book

Programming Quantum Computers

by Eric R. Johnston, Nic Harrigan, Mercedes Gimeno-Segovia

July 2019

Intermediate to advanced

333 pages

8h 13m

English

O'Reilly Media, Inc.

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How This Book Is StructuredConventions Used in This BookUsing Code ExamplesO’Reilly Online LearningHow to Contact UsAcknowledgments
Required BackgroundWhat Is a QPU?A Hands-on ApproachA QCEngine PrimerNative QPU InstructionsSimulator LimitationsHardware LimitationsQPU Versus GPU: Some Common Characteristics
A Quick Look at a Physical QubitIntroducing Circle NotationCircle SizeCircle RotationThe First Few QPU OperationsQPU Instruction: NOTQPU Instruction: HADQPU Instruction: READQPU Instruction: WRITEHands-on: A Perfectly Random BitQPU Instruction: PHASE(θ)QPU Instructions: ROTX(θ) and ROTY(θ)COPY: The Missing OperationCombining QPU OperationsQPU Instruction: ROOT-of-NOTHands-on: Quantum Spy HunterConclusion
Circle Notation for Multi-Qubit RegistersDrawing a Multi-Qubit RegisterSingle-Qubit Operations in Multi-Qubit RegistersReading a Qubit in a Multi-Qubit RegisterVisualizing Larger Numbers of QubitsQPU Instruction: CNOTHands-on: Using Bell Pairs for Shared RandomnessQPU Instructions: CPHASE and CZQPU Trick: Phase KickbackQPU Instruction: CCNOT (Toffoli)QPU Instructions: SWAP and CSWAPThe Swap TestConstructing Any Conditional OperationHands-on: Remote-Controlled RandomnessConclusion
Hands-on: Let’s Teleport SomethingProgram WalkthroughStep 1: Create an Entangled PairStep 2: Prepare the PayloadStep 3.1: Link the Payload to the Entangled PairStep 3.2: Put the Payload into a SuperpositionStep 3.3: READ Both of Alice’s QubitsStep 4: Receive and TransformStep 5: Verify the ResultInterpreting the ResultsHow Is Teleportation Actually Used?Fun with Famous Teleporter Accidents
Strangely DifferentArithmetic on a QPUHands-on: Building Increment and Decrement OperatorsAdding Two Quantum IntegersNegative IntegersHands-on: More Complicated MathGetting Really QuantumQuantum-Conditional ExecutionPhase-Encoded ResultsReversibility and Scratch QubitsUncomputingMapping Boolean Logic to QPU OperationsBasic Quantum LogicConclusion
Hands-on: Converting Between Phase and MagnitudeThe Amplitude Amplification IterationMore Iterations?Multiple Flipped EntriesUsing Amplitude AmplificationAA and QFT as Sum EstimationSpeeding Up Conventional Algorithms with AAInside the QPUThe IntuitionConclusion
Hidden PatternsThe QFT, DFT, and FFTFrequencies in a QPU RegisterThe DFTReal and Complex DFT InputsDFT EverythingUsing the QFTThe QFT Is FastInside the QPUThe IntuitionOperation by OperationConclusion

Learning About QPU OperationsEigenphases Teach Us Something UsefulWhat Phase Estimation DoesHow to Use Phase EstimationInputsOutputsThe Fine PrintChoosing the Size of the Output RegisterComplexityConditional OperationsPhase Estimation in PracticeInside the QPUThe IntuitionOperation by OperationConclusion
Noninteger DataQRAMVector EncodingsLimitations of Amplitude EncodingAmplitude Encoding and Circle NotationMatrix EncodingsHow Can a QPU Operation Represent a Matrix?Quantum Simulation
Phase LogicBuilding Elementary Phase-Logic OperationsBuilding Complex Phase-Logic StatementsSolving Logic PuzzlesOf Kittens and TigersGeneral Recipe for Solving Boolean Satisfiability ProblemsHands-on: A Satisfiable 3-SAT ProblemHands-on: An Unsatisfiable 3-SAT ProblemSpeeding Up Conventional Algorithms
What Can a QPU Do for Computer Graphics?Conventional SupersamplingHands-on: Computing Phase-Encoded ImagesA QPU Pixel ShaderUsing PHASE to DrawDrawing CurvesSampling Phase-Encoded ImagesA More Interesting ImageSupersamplingQSS Versus Conventional Monte Carlo SamplingHow QSS WorksAdding ColorConclusion
Hands-on: Using Shor on a QPUWhat Shor’s Algorithm DoesDo We Need a QPU at All?The Quantum ApproachStep by Step: Factoring the Number 15Step 1: Initialize QPU RegistersStep 2: Expand into Quantum SuperpositionStep 3: Conditional Multiply-by-2Step 4: Conditional Multipy-by-4Step 5: Quantum Fourier TransformStep 6: Read the Quantum ResultStep 7: Digital LogicStep 8: Check the ResultThe Fine PrintComputing the ModulusTime Versus SpaceCoprimes Other Than 2
Solving Systems of Linear EquationsDescribing and Solving Systems of Linear EquationsSolving Linear Equations with a QPUQuantum Principle Component AnalysisConventional Principal Component AnalysisPCA with a QPUQuantum Support Vector MachinesConventional Support Vector MachinesSVM with a QPUOther Machine Learning Applications
From Circle Notation to Complex VectorsSome Subtleties and Notes on TerminologyMeasurement BasisGate Decompositions and CompilationGate TeleportationQPU Hall of FameThe Race: Quantum Versus Conventional ComputersA Note on Oracle-Based AlgorithmsDeutsch-JozsaBernstein-VaziraniSimonQuantum Programming LanguagesThe Promise of Quantum SimulationError Correction and NISQ DevicesWhere Next?BooksLecture NotesOnline Resources

Content preview from Programming Quantum Computers

Chapter 1. Introduction

Whether you’re an expert in software engineering, computer graphics, data science, or just a curious computerphile, this book is designed to show how the power of quantum computing might be relevant to you, by actually allowing you to start using it.

To facilitate this, the following chapters do not contain thorough explanations of quantum physics (the laws underlying quantum computing) or even quantum information theory (how those laws determine our abilities to process information). Instead, they present working examples providing insight into the capabilities of this exciting new technology. Most importantly, the code we present for these examples can be tweaked and adapted. This allows you to learn from them in the most effective way possible: by getting hands-on. Along the way, core concepts are explained as they are used, and only insofar as they build an intuition for writing quantum programs.

Our humble hope is that interested readers might be able to wield these insights to apply and augment applications of quantum computing in fields that physicists may not even have heard of. Admittedly, hoping to help spark a quantum revolution isn’t that humble, but it’s definitely exciting to be a pioneer.

Required Background

The physics underlying quantum computing is full of dense mathematics. But then so is the physics behind the transistor, and yet learning C++ need not involve a single physics equation. In this book we take a similarly programmer-centric ...