STTR Phase I:Dramatically improving algorithm execution on quantum devices through advanced noise-awareness and control

这个小企业技术转让（STTR）第一阶段项目的更广泛影响将是使量子计算得到更广泛的应用。量子计算将在药物发现、新材料、能源效率和人工智能等各个领域推动世界经济和人类状况的巨大改善。行业分析师预测量子计算/网络市场将快速增长：2022年50亿美元，2026年240亿美元，2030年2700亿美元。在技术进步方面，这个项目将增加我们如何利用物质的量子特性作为一种强大的计算新方法的知识。除了商业潜力和科学知识，我们的愿景是这项工作还将有助于催化新一代“量子优先”的软件开发人员，这将对保持我们国家在21世纪的竞争力至关重要。这个小型企业技术转移（STTR）第一阶段项目旨在解决当前一代量子计算机面临的一个关键挑战：执行质量。量子计算机上的每次操作都会产生一些错误，这是由于这些精密系统内部和周围存在各种类型的噪声。这些错误累积起来，这就限制了可以成功运行的程序的大小。这反过来又大大减少了量子计算机可以解决的已经有限的问题集。虽然量子器件的噪声特性是由底层硬件技术和器件体系结构定义的，但通过软件识别或估计误差并对其进行补偿，可以提高执行质量。事实上，文献中有证据表明，这种改进可以将执行的保真度提高10倍或更多。在这个项目中，开发了一个量子编译器和电路优化器软件产品，它将结合已知的优化方法，量子纠错技术，并开发新的方法。由此产生的软件将把量子程序与量子计算机相匹配，从而提供最佳的执行力。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project will be to enable much more widespread use of quantum computing. Quantum computing will drive massive improvements in the world economy and the human condition in areas as diverse as drug discovery, novel materials, energy efficiency, and artificial intelligence. Industry analysts project rapid growth for the quantum computing/networking market: $5B in 2022, $24B in 2026, $270B in 2030. In terms of technological progress, this project will increase our knowledge of how to use the quantum properties of matter as a powerful new way to compute. In addition to commercial potential and scientific knowledge, the vision is that this work will also help catalyze a new generation of “quantum first” software developers, and this will be critical in maintaining our nation’s competitiveness in the 21st century.This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project seeks to address a key challenge facing the current generation of quantum computers: execution quality. Each operation on a quantum computer incurs some error due to various types of noise that are present in and around these delicate systems. These errors accumulate, and this limits the size of program that can be successfully run. This in turn dramatically reduces the already limited set of problems that can be solved on a quantum computer. While noise characteristics of a quantum device are defined by the underlying hardware technology and device architecture, there are ways to improve execution quality through software by identifying or estimating errors and compensating for them. In fact, there is evidence from the literature that such improvements can improve fidelity of the execution by 10 times or more. In this project, a quantum compiler & circuit optimizer software product is developed that will incorporate known optimization methods, quantum error correction techniques, plus develop new approaches. The resulting software will match a quantum program with the quantum computer that will provide the best execution.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.