3. Quantum Types¶
This language extension provides certain fundamental types that are pertinent
to quantum-classical computing. These types are provided via defined library
types in the cudaq namespace.
3.1. cudaq::qudit<Levels>¶
The cudaq::qudit models a \(D\)-level unit of quantum information. The state of
this system (for \(N\) qudits) can be described by a \(D\)N-dimensional vector in
Hilbert space with the absolute square of all elements summing to 1. The
cudaq::qudit encapsulates a unique std::size_t modeling the index of the
qudit in the underlying quantum memory space (assuming an infinite register
of available qudits). To adhere to the no-cloning theorem of quantum mechanics,
the cudaq::qudit is non-copyable and non-movable. Therefore, all cudaq::qudit
instances must be passed by reference, and the no-cloning theorem is satisfied
at compile-time. cudaq::qudit instances can only be allocated within CUDA Quantum quantum
kernel code and can never be allocated from classical host code.
The cudaq::qudit takes on the following structure
template <std::size_t Levels>
class qudit {
protected:
const std::size_t idx = 0;
public:
qudit();
qudit(const qudit&) = delete;
qudit(qudit &&) = delete;
std::size_t id() const;
static constexpr std::size_t n_levels() { return Levels; }
};
3.2. cudaq::qubit¶
The specification provides a primitive cudaq::qubit type which models a
single quantum bit (2-level) in the discrete quantum memory space.
cudaq::qubit is an alias for cudaq::qudit<2>
namespace cudaq {
using qubit = qudit<2>;
}
The qubit type can only be allocated within quantum kernel code and cannot
be instantiated in host classical code. All instantiated cudaq::qubit instances start
in the |0> computational basis state and serve as the primary input argument
for quantum intrinsic operations modeling typical logical quantum gate operations.
{
// Allocate a qubit in the |0> state
cudaq::qubit q;
// Put the qubit in a superposition of |0> and |1>
h(q); // cudaq::h == hadamard, ADL leveraged
printf("ID = %lu\n", q.id()); // prints 0
cudaq::qubit r;
printf("ID = %lu\n", r.id()); // prints 1
// qubit out of scope, implicit deallocation
}
cudaq::qubit q;
printf("ID = %lu\n", q.id()); // prints 0 (previous deallocated)
3.3. Quantum Containers¶
CUDA Quantum provides abstractions for dealing with groups of cudaq::qudit instances in the
form of familiar, std-like C++ containers. The underlying
connectivity of the cudaq::qudit instances stored in these containers is opaque to
the programmer and any logical-to-physical program connectivity mapping
should be done by compiler implementations.
3.3.1. cudaq::qspan<N, Levels> (Deprecated. Use cudaq::qview<Levels> instead.)¶
cudaq::qspan is a non-owning reference to a part of the discrete quantum
memory space. It’s a std::span-like C++ range of cudaq::qudit
(see C++ span). It does not
own its elements. It takes a single template parameter indicating the levels for
the underlying qudits that it stores. This parameter defaults to 2 for qubits.
It takes on the following structure:
namespace cudaq {
template <std::size_t Levels = 2>
class qspan {
private:
std::span<qudit<Levels>> qubits;
public:
// Construct a span that refers to the qudits in `other`.
qspan(std::ranges::range<qudit<Levels>> auto& other);
qspan(qspan const& other);
// Iterator interface.
auto begin();
auto end();
// Returns the qudit at `idx`.
qudit<Levels>& operator[](const std::size_t idx);
// Returns the `[0, count)` qudits.
qspan<Levels> front(std::size_t count);
// Returns the first qudit.
qudit<Levels>& front();
// Returns the `[count, size())` qudits.
qspan<Levels> back(std::size_t count);
// Returns the last qudit.
qudit<Levels>& back();
// Returns the `[start, start+count)` qudits.
qspan<Levels>
slice(std::size_t start, std::size_t count);
// Returns the number of contained qudits.
std::size_t size() const;
};
}
3.3.2. cudaq::qreg<N, Levels> (Deprecated. Use cudaq::qvector<Levels> instead.)¶
cudaq::qreg<N, Levels> models a register of the discrete quantum memory space - a
C++ container of cudaq::qudit. As a container, it owns its elements and
their storage. qreg<dyn, Levels> is a dynamically allocated container
(std::vector-like, see C++ vector).
cudaq::qreg<N, Levels> (where N is an integral
constant) is a statically allocated container (std::array-like,
see array).
Its template parameters default to dynamic allocation and cudaq::qudit<2>.
namespace cudaq {
template <std::size_t N = dyn, std::size_t Levels = 2>
class qreg {
private:
std::conditional_t<
N == dyn,
std::vector<qudit<Levels>>,
std::array<qudit<Levels>, N>
> qudits;
public:
// Construct a qreg with `size` qudits in the |0> state.
qreg(std::size_t size) requires (N == dyn);
qreg(qreg const&) = delete;
// Iterator interface.
auto begin();
auto end();
// Returns the qudit at `idx`.
qudit<Levels>& operator[](const std::size_t idx);
// Returns the `[0, count)` qudits.
qspan<dyn, Levels> front(std::size_t count);
// Returns the first qudit.
qudit<Levels>& front();
// Returns the `[count, size())` qudits.
qspan<dyn, Levels> back(std::size_t count);
// Returns the last qudit.
qudit<Levels>& back();
// Returns the `[start, start+count)` qudits.
qspan<dyn, Levels>
slice(std::size_t start, std::size_t count);
// Returns the number of contained qudits.
std::size_t size() const;
// Destroys all contained qudits. Postcondition: `size() == 0`.
void clear();
};
}
qreg instances can only be instantiated from within quantum kernels,
they cannot be instantiated in host code. All qubits in the qreg
start in the |0> computational basis state.
// Allocate 20 qubits, std::vector-like semantics
cudaq::qreg q(20);
auto first = q.front();
auto first_5 = q.front(5);
auto last = q.back();
for (int i = 0; i < q.size(); i++) {
... do something with q[i] ...
}
for (auto & qb : q) {
... do something with qb ...
}
// std::array-like semantics
cudaq::qreg<5> fiveCompileTimeQubits;