Compiler for a Quantum Language

Abstract

With the increasing interest in experimenting with quantum computing in academia and industry, creating more versatile software tools, e.g., compilers, is needed. The compiler will transform the quantum assembly languages into either binary code for a quantum-accelerated classical CPU or a GPU-accelerated quantum-circuit simulator. The current inadequate supply of quantum computers delays the research and development of quantum algorithms. This reason causes the quantum circuit simulators to become explorative back-ends. The goal of the present master’s thesis project was to develop a compiler for the commonly used quantum-circuit description language "OpenQASM2" into binary code for GPU-accelerated quantum-circuit simulation. For the quantumcircuit simulator (compiler back-end), the requirement was to use the state-of-the-art GPU-based "Quantum Exact Simulation Toolkit", QuEST. In the compiler front-end, the requirement was to develop a parser based on the venerable Flex/Bison combination. The result of this thesis project is a fast, dependable compiler written in C++. Along with the source code, a curated collection of OpenQASM2 source files serve as a test suite. In further work, the compiler will be integrated with Nordic-Estonian Quantum Computing e-Infrastructure Quest (NordIQuEst) project that will make it available to HPC users.