multi-qubit circuit synthesis scale exponentially in the number of qubits and circuit depth, leaving synthesis intractable for circuits on more than a handful of qubits. Even modest improvements in circuit synthesis procedures may lead to significant advances, pushing forward the boundaries of not only the size of solvable circuit synthesis problems, but also in what can be realized physically as a result of having more efficient circuits. We present a method for quantum circuit synthesis using deterministic walks. Also termed pseudorandom walks, these are walks in which once a starting point is chosen, its path is completely determined. We apply our method to construct a parallel framework for circuit synthesis, and implement one such version performing optimal T -count synthesis over the Clifford+ T gate set. We use our software to present examples where parallelization offers a significant speedup on the runtime, as well as directly confirm that the 4-qubit 1-bit full adder has optimal T -count 7 and T -depth 3.

arXiv:1606.07413•Quantum Science and Technology•Mar 1, 2016•29 citations

Cost-optimal single-qubit gate synthesis in the Clifford hierarchy

Gary J. Mooney, Charles D. Hill, Lloyd C. L. Hollenberg

For universal quantum computation, a major challenge to overcome for practical implementation is the large amount of resources required for fault-tolerant quantum information processing. An important aspect is implementing arbitrary unitary operators built from logical gates within the quantum error correction code. A synthesis algorithm can be used to approximate any unitary gate up to arbitrary precision by assembling sequences of logical gates chosen from a small set of universal gates that are fault-tolerantly performable while encoded in a quantum error-correction code. However, current procedures do not yet support individual assignment of base gate costs and many do not support extended sets of universal base gates. We analysed cost-optimal sequences using an exhaustive search based on Dijkstra’s pathfinding algorithm for the canonical Clifford+ T set of base gates and compared them to when additionally including Z -rotations from higher orders of the Clifford hierarchy. Two approaches of assigning base gate costs were used. First, costs were reduced to T -counts by recursively applying a Z -rotation catalyst circuit. Second, costs were assigned as the average numbers of raw (i.e. physical level) magic states required to directly distil and implement the gates fault-tolerantly. We found that the average sequence cost decreases by up to 54±3% when using the Z -rotation catalyst circuit approach and by up to 33±2% when using the magic state distillation approach. In addition, we investigated observed limitations of certain assignments of base gate costs by developing an analytic model to estimate the proportion of sets of Z -rotation gates from higher orders of the Clifford hierarchy that are found within sequences approximating random target gates.

arXiv:2005.05581•Quantum•Feb 15, 2021•6 citations
Abstract Quantum systems provide a new way of conducting computations based on the so-called qubits. Due to the potential for significant speed-ups, this field received significant research attention in recent years. The Clifford+T library is a very promising and popular gate library for these kinds of computations. Unlike other libraries considered so far, it consists of only a small number of gates for all of which robust, fault-tolerant realizations are known for many technologies that seem to be promising for large-scale quantum computing. As a consequence, (logic) synthesis of Clifford+T quantum circuits became an important research problem. However, previous work in this area has several drawbacks: Corresponding approaches are either only applicable to very small quantum systems or lead to circuits that are far from being optimal. The latter is mainly caused by the fact that current synthesis realizes the desired circuit by a local, i.e., column-wise, consideration of the underlying unitary transformation matrix to be synthesized. In this paper, we analyze the conceptual drawbacks of this approach and propose to overcome them by taking a global view of the matrices and perform a separation of concerns regarding individual synthesis steps. We precisely describe a corresponding algorithm as well as its efficient implementation on top of decision diagrams. Experimental results confirm the resulting benefits and show improvements of up to several orders of magnitudes in costs compared to previous work.
The Clifford+T library provides robust and fault-tolerant realizations for quantum computations. Consequently, (logic) synthesis of Clifford+T quantum circuits became an important research problem. However, previously proposed solutions are either only applicable to very small quantum systems or lead to circuits that are far from being optimal- mainly caused by a local, i.e. column-wise, consideration of the underlying transformation matrix to be synthesized. In this paper, we suggest an improved approach that considers the matrix globally and, by this, overcomes many of these drawbacks. Preliminary evaluations show the promises of this direction.
Quantum circuits established themselves as a promising emerging technology and, hence, attracted considerable attention in the domain of computer-aided design. As a result, many approaches for synthesis of corresponding netlists have been proposed in the last decade. However, as the design of quantum circuits faces serious obstacles caused by phenomena such as superposition, entanglement, and phase shifts, automatic synthesis still represents a significant challenge. In this paper, we propose an automatic synthesis approach for quantum circuits that implement Clifford Group operations. These circuits are essential for many quantum applications and cover core aspects of quantum functionality. The proposed approach exploits specific properties of the unitary transformation matrices that are associated to quantum operations. Furthermore, Quantum Multiple-Valued Decision Diagrams (QMDDs) are employed for an efficient representation of these matrices. Experimental results confirm that this enables a compact realization of the respective quantum functionality.
Resource-efficient and high-precision approximate synthesis of quantum circuits expressed in the Clifford+T gate set is vital for Fault-Tolerant quantum computing.Efficient optimal methods are known for single-qubit R Z unitaries, otherwise the problem is generally intractable.Search-based methods, like simulated annealing, empirically generate low resource cost approximate implementations of general multi-qubit unitaries so long as low precision (Hilbert-Schmidt distances of ε ≥ 10 -2 ) can be tolerated.These algorithms build up circuits that directly invert target unitaries.We instead leverage search-based methods to first approximately diagonalize a unitary, then perform the inversion analytically.This lets difficult continuous rotations be bypassed and handled in a postprocessing step.Our approach improves both the implementation precision and run time of synthesis algorithms by orders of magnitude when evaluated on unitaries from real quantum algorithms.On benchmarks previously synthesizable only with analytical techniques like the Quantum Shannon Decomposition, diagonalization uses an average of 95% fewer non-Clifford gates.
Clifford+T synthesis of rotation gates is an important routine in fault-tolerant quantum compilation. While Clifford+T synthesis is scalable, it has a high overhead of tens of T gates per rotation in practice, translating to high resource estimates for many fault-tolerant algorithms. However, these well-known results, including those using probabilistic mixtures [Quantum 7, 1208 (2023)], are independent of the rotation angle θθθ, requiring O(log⁡1/δ)O(\log 1/δ)O(log1/δ) T gates. We show that it is possible to do much better for small angles, reducing the T cost to O~(θ2/δ)\tilde{O}(θ^2/δ)O~(θ2/δ), and returning to existing O(log⁡1/δ)O(\log1/δ)O(log1/δ) results in the worst case. This is particularly important since many algorithms, such as Trotterization, are dominated by small-angle rotations. Further, we perform a detailed theoretical and numerical study of quasi-probabilities, which can further reduce the total T cost of large circuits by orders of magnitude with only a small overhead in sample complexity. We also develop a scheme based on quasi-probability mixtures of Clifford+T fallback channels. We derive new θθθ-dependent formulas that can be used for resource estimation of fault-tolerant quantum algorithms. As an application of our results, we show that the gate cost of Trotterization circuits compiled to a Clifford+T gate set is constant in the small Trotter step size limit, and can be reduced by orders of magnitude even for large step sizes. The cost of fault-tolerant Trotterization for a variety of applications should be re-examined in light of these results. Our work dispels the widely-stated claim that Clifford+T rotation synthesis has a high cost independent of θθθ, and further develops a scalable quasi-probability method for rotation synthesis. We also expect our results to bring forward useful early fault-tolerant quantum computing by reducing required magic state resources.
Quantum circuit synthesis is the process in which an arbitrary unitary operation is decomposed into a sequence of gates from a universal set, typically one which a quantum computer can implement both efficiently and fault-tolerantly. As physical implementations of quantum computers improve, the need is growing for tools that can effectively synthesize components of the circuits and algorithms they will run. Existing algorithms for exact, multi-qubit circuit synthesis scale exponentially in the number of qubits and circuit depth, leaving synthesis intractable for circuits on more than a handful of qubits. Even modest improvements in circuit synthesis procedures may lead to significant advances, pushing forward the boundaries of not only the size of solvable circuit synthesis problems, but also in what can be realized physically as a result of having more efficient circuits. We present a method for quantum circuit synthesis using deterministic walks. Also termed pseudorandom walks, these are walks in which once a starting point is chosen, its path is completely determined. We apply our method to construct a parallel framework for circuit synthesis, and implement one such version performing optimal T -count synthesis over the Clifford+ T gate set. We use our software to present examples where parallelization offers a significant speedup on the runtime, as well as directly confirm that the 4-qubit 1-bit full adder has optimal T -count 7 and T -depth 3.
For universal quantum computation, a major challenge to overcome for practical implementation is the large amount of resources required for fault-tolerant quantum information processing. An important aspect is implementing arbitrary unitary operators built from logical gates within the quantum error correction code. A synthesis algorithm can be used to approximate any unitary gate up to arbitrary precision by assembling sequences of logical gates chosen from a small set of universal gates that are fault-tolerantly performable while encoded in a quantum error-correction code. However, current procedures do not yet support individual assignment of base gate costs and many do not support extended sets of universal base gates. We analysed cost-optimal sequences using an exhaustive search based on Dijkstra’s pathfinding algorithm for the canonical Clifford+ T set of base gates and compared them to when additionally including Z -rotations from higher orders of the Clifford hierarchy. Two approaches of assigning base gate costs were used. First, costs were reduced to T -counts by recursively applying a Z -rotation catalyst circuit. Second, costs were assigned as the average numbers of raw (i.e. physical level) magic states required to directly distil and implement the gates fault-tolerantly. We found that the average sequence cost decreases by up to 54±3% when using the Z -rotation catalyst circuit approach and by up to 33±2% when using the magic state distillation approach. In addition, we investigated observed limitations of certain assignments of base gate costs by developing an analytic model to estimate the proportion of sets of Z -rotation gates from higher orders of the Clifford hierarchy that are found within sequences approximating random target gates.