eQASM: An executable quantum instruction set architecture

X. Fu, L. Riesebos, M.A. Rol, Jeroen Van Straten, J. Van Someren, N. Khammassi, I. Ashraf, R.F.L. Vermeulen, V. Newsum, K.K.L. Loh, J.C. De Sterke, W.J. Vlothuizen, R.N. Schouten, Carmina García Almudever, L. Dicarlo, K. Bertels

Research output: Chapter in Book/Conference proceedings/Edited volumeConference contributionScientificpeer-review

41 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A widely-used quantum programming paradigm comprises of both the data flow and control flow. Existing quantum hardware cannot well support the control flow, significantly limiting the range of quantum software executable on the hardware. By analyzing the constraints in the control microarchitecture, we found that existing quantum assembly languages are either too high-level or too restricted to support comprehensive flow control on the hardware. Also, as observed with the quantum microinstruction set QuMIS [1], the quantum instruction set architecture (QISA) design may suffer from limited scalability and flexibility because of microarchitectural constraints. It is an open challenge to design a scalable and flexible QISA which provides a comprehensive abstraction of the quantum hardware. In this paper, we propose an executable QISA, called eQASM, that can be translated from quantum assembly language (QASM), supports comprehensive quantum program flow control, and is executed on a quantum control microarchitecture. With efficient timing specification, single-operationmultiple-qubit execution, and a very-long-instruction-word architecture, eQASM presents better scalability than QuMIS. The definition of eQASM focuses on the assembly level to be expressive. Quantum operations are configured at compile time instead of being defined at QISA design time. We instantiate eQASM into a 32-bit instruction set targeting a seven-qubit superconducting quantum processor. We validate our design by performing several experiments on a two-qubit quantum processor.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings - 25th IEEE International Symposium on High Performance Computer Architecture, HPCA 2019
EditorsAhmed Louri , Guru Prasadh Venkataramani
Place of PublicationPiscataway, NJ
PublisherIEEE
Pages224-237
Number of pages14
ISBN (Electronic)978-1-7281-1444-6
ISBN (Print)978-1-7281-1445-3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019
Event25th IEEE International Symposium on High Performance Computer Architecture, HPCA 2019 - Washington, United States
Duration: 16 Feb 201920 Feb 2019

Publication series

NameProceedings - 25th IEEE International Symposium on High Performance Computer Architecture, HPCA 2019

Conference

Conference25th IEEE International Symposium on High Performance Computer Architecture, HPCA 2019
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityWashington
Period16/02/1920/02/19

Keywords

  • EQASM
  • Quantum control microarchitecture
  • Quantum instruction set architecture (QISA)
  • QuMA
  • Superconducting quantum processor

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