Over the past decade, the first generation of quantum hardware platforms came online, and alongside these a common set of quantum software architectures and ideas has developed. This stack is defined by certain dominant patterns: Python-based libraries, small loosely-structured programs, shared but restrictive program representations, online queues, unnecessary repetition, client-server latency, and a computational separation between classical and quantum instructions. A number of these components will not scale, bottlenecking the performance of quantum computing overall.
Anticipating such limitations, a number of organizations have already been looking towards new and novel ideas—Quantum Software 2.0. In this emerging era, we can expect a more complex and multi-faceted tech stack: deeper, wider, and more complex circuits, first versions of quantum error correction, just-in-time compilation, multi-level IRs, heterogeneous execution models, co-location, and making better use of existing classical software tools.
In this workshop, we highlight a number of software barriers that will have to be overcome in order to unlock this next stage of development. We will hear from guest speakers, panelists, and attendees who have begun experimenting, prototyping, and releasing early versions of new quantum software technologies. We hope to identify and form consensus about the most promising approaches to pursue in the future, as well as foster interest to develop these technologies collectively under open models, for the benefit of the quantum industry as a whole.
Morning session
10:00 - 10:05: Introduction
10:05 - 10:25: Opening talk
10:25 - 11:10: Algorithms and programming models lightning talks
11:10 - 11:30: Panel discussion
Afternoon session 1
13:00 - 13:20: Opening talk
13:20 - 14:05: Quantum compilation and hybrid compilation lightning talks
14:05 - 14:30: Panel discussion
Afternoon session 2
15:00-16:00: Hardware and platforms lightning talks
16:00 - 16:30: Open discussion and Q&A
Do you have a question for the panel? Ask it at the link on the left! Please include your name and affiliation to get recognized (optional). If your question is for a specific panelist, direct it to them using their name, otherwise we will treat it as a general question for all panelists.
Speaker: Elaine Wong, Oak Ridge National Lab
Abstract
Quantum computing is an emerging technology, and we do not yet have the insight to understand what quantum software tools and practices will best support researchers, software engineers, or applications specialists. Today's developers are primarily domain experts who must regularly grapple with low-level details of hardware. However, progress towards scalable devices does not yet suggest what higher-level abstractions will even look like. In this talk, I will showcase our efforts [1] to reframe quantum software development in the language of programming models using a layered abstraction hierarchy. With the eigenvalue estimation problem as a case study, we'll see how overlaps between programming, execution, and hardware models in current technologies lead to blurry layers. We encourage the community to join us in thinking about quantum programming in a different way, so that our future software tools make using quantum computers more accessible.
O. Di Matteo, S. Núñez-Corrales, M. Stęchły, S. P. Reinhardt, and T. Mattson. "An Abstraction Hierarchy Toward Productive Quantum Programming". To appear in Proc. of QCE 24.
Bio
Olivia Di Matteo is an Assistant Professor in the Electrical and Computer Engineering department at UBC and the Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Quantum Software and Algorithms. She obtained her PhD at the University of Waterloo and Institute for Quantum Computing in 2019 in Physics (Quantum Information). Following her PhD she worked as a Quantum Information Science Associate at TRIUMF, and as a Quantum Computing Educator and Researcher at the Toronto-based quantum startup Xanadu. At UBC she leads the Quantum Software and Algorithms Research Lab, whose work focuses on designing and implementing open-source software for quantum compiler tools and physics applications.
Abstract
Today’s quantum computers are characterized by 100 or so noisy physical qubits. Through advanced error mitigation methods, these computers can generate reliable expectation value estimations for increasingly deep quantum circuits. Accessible circuit depths will rapidly increase as error correction is deployed on quantum computers that are sufficiently large and reliable. With a path from today’s quantum computers to those of tomorrow, it is critical that software can keep up with the increased complexity. In this talk I will discuss some of the software challenges of both near-term and longer-term quantum computers, and our efforts at IBM on improving Qiskit and designing OpenQASM to address these needs.
Bio
Ali is a Principal Research Scientist at IBM Quantum. He was a main architect of Qiskit, and his research interests lie in architectures and compilers for near-future and fault-tolerant quantum computers. He obtained his PhD in computer science from Princeton in 2017.
Abstract
Quantum computing’s transition from theory to reality has spurred the need for novel software tools to manage the increasing complexity, sophistication, toil, and chance for error of quantum algorithm development. In this talk, I will present Qualtran, an open-source library for representing and analyzing quantum algorithms. Using carefully chosen abstractions and data structures, Qualtran can simulate and test algorithms, automatically generate information-rich diagrams, and tabulate resource requirements. Qualtran offers a standard library of algorithmic building blocks that are essential for modern cost-minimizing compilations. Architecture-independent resource counts output by Qualtran can be forwarded to our implementation of cost models to estimate physical costs like wall-clock time and number of physical qubits assuming a surface-code architecture. Qualtran provides a foundation for explicit constructions and reproducible analysis, fostering greater collaboration within the quantum algorithm development community.
Bio
Tanuj Khattar is a Senior Software Engineer in the Quantum Algorithms team at Google Quantum AI who is interested in compilation and resource estimation of Fault Tolerant Quantum Algorithms.
Abstract
While significant progress has been made on the hardware side of quantum computing, support for high-level quantum programming abstractions remains underdeveloped compared to classical programming languages. In this talk, we present Qrisp, a framework designed to bridge several gaps between high-level programming paradigms in state-of-the-art software engineering and the physical reality of today’s quantum hardware. The framework aims to provide a systematic approach to quantum algorithm development such that they can be effortlessly implemented, maintained, and improved. Moreover, the talk will offer an outlook on ongoing work on an advanced compilation pipeline for Qrisp, based on the JAX framework, enabling efficient compilation of large quantum programs and seamless hybrid quantum-classical computation.
Bio
René Zander completed his PhD in Mathematics, specializing in discrete integrable systems, at Technische Universität Berlin in 2021. He joined Fraunhofer FOKUS in 2023, where he has been focusing on quantum benchmarking, post-quantum cryptography, and quantum optimization. As part of his work at Fraunhofer FOKUS, René Zander continuously contributes to the further development of the high-level quantum programming language Qrisp, under the scope of the Eclipse Foundation.
Abstract
We propose an active learning framework for solving large-scale optimization problems. This framework integrates machine learning, and quantum computing (QC) in an iterative loop. Here, machine learning is used for generating surrogates with a QUBO formulation, and QC subsequently solves the given QUBO to predict an optimal state. In this framework, QC may struggle with handling large-scale problems due to the limited number of qubits and limited capabilities to handle deep quantum circuits with the current quantum systems. To address the issue, we leverage a high-performance computing (HPC)-QC integrated system. We will develop a software package, which enables any users to utilize this framework for their optimization work.
Bio
Dr. Kim joined ORNL in 2023 as a postdoctoral research associate in the Technology Integration group at the National Center for Computational Sciences (NCCS) Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. His research interests are to integrate quantum computing with high-performance computing and develop an active learning algorithm leveraging machine learning, high-performance computing and quantum computing, contributing to the advancement of computational capabilities in various research fields.
Bio
René Zander completed his PhD in Mathematics, specializing in discrete integrable systems, at Technische Universität Berlin in 2021. He joined Fraunhofer FOKUS in 2023, where he has been focusing on quantum benchmarking, post-quantum cryptography, and quantum optimization. As part of his work at Fraunhofer FOKUS, René Zander continuously contributes to the further development of the high-level quantum programming language Qrisp, under the scope of the Eclipse Foundation.
Bio
Tanuj Khattar is a Senior Software Engineer in the Quantum Algorithms team at Google Quantum AI who is interested in compilation and resource estimation of Fault Tolerant Quantum Algorithms.
Bio
Ali is a Principal Research Scientist at IBM Quantum. He was a main architect of Qiskit, and his research interests lie in architectures and compilers for near-future and fault-tolerant quantum computers. He obtained his PhD in computer science from Princeton in 2017.
Bio
Dr. Kim joined ORNL in 2023 as a postdoctoral research associate in the Technology Integration group at the National Center for Computational Sciences (NCCS) Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. His research interests are to integrate quantum computing with high-performance computing and develop an active learning algorithm leveraging machine learning, high-performance computing and quantum computing, contributing to the advancement of computational capabilities in various research fields.
Speaker: David Ittah, Senior Quantum Software Developer, Xanadu Quantum Technologies
Talk: Catalyst: Efficient compilation of hybrid quantum workflows
Abstract
Up until recently, a lot of quantum programming frameworks have been developed in Python, with a common approach being the serialization of the quantum part of a workflow into a simple, string-based representation that is separated from its programming context. In addition to latency overheads from cloud-connected quantum device providers, such representations can also limit the type of algorithm that can be executed effectively. With the main focus progressively turning towards error-corrected algorithms and their practical implementation, software programming tools need to be up to the challenge of compiling and executing increasingly complex workflows.
Catalyst is a modular JIT/AOT compiler for scalable and hybrid quantum computing. A unified intermediate representation (IR) based in the MLIR compiler framework enables efficient compilation at scale and a diverse abstraction hierarchy. Active frontend integrations with the PennyLane and JAX libraries facilitate the extraction of hybrid compute graphs out of Python, while a plugin-based runtime system supports hybrid workflow execution on a variety of devices. Across the stack, a key focus is the support of dynamic programming elements, such as real-time measurement feedback, (unbounded) control flow, classical computation, and automatic differentiation.
Bio
David is a senior quantum software developer and Technical Lead of Compilation at Xanadu, working on the Catalyst compilation stack for PennyLane. His interests lie in quantum compilation, quantum intermediate representations, and the intersection of classical compilation infrastructure with quantum programming.
Abstract
Compilation per se is nothing new; we are doing that for decades in classical hardware and software design. But for quantum computing, things obviously have to be done differently---while making sure we do not re-invent the wheel. This lightning talk will provide some thoughts on quantum circuit compilation based on experiences and developments we made in this regard when developing compilers, e.g., for the Munich Quantum Toolkit (https://mqt.readthedocs.io/), software stacks, end users and more.
Bio
Robert Wille is a Full and Distinguished Professor at the Technical University of Munich, Germany, and Chief Scientific Officer at the Software Competence Center Hagenberg, Austria (a technology transfer company with 100 employees). His passion for Computer Science took him into the lecture halls of various universities. In the research lab, he is reaching out to explore how future computers may work and shall be designed. This frequently let him cross disciplines and engage in topics including Electrical Engineering, Physics, Biology, and more.
Abstract
Working at the intersection of quantum computing and compilers enables many opportunities that classical computing and compilers have taken advantage of for decades. Included in these opportunities is the lowering of input specifications of quantum circuits and algorithms into some intermediate representation (IR) that enables the creation of quantum optimization passes that can be agnostic to any input, provided that the input gets lowered to the common IR. Further, the MLIR framework has been targeted as a platform for quantum-specific compilation, and allows for the creation of IRs that exist at a higher level of abstraction than quantum gates, i.e., closer to the input quantum algorithm specification. This allows for reasoning about quantum algorithms closer to the actual algorithm itself, as opposed to low-level quantum gates. In this talk, I will present our work toward exploiting both ideas using qubit-wise commutativity as a case study for embedding a quantum domain-specific algorithm into the Catalyst MLIR compiler from Xanadu. While some techniques will be specific to Catalyst, these ideas are generalizable to other quantum compilers and algorithms.
Bio
Anthony is a Research Scientist in the Architectures and Performance Group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and he holds a Visiting Research Scientist appointment in the CSE department at Washington University in St. Louis. His research focus lies at the intersection of hardware design and compilers (and most recently quantum computing).
Abstract
Guppy is a domain-specific language embedded in Python that allows users to write high-level hybrid quantum programs with complex control flow in Pythonic syntax, aiming to run them on actual quantum hardware.
Bio
Kartik works in the hardware compiler team at Quantinuum. Before joining Quantinuum in 2023, he was a PhD student in Computer Science at the University of Chicago specializing in the design and semantics of programming languages and program verification for quantum computing. He also holds a masters in Computer Science from Brown University. He is generally interested in compilers, type systems, and reliable software for quantum computation.
Abstract
Qwerty is a high-level quantum programming language built on bases and functions rather than circuits. This new paradigm introduces new challenges in compilation, namely synthesizing circuits from basis translations and automatically specializing adjoint or predicated forms of functions. I will present the compiler for Qwerty, which answers these challenges. Enabled with a novel high-level quantum IR implemented in the MLIR framework, our compiler produces OpenQASM 3 or QIR for either simulation or execution on hardware. An evaluation of fault-tolerant resource requirements of generated circuits finds the Qwerty compiler produces circuits with comparable cost to prior circuit-oriented compilers.
Bio
Austin Adams is a PhD student at Georgia Tech studying quantum compilers and programming languages. His main research project is Qwerty, a basis-oriented quantum programming language.
Bio
Lukas Burgholzer, a postdoc at the Technical University of Munich’s Chair for Design Automation, drives innovation at the intersection of design automation and quantum computing. As one of the driving forces behind the Munich Quantum Toolkit and the Munich Quantum Software Stack, he crafts software that brings the future within our grasp today. In a field where physicists and computer scientists speak different languages, he bridges the gap and weaves threads of understanding into comprehensive solutions. His work underscores the power of design automation in shaping tomorrow’s technology and in how we design, develop, and interact with the computers of the future.
Bio
Anthony is a Research Scientist in the Architectures and Performance Group at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and he holds a Visiting Research Scientist appointment in the CSE department at Washington University in St. Louis. His research focus lies at the intersection of hardware design and compilers (and most recently quantum computing).
Bio
Bettina Heim is a systems software engineering manager at NVIDIA where she leads the CUDA Quantum Engineering team. Throughout her career, she has initiated and advanced industry efforts to develop standards and toolchains for a range of quantum architectures. After her Ph.D. in quantum physics at ETH Zurich, she joined Microsoft where she led the compiler and runtime development within Azure Quantum.
Bio
I completed my PhD in Computer Science, studying programming language theory, at the University of Louisiana before joining Quantinuum as a quantum compiler engineer in 2021. I am now the lead of our hardware compiler team. Since joining Quantinuum, I've worked on supporting QIR on our H1 and H2 devices, the QIR Base Profile specification, and led the initial design/writing of the QIR Adaptive Profile specification. Additionally, I've been working on a new compilation infrastructure for Quantinuum's next generation of quantum computers and collaborating on the support for our new quantum programming language, Guppy, on these devices.
Bio
Austin Adams is a PhD student at Georgia Tech studying quantum compilers and programming languages. His main research project is Qwerty, a basis-oriented quantum programming language.
Abstract
Open-source communities are a core catalyst for advancing digital technologies. As quantum computers scale, open collaboration among many stakeholders - from academia, industry, and government - is needed both for the responsible and accelerated development of quantum technologies that benefit everyone. In this talk, we present Open Quantum Design and our progress towards building a full-stack, open-source quantum computer based on trapped-ions.
Bio
Benjamin is a PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo and a founding contributor at Open Quantum Design. Open Quantum Design is a non-profit organization committed to fostering a large collaborative effort between academia, industry, and government, who's mission is to build the world's first open-source quantum computer and accelerate the development of transparent, responsible quantum technologies.
Abstract
QICK (the Quantum Instrumentation Control Kit) is an open-source platform that integrates hardware, firmware, and software for the RF readout and control of quantum systems. QICK enables flexible, high-performance, and cost-effective qubit control with a user-friendly interface, and has been adopted by a growing number of quantum researchers.
Bio
Sho Uemura has been a member of QICK's core team since 2021, and leads the software development and system integration. His background is in experimental particle physics, and he also works on CCD detectors for dark matter searches.
Abstract
Rasqal is a hybrid solving runtime which consumes fully interwoven classical-quantum IRs and exploits the conjoined contextual information to try and optimise, simulate, or predict algorithms either in part or full. We'll cover how it does this, the benefits/downsides of its fully dynamic approach and where such systems may sit in a future quantum execution stack.
Bio
Computer scientist with 10+ years experience working to integrate more traditional compiler and runtime concepts to quantum computing, and working to bridge the gap between developer and physicist.
Abstract
We introduce a generative approach to quantum language description through examples of reusable library functions. Generative mode leverages extensible programming languages like Python and C++ to embed rich high-level domain languages alongside the host language's full expressive power, libraries, and tooling. This talk will demonstrate the design of Qmod, a quantum language embedded in Python.
Bio
Dr. Israel Reichental serves as a Quantum Software Developer at Classiq Technologies, where he leads advancements in quantum modeling languages, compilation, circuit synthesis, and optimization. His academic background includes a Ph.D. focused on out-of-equilibrium quantum systems and an M.Sc. exploring strongly correlated electronic systems.
Abstract
AutoQASM is an experimental Python package offering a new imperative programming experience for developing quantum programs. AutoQASM provides a natural interface for expressing quantum programs with classical control flow and mid-circuit measurements using native Python syntax. It allows the construction of modular programs consisting of common programming constructs such as loops and subroutines. AutoQASM programs are currently serialized to OpenQASM, with the intent to support the full OpenQASM 3.0 language scope.
Bio
Matthew Beach is an Applied Scientist on the Amazon Braket team, where he works on advancing quantum computing technologies and integrating them into the AWS cloud through the Braket service. He holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Waterloo, where his research focused on the intersection of machine learning and quantum physics, with an emphasis on using computational methods to study many-body systems.
Bio
Jamie Friel is the Technology manger of Innovation and Product at OQC. Focusing on quantum error correction, algorithm development as well as OQC's product offering. He completed his PhD at the University of Warwick in quantum multi-parameter estimation theory. Before joining OQC Jamie spent some time as a software engineer working in flexible storage solutions for the national grid.
Bio
Benjamin is a PhD candidate at the University of Waterloo and a founding contributor at Open Quantum Design. Open Quantum Design is a non-profit organization committed to fostering a large collaborative effort between academia, industry, and government, who's mission is to build the world's first open-source quantum computer and accelerate the development of transparent, responsible quantum technologies.
Bio
Matthew Beach is an Applied Scientist on the Amazon Braket team, where he works on advancing quantum computing technologies and integrating them into the AWS cloud through the Braket service. He holds a PhD in Physics from the University of Waterloo, where his research focused on the intersection of machine learning and quantum physics, with an emphasis on using computational methods to study many-body systems.
Bio
Misty Wahl is a Member of the Technical Staff at Unitary Fund, a non-profit organization helping to build the quantum technology ecosystem. She is a lead developer of the quantum software packages Mitiq (quantum error mitigation) and Aquapointer (quantum for biological applications), as well as a researcher in quantum error mitigation and quantum applications. Prior to pivoting to quantum technology, Misty was an engineering project manager at ASML, a global semiconductor equipment manufacturer. Misty holds BS and MEng degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University.
Bio
Dr. Israel Reichental serves as a Quantum Software Developer at Classiq Technologies, where he leads advancements in quantum modeling languages, compilation, circuit synthesis, and optimization. His academic background includes a Ph.D. focused on out-of-equilibrium quantum systems and an M.Sc. exploring strongly correlated electronic systems.
Xanadu
Xanadu
Amazon
Unitary Fund
Oak Ridge National Lab
Oak Ridge National Lab
Xanadu
