This article may rely excessively on sources too closely associated with the subject , potentially preventing the article from being verifiable and neutral.(September 2018) |
Q# | |
---|---|
Paradigm | Quantum, functional, imperative |
Designed by | Microsoft Research (quantum architectures and computation group; QuArC) |
Developer | Microsoft |
First appeared | December 11, 2017 [1] |
Typing discipline | Static, strong |
Platform | Common Language Infrastructure |
License | MIT License [2] |
Filename extensions | .qs |
Website | learn |
Influenced by | |
C#, F#, Python |
Q# (pronounced Q sharp) is a domain-specific programming language used for expressing quantum algorithms. [3] It was initially released to the public by Microsoft as part of the Quantum Development Kit. [4]
Q# works in conjunction with classical languages such as C#, Python and F#, and is designed to allow the use of traditional programming concepts in quantum computing, including functions with variables and branches as well as a syntax-highlighted development environment with a quantum debugger. [1] [5] [6]
Historically, Microsoft Research had two teams interested in quantum computing: the QuArC team based in Redmond, Washington, [7] directed by Krysta Svore, that explored the construction of quantum circuitry, and Station Q initially located in Santa Barbara and directed by Michael Freedman, that explored topological quantum computing. [8] [9]
During a Microsoft Ignite Keynote on September 26, 2017, Microsoft announced that they were going to release a new programming language geared specifically towards quantum computers. [10] On December 11, 2017, Microsoft released Q# as a part of the Quantum Development Kit. [4]
At Build 2019, Microsoft announced that it would be open-sourcing the Quantum Development Kit, including its Q# compilers and simulators. [11]
To support Q#, Microsoft developed Quantum Intermediate Representation (QIR) in 2023 as a common interface between programming languages and target quantum processors. The company also announced a compiler extension that generates QIR from Q#. [12]
Bettina Heim currently leads the Q# language development effort. [13] [14]
Q# is available as a separately downloaded extension for Visual Studio, [15] but it can also be run as an independent tool from the command line or Visual Studio Code. Q# was introduced on Windows and is available on MacOS and Linux. [16]
The Quantum Development Kit includes a quantum simulator capable of running Q# and simulated 30 logical qubits. [17] [18]
In order to invoke the quantum simulator, another .NET programming language, usually C#, is used, which provides the (classical) input data for the simulator and reads the (classical) output data from the simulator. [19]
A primary feature of Q# is the ability to create and use qubits for algorithms. As a consequence, some of the most prominent features of Q# are the ability to entangle and introduce superpositioning to qubits via controlled NOT gates and Hadamard gates, respectively, as well as Toffoli Gates, Pauli X, Y, Z Gate, and many more which are used for a variety of operations (See quantum logic gates).[ citation needed ]
The hardware stack that will eventually come together with Q# is expected to implement Qubits as topological qubits. The quantum simulator that is shipped with the Quantum Development Kit today is capable of processing up to 32 qubits on a user machine and up to 40 qubits on Azure. [20]
Currently, the resources available for Q# are scarce, but the official documentation is published: Microsoft Developer Network: Q#. Microsoft Quantum Github repository is also a large collection of sample programs implementing a variety of Quantum algorithms and their tests.
Microsoft has also hosted a Quantum Coding contest on Codeforces, called Microsoft Q# Coding Contest - Codeforces, and also provided related material to help answer the questions in the blog posts, plus the detailed solutions in the tutorials.
Microsoft hosts a set of learning exercises to help learn Q# on GitHub: microsoft/QuantumKatas with links to resources, and answers to the problems.
Q# is syntactically related to both C# and F# yet also has some significant differences.
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The following source code is a multiplexer from the official Microsoft Q# library repository.
// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation.// Licensed under the MIT License.namespaceMicrosoft.Quantum.Canon{openMicrosoft.Quantum.Intrinsic;openMicrosoft.Quantum.Arithmetic;openMicrosoft.Quantum.Arrays;openMicrosoft.Quantum.Diagnostics;openMicrosoft.Quantum.Math;/// # Summary/// Applies a multiply-controlled unitary operation $U$ that applies a/// unitary $V_j$ when controlled by n-qubit number state $\ket{j}$.////// $U = \sum^{N-1}_{j=0}\ket{j}\bra{j}\otimes V_j$.////// # Input/// ## unitaryGenerator/// A tuple where the first element `Int` is the number of unitaries $N$,/// and the second element `(Int -> ('T => () is Adj + Ctl))`/// is a function that takes an integer $j$ in $[0,N-1]$ and outputs the unitary/// operation $V_j$.////// ## index/// $n$-qubit control register that encodes number states $\ket{j}$ in/// little-endian format.////// ## target/// Generic qubit register that $V_j$ acts on.////// # Remarks/// `coefficients` will be padded with identity elements if/// fewer than $2^n$ are specified. This implementation uses/// $n-1$ auxiliary qubits.////// # References/// - [ *Andrew M. Childs, Dmitri Maslov, Yunseong Nam, Neil J. Ross, Yuan Su*,/// arXiv:1711.10980](https://arxiv.org/abs/1711.10980)operationMultiplexOperationsFromGenerator<'T>(unitaryGenerator:(Int,(Int->('T=>UnitisAdj+Ctl))),index:LittleEndian,target:'T):UnitisCtl+Adj{let(nUnitaries,unitaryFunction)=unitaryGenerator;letunitaryGeneratorWithOffset=(nUnitaries,0,unitaryFunction);ifLength(index!)==0{fail"MultiplexOperations failed. Number of index qubits must be greater than 0.";}ifnUnitaries>0{letauxiliary=[];AdjointMultiplexOperationsFromGeneratorImpl(unitaryGeneratorWithOffset,auxiliary,index,target);}}/// # Summary/// Implementation step of `MultiplexOperationsFromGenerator`./// # See Also/// - Microsoft.Quantum.Canon.MultiplexOperationsFromGeneratorinternaloperationMultiplexOperationsFromGeneratorImpl<'T>(unitaryGenerator:(Int,Int,(Int->('T=>UnitisAdj+Ctl))),auxiliary:Qubit[],index:LittleEndian,target:'T):Unit{body(...){letnIndex=Length(index!);letnStates=2^nIndex;let(nUnitaries,unitaryOffset,unitaryFunction)=unitaryGenerator;letnUnitariesLeft=MinI(nUnitaries,nStates/2);letnUnitariesRight=MinI(nUnitaries,nStates);letleftUnitaries=(nUnitariesLeft,unitaryOffset,unitaryFunction);letrightUnitaries=(nUnitariesRight-nUnitariesLeft,unitaryOffset+nUnitariesLeft,unitaryFunction);letnewControls=LittleEndian(Most(index!));ifnUnitaries>0{ifLength(auxiliary)==1andnIndex==0{// Termination case(ControlledAdjoint(unitaryFunction(unitaryOffset)))(auxiliary,target);}elifLength(auxiliary)==0andnIndex>=1{// Start caseletnewauxiliary=Tail(index!);ifnUnitariesRight>0{MultiplexOperationsFromGeneratorImpl(rightUnitaries,[newauxiliary],newControls,target);}within{X(newauxiliary);}apply{MultiplexOperationsFromGeneratorImpl(leftUnitaries,[newauxiliary],newControls,target);}}else{// Recursion that reduces nIndex by 1 and sets Length(auxiliary) to 1.letcontrols=[Tail(index!)]+auxiliary;usenewauxiliary=Qubit();useandauxiliary=Qubit[MaxI(0,Length(controls)-2)];within{ApplyAndChain(andauxiliary,controls,newauxiliary);}apply{ifnUnitariesRight>0{MultiplexOperationsFromGeneratorImpl(rightUnitaries,[newauxiliary],newControls,target);}within{(ControlledX)(auxiliary,newauxiliary);}apply{MultiplexOperationsFromGeneratorImpl(leftUnitaries,[newauxiliary],newControls,target);}}}}}adjointauto;controlled(controlRegister,...){MultiplexOperationsFromGeneratorImpl(unitaryGenerator,auxiliary+controlRegister,index,target);}adjointcontrolledauto;}/// # Summary/// Applies multiply-controlled unitary operation $U$ that applies a/// unitary $V_j$ when controlled by n-qubit number state $\ket{j}$.////// $U = \sum^{N-1}_{j=0}\ket{j}\bra{j}\otimes V_j$.////// # Input/// ## unitaryGenerator/// A tuple where the first element `Int` is the number of unitaries $N$,/// and the second element `(Int -> ('T => () is Adj + Ctl))`/// is a function that takes an integer $j$ in $[0,N-1]$ and outputs the unitary/// operation $V_j$.////// ## index/// $n$-qubit control register that encodes number states $\ket{j}$ in/// little-endian format.////// ## target/// Generic qubit register that $V_j$ acts on.////// # Remarks/// `coefficients` will be padded with identity elements if/// fewer than $2^n$ are specified. This version is implemented/// directly by looping through n-controlled unitary operators.operationMultiplexOperationsBruteForceFromGenerator<'T>(unitaryGenerator:(Int,(Int->('T=>UnitisAdj+Ctl))),index:LittleEndian,target:'T):UnitisAdj+Ctl{letnIndex=Length(index!);letnStates=2^nIndex;let(nUnitaries,unitaryFunction)=unitaryGenerator;foridxOpin0..MinI(nStates,nUnitaries)-1{(ControlledOnInt(idxOp,unitaryFunction(idxOp)))(index!,target);}}/// # Summary/// Returns a multiply-controlled unitary operation $U$ that applies a/// unitary $V_j$ when controlled by n-qubit number state $\ket{j}$.////// $U = \sum^{2^n-1}_{j=0}\ket{j}\bra{j}\otimes V_j$.////// # Input/// ## unitaryGenerator/// A tuple where the first element `Int` is the number of unitaries $N$,/// and the second element `(Int -> ('T => () is Adj + Ctl))`/// is a function that takes an integer $j$ in $[0,N-1]$ and outputs the unitary/// operation $V_j$.////// # Output/// A multiply-controlled unitary operation $U$ that applies unitaries/// described by `unitaryGenerator`.////// # See Also/// - Microsoft.Quantum.Canon.MultiplexOperationsFromGeneratorfunctionMultiplexerFromGenerator(unitaryGenerator:(Int,(Int->(Qubit[]=>UnitisAdj+Ctl)))):((LittleEndian,Qubit[])=>UnitisAdj+Ctl){returnMultiplexOperationsFromGenerator(unitaryGenerator,_,_);}/// # Summary/// Returns a multiply-controlled unitary operation $U$ that applies a/// unitary $V_j$ when controlled by n-qubit number state $\ket{j}$.////// $U = \sum^{2^n-1}_{j=0}\ket{j}\bra{j}\otimes V_j$.////// # Input/// ## unitaryGenerator/// A tuple where the first element `Int` is the number of unitaries $N$,/// and the second element `(Int -> ('T => () is Adj + Ctl))`/// is a function that takes an integer $j$ in $[0,N-1]$ and outputs the unitary/// operation $V_j$.////// # Output/// A multiply-controlled unitary operation $U$ that applies unitaries/// described by `unitaryGenerator`.////// # See Also/// - Microsoft.Quantum.Canon.MultiplexOperationsBruteForceFromGeneratorfunctionMultiplexerBruteForceFromGenerator(unitaryGenerator:(Int,(Int->(Qubit[]=>UnitisAdj+Ctl)))):((LittleEndian,Qubit[])=>UnitisAdj+Ctl){returnMultiplexOperationsBruteForceFromGenerator(unitaryGenerator,_,_);}/// # Summary/// Computes a chain of AND gates////// # Description/// The auxiliary qubits to compute temporary results must be specified explicitly./// The length of that register is `Length(ctrlRegister) - 2`, if there are at least/// two controls, otherwise the length is 0.internaloperationApplyAndChain(auxRegister:Qubit[],ctrlRegister:Qubit[],target:Qubit):UnitisAdj{ifLength(ctrlRegister)==0{X(target);}elifLength(ctrlRegister)==1{CNOT(Head(ctrlRegister),target);}else{EqualityFactI(Length(auxRegister),Length(ctrlRegister));letcontrols1=ctrlRegister[0..0]+auxRegister;letcontrols2=Rest(ctrlRegister);lettargets=auxRegister+[target];ApplyToEachA(ApplyAnd,Zipped3(controls1,controls2,targets));}}}