A Recipe for Quantum Scaling – ARQUIN provides a framework for simulating a distributed quantum computing system

https://www.bnl.gov/newsroom/news.php?a=122138

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  1. From the article

    >One of the most difficult problems with quantum computing relates to increasing the size of the quantum computer. Researchers globally are seeking to solve this “challenge of scale.” 

    >To bring quantum scaling closer to reality, researchers from 14 institutions collaborated through the [Co-design Center for Quantum Advantage (C^(2)QA)](https://www.bnl.gov/quantumcenter/), a Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, National Quantum Information Science Research Center. Together, they constructed the ARQUIN framework—a pipeline to simulate large-scale distributed quantum computers as different layers. Their results were published in [*ACM Transactions on Quantum Computing*](https://doi.org/10.1145/3674151).

    Also from the article

    >The ARQUIN framework focused on superconducting quantum devices connected by microwave to optical links. Each institution concentrated on a different ingredient of the quantum computing recipe. For example, while some researchers investigated how to optimize microwave-to-optical transduction, others created algorithms that exploit the distributed architecture.

    >”Such cross-domain systems research is essential to charting roadmaps toward useful quantum information processing applications and is uniquely enabled by the DOE’s national quantum initiatives,” said Professor Isaac Chuang of MIT.

    >For their part of the ARQUIN framework, PNNL researchers including Stein, [Ang Li](https://www.pnnl.gov/people/ang-li), and [James (Jim) Ang](https://www.pnnl.gov/people/james-ang) designed and built the simulation pipeline and generated the Quantum Roofline Model that connected all the ingredients together—essentially creating a framework for trying out different recipes for future quantum computers. 

    >From his unique vantage point, PNNL physicist Chenxu Liu understands the need for multi-institutional collaborations well. He worked on the ARQUIN framework while he was a postdoctoral researcher at Virginia Tech.

    >“While each research group had expertise in their portion of the project, no one had a very deep understanding of what all of the other groups within the project were doing,” said Liu. “However, each group’s work needed to be embedded into the whole pipeline view of the quantum computer in order to make it meaningful.”

    >After compiling the different pieces of the project together, ARQUIN became a framework for simulating and benchmarking future multi-node quantum computers. This marks a promising first step toward enabling efficient and scalable quantum communication and computation by integrating modular systems.