Quantum Reports

Practitioners’ Rule of Thumb for Quantum Volume

Emanuele G. Dalla Torre

Published Feb 28, 2025• 2 citations

Abstract

Quantum volume (QV) is a widely recognized metric for assessing the practical capabilities of quantum computers, as it provides an estimate of the largest quantum circuit that can be reliably executed. However, measuring QV on a real device requires comparing experimental outcomes with ideal theoretical results—a process that rapidly becomes computationally expensive. By examining the cumulative impact of errors in two-qubit gates, we present a simple, accessible `rule of thumb’ that relates the quantum volume directly to the average error rate of native gates. Our formula shows a strong agreement with experimental data from leading quantum computing platforms, including both superconducting and trapped-ion systems. This straightforward model offers a clear, intuitive guideline for predicting quantum hardware performance, enabling more informed decisions regarding circuit design and resource allocation.

DOI: 10.3390/quantum7010011

Related papers

Benchmarking quantum devices beyond classical capabilities

Rafał Bistroń, Marcin Rudziński, Ryszard Kukulski +1 more

Rapid development of quantum computing technology has led to a wide variety of sophisticated quantum devices. Benchmarking these systems becomes crucial for understanding their capabilities and paving the way for future advancements. The Quantum Volume (QV) test is one of the most widely used benchmarks for evaluating quantum computer performance due to its architecture independence. However, as the number of qubits in a quantum device grows, the test faces a significant limitation. It requires determining the subspace of the most probable outcomes, a task that is typically performed via classical simulation of the quantum circuit and therefore incurs an exponential computational cost. In this work, we propose modifications to the QV test, by adopting a carefully restricted circuit ensemble generated from a gate set that remains universal for quantum computation, that allows for the direct determination of the heavy-output subspace. Crucially, the modified circuits remain capable of general quantum computation. This approach overcomes the scalability barrier of the Quantum Volume test beyond classical computational limits, while still probing the key features of universal quantum computing.

arXiv:2502.02575Physical Review AMay 8, 20261 citation

Quantum Volume in Practice: What Users Can Expect From NISQ Devices

Elijah Pelofske, Andreas Bärtschi, Stephan Eidenbenz

Quantum volume (QV) has become the de-facto standard benchmark to quantify the capability of Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices. While QV values are often reported by NISQ providers for their systems, we perform our own series of QV calculations on 24 NISQ devices currently offered by IBM Q, IonQ, Rigetti, Oxford Quantum Circuits, and Quantinuum (formerly Honeywell). Our approach characterizes the performances that an advanced user of these NISQ devices can expect to achieve with a reasonable amount of optimization, but without white-box access to the device. In particular, we compile QV circuits to standard gate sets of the vendor using compiler optimization routines where available, and we perform experiments across different qubit subsets. We find that running QV tests requires very significant compilation cycles, QV values achieved in our tests typically lag behind officially reported results and also depend significantly on the classical compilation effort invested.

arXiv:2203.03816IEEE Transactions on Quantum EngineeringJan 1, 202275 citations

Demonstration of quantum volume 64 on a superconducting quantum computing system

Petar Jurcevic, Ali Javadi-Abhari, Lev S. Bishop +28 more

Abstract We improve the quality of quantum circuits on superconducting quantum computing systems, as measured by the quantum volume (QV), with a combination of dynamical decoupling, compiler optimizations, shorter two-qubit gates, and excited state promoted readout. This result shows that the path to larger QV systems requires the simultaneous increase of coherence, control gate fidelities, measurement fidelities, and smarter software which takes into account hardware details, thereby demonstrating the need to continue to co-design the software and hardware stack for the foreseeable future.

arXiv:2008.08571Quantum Science and TechnologyFeb 10, 202184 citations

Validating quantum computers using randomized model circuits

Andrew W. Cross, Lev S. Bishop, Sarah Sheldon +2 more

We introduce a single-number metric, quantum volume, that can be measured using a concrete protocol on near-term quantum computers of modest size ($n\ensuremath{\lesssim}50$), and measure it on several state-of-the-art transmon devices, finding values as high as 16. The quantum volume is linked to system error rates, and is empirically reduced by uncontrolled interactions within the system. It quantifies the largest random circuit of equal width and depth that the computer successfully implements. Quantum computing systems with high-fidelity operations, high connectivity, large calibrated gate sets, and circuit rewriting toolchains are expected to have higher quantum volumes. The quantum volume is a pragmatic way to measure and compare progress toward improved system-wide gate error rates for near-term quantum computation and error-correction experiments.

arXiv:1811.12926Physical Review ASep 20, 2019702 citations

Modeling quantum volume using randomized benchmarking of room-temperature NV center quantum registers

Tom Philipp Jäger, MinSik Kwon, Max Keller +9 more

Accurately estimating the performance of quantum hardware is crucial for comparing different platforms and predicting the performance and feasibility of quantum algorithms and applications. In this paper, we tackle the problem of benchmarking a quantum register based on the NV center in diamond operating at room temperature. We define the connectivity map as well as single-qubit performance. Thanks to an all-to-all connectivity, the 2 and 3-qubit gates performance is promising and competitive among other platforms. We experimentally calibrate the error model for the register and use it to estimate the quantum volume, a metric used for quantifying the quantum computational capabilities of the register, of 8. Our results pave the way towards the unification of different architectures of quantum hardware and the evaluation of the joint metrics.

Jan 1, 20250 citations

Modeling Quantum Volume Using Randomized Benchmarking of Room-Temperature NV Center Quantum Registers

Tom Jaeger, Minsik Kwon, Keller, Max +9 more

Accurately estimating the performance of quantum hardware is crucial for comparing different platforms and predicting the performance and feasibility of quantum algorithms and applications. In this paper, we tackle the problem of benchmarking a quantum register based on the NV center in diamond operating at room temperature. We define the connectivity map as well as single qubit performance. Thanks to an all-to-all connectivity the 2 and 3 qubit gates performance is promising and competitive among other platforms. We experimentally calibrate the error model for the register and use it to estimate the quantum volume, a metric used for quantifying the quantum computational capabilities of the register, of 8. Our results pave the way towards the unification of different architectures of quantum hardware and evaluation of the joint metrics.

arXiv:2412.12959Dec 17, 20241 citation