How to build quantum algorithms and test them on quantum circuit simulators using Amazon Braket?
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AWS Braket

How to build quantum algorithms and test them on quantum circuit simulators using Amazon Braket? Workfall Jun 16·10 min read

Quantum applications are transforming how we live, work and play. Technologies like quantum sensors, quantum information security, and quantum computers are emerging and we are already seeing the tremendous possibilities. The quantum computing market is projected to reach $64.98 billion by 2030. In this blog we will discuss Quantum computing and a fully managed quantum computing service Amazon Braket.

There are lots of computational problems which are beyond the reach of classical computers. Quantum computers are able to process information millions of times faster than classic computers. Quantum computing could transform areas such as chemical engineering, material science, drug discovery, financial portfolio optimization, weather forecasting, traffic optimization and machine learning. But to solve these problems, to program quantum computers requires new skills, which are difficult to acquire without easy access to quantum computing hardware. Amazon Braket overcomes these challenges so one can explore quantum computing easily.

Amazon Braket is an easy way to get your feet wet with quantum computers and simulators. You can design and build your own quantum algorithms from scratch or choose from a set of pre-built algorithms using Amazon Braket. Let’s explore Amazon Braket, a fully managed quantum computing service!

In this blog, we will cover:

What is Quantum Computing?

Quantum hardware technologies

Quantum Computing Applications

What is Amazon Braket?

How does it work?

Why should I use Amazon Braket?

Applications of Amazon Braket

Benefits of Amazon Braket

Features of Amazon Braket

Pricing

Customers using Amazon Braket

Conclusion

What is Quantum Computing?

Quantum computers process information in a fundamentally different way than classical computers. Traditional computers operate on binary bits — information processed in the form of ones or zeroes. But quantum computers transmit information via quantum bits, or qubits, which can exist either as one or zero or both simultaneously. That’s a simplification, and we’ll explore some nuances below, but that capacity — known as superposition — lies at the heart of quantum’s potential for exponentially greater computational power.

Classical computers, which include smartphones and laptops, encode information in binary “bits” that can either be 0s or 1s. In a quantum computer, the basic unit of memory is a quantum bit or qubit.

Qubits are made using physical systems, such as the spin of an electron or the orientation of a photon. These systems can be in many different arrangements all at once, a property known as quantum superposition.

Quantum applications are transforming how we live, work and play. Technologies like quantum sensors, quantum information security, and quantum computers are emerging from labs around the world, and we are already seeing the tremendous possibilities. Some real world quantum computing applications in use — Traffic optimization by Volkswagen and D-Wave, Election modeling by Max Henderson, marketing and advertising applications by Recruit Communications, traffic optimization and autonomous driving by Denso and Toyota.

Quantum Hardware Technologies

Gate-based ion traps: Trapped ion quantum computers implement qubits using electronic states of charged atoms called Ions. The ions are confined and suspended in free space using electromagnetic fields. Amazon Braket provides access to ion trap quantum computers from IonQ.

Trapped ion quantum computers implement qubits using electronic states of charged atoms called Ions. The ions are confined and suspended in free space using electromagnetic fields. Amazon Braket provides access to ion trap quantum computers from IonQ. Gate-based superconducting qubits: Superconducting qubits are built with superconducting electric circuits that operate at cryogenic temperature. Amazon Braket provides access to quantum hardware based on superconducting qubits from Rigetti.

Superconducting qubits are built with superconducting electric circuits that operate at cryogenic temperature. Amazon Braket provides access to quantum hardware based on superconducting qubits from Rigetti. Quantum annealing : Quantum annealing uses a physical process to find a low energy configuration that encodes the solution of an optimization problem. Amazon Braket provides access to quantum annealing technology based on superconducting qubits from D-Wave.

Quantum computing Applications

What is Amazon Braket ?

Amazon Braket, enables you to program quantum computers and explore potential applications. You can design your own quantum algorithms from scratch or choose from a set of pre-built algorithms. Amazon Braket provides fully managed circuit simulators that allow you to run your algorithms on classical High Performance Computing (HPC) infrastructure to validate and test your implementation. You can run your algorithm on your choice of different quantum computers, or quantum processing units (QPUs).

Amazon Braket development environment helps you in exploring and building quantum algorithms, testing them on quantum circuit simulators, and running them on different quantum hardware technologies. Amazon Braket supports three quantum computing services, from D-Wave, IonQ, and Rigetti.

How does it work?

Amazon Braket development has three aspects:

Build: Amazon Braket provides fully-managed Jupyter notebook environments that make it easy to get started. Amazon Braket notebooks are pre-installed with sample algorithms, resources, and developer tools, including the Amazon Braket SDK. With the Amazon Braket SDK, you can build quantum algorithms, then test and run them on different quantum computers and simulators by changing a single line of code.

Test: Amazon Braket provides access to fully-managed, high-performance, quantum circuit simulators. You can test and validate your circuits. Amazon Braket handles all the underlying software components and EC2 clusters to take away the burden of simulating quantum circuits on classical HPC infrastructure.

Run: Amazon Braket provides secure, on-demand access to different types of quantum computers. You have access to gate-based quantum computers from IonQ and Rigetti, as well as a quantum annealer from D-Wave. You have no upfront commitment, and no need to procure access with individual providers.

Why should I use Amazon Bracket?

Gaining access to quantum computing hardware can be expensive and inconvenient. Limited access makes it difficult to run algorithms, optimize designs, evaluate the current state of the technology, and plan for when to invest your resources for maximum benefit. Amazon Braket helps you overcome these challenges.

Defining quantum problems and programming quantum computers to solve them requires a new set of skills. To help you gain these skills, Amazon Braket offers different environments to simulate and run your quantum algorithms. You can find the approach that best suits your requirements, and you can get started quickly with a set of example environments, called notebooks.

Applications of Amazon Bracket

Amazon Braket helps organizations begin exploring the potential of quantum technologies and programming tools by potentially providing radically different approaches to problem solving, while building useful quantum applications.

Optimization: Optimization issues are present across several industries together with telecommunications, supply chain logistics, and financial services. Finding the best approach from a collection of alternatives will overwhelm classical computers because the variety of doable combos drives up complexness. Quantum computing may be accustomed to address a large variety of those issues, for example in the field of combinatorial optimization by accelerating linear programming algorithms and Monte Carlo methods. While future error-corrected quantum computers have provable speed-ups, near-term devices can be used to run heuristic algorithms which might already offer an advantage.

Optimization issues are present across several industries together with telecommunications, supply chain logistics, and financial services. Finding the best approach from a collection of alternatives will overwhelm classical computers because the variety of doable combos drives up complexness. Quantum computing may be accustomed to address a large variety of those issues, for example in the field of combinatorial optimization by accelerating linear programming algorithms and Monte Carlo methods. While future error-corrected quantum computers have provable speed-ups, near-term devices can be used to run heuristic algorithms which might already offer an advantage. Molecular simulation: The unique features of quantum computers and the ability to natively manipulate quantum mechanical states creates the potential to efficiently solve important problems such as describing the electronic structure of molecules. Although many approximation methods have been introduced, simulating quantum systems in physics and chemistry still represents a significant challenge for classical computers. Simulation of quantum systems will have broad applications including the design of new materials and catalysts, drug discovery, and the exploration of high-temperature superconductors.

The unique features of quantum computers and the ability to natively manipulate quantum mechanical states creates the potential to efficiently solve important problems such as describing the electronic structure of molecules. Although many approximation methods have been introduced, simulating quantum systems in physics and chemistry still represents a significant challenge for classical computers. Simulation of quantum systems will have broad applications including the design of new materials and catalysts, drug discovery, and the exploration of high-temperature superconductors. Quantum machine learning: Scalable error-corrected quantum computers can improve many widely used tools in machine learning including recommendation systems and support-vector machines for classification. Machine learning provides methods for systems to learn from data, identify patterns, and make decisions in an autonomous way. Quantum computing also has the potential of offering a richer class of learning models.

Benefits of Amazon Braket

Experiment with different quantum computing technologies: Amazon Braket gives you access to a variety of different types of hardware, including quantum annealers and gate-based systems built on superconducting qubits and ion traps. Amazon Braket’s cross-platform developer tools provide a consistent experience so you don’t need to learn multiple development environments. This makes it easy to explore which quantum computing technology is the best fit for your applications.

Amazon Braket gives you access to a variety of different types of hardware, including quantum annealers and gate-based systems built on superconducting qubits and ion traps. Amazon Braket’s cross-platform developer tools provide a consistent experience so you don’t need to learn multiple development environments. This makes it easy to explore which quantum computing technology is the best fit for your applications. Run hybrid quantum and classical algorithms: With Amazon Braket, you can build and run hybrid quantum algorithms that combine quantum operations with optimization and other processes running on classical computers. Hybrid algorithms use an iterative approach to help mitigate the effect of errors inherent in todays’ quantum computing systems. Amazon Braket notebooks come pre-configured with PennyLane, an open source library that makes it easy to get started with hybrid algorithms.

Get started quickly : Amazon Braket provides a single environment to build, test, and run quantum algorithms without having to set up and manage infrastructure, negotiate access with multiple quantum hardware providers, and write code to integrate different environments. Amazon Braket provides fully managed Jupyter notebooks that you can use to explore possible applications, visualize your results, and optimize quantum algorithms. You can choose from notebooks with pre-installed developer tools, sample algorithms, and tutorials that make it easy to get started quickly.

Amazon Braket provides a single environment to build, test, and run quantum algorithms without having to set up and manage infrastructure, negotiate access with multiple quantum hardware providers, and write code to integrate different environments. Amazon Braket provides fully managed Jupyter notebooks that you can use to explore possible applications, visualize your results, and optimize quantum algorithms. You can choose from notebooks with pre-installed developer tools, sample algorithms, and tutorials that make it easy to get started quickly. Integrated cloud experience : Amazon Braket delivers quantum computing as an AWS Cloud service, so you can apply your organization’s cloud best practices, and also tap into elastic compute and machine learning capabilities from the same console. Native support for AWS security and management services simplifies access control, data protection, operational monitoring, and auditing.

Features of Amazon Braket

Developer Tools: You have the choice of using your own development environment or fully managed Jupyter notebooks in Amazon Braket to build your quantum algorithms and manage experiments. Amazon Braket makes it easy to create notebooks with a single click. You can select the notebook instance type to match your performance requirements and configure security settings such as encryption for stored data. Amazon Braket notebooks come pre-configured with a suite of quantum computing developer tools, including the Amazon Braket SDK, PennyLane, and Ocean.

You have the choice of using your own development environment or fully managed Jupyter notebooks in Amazon Braket to build your quantum algorithms and manage experiments. Amazon Braket makes it easy to create notebooks with a single click. You can select the notebook instance type to match your performance requirements and configure security settings such as encryption for stored data. Amazon Braket notebooks come pre-configured with a suite of quantum computing developer tools, including the Amazon Braket SDK, PennyLane, and Ocean. Simulators: You can run a circuit on Amazon Braket simulators with a single API call. A request to run your algorithm on a simulator works in the same way as a request to run on quantum hardware; by changing a single line of code, you can change from running on a simulator to an actual quantum computer. You also have a choice of three gate-based quantum circuit simulators to run and test quantum algorithms. These include: 1/ the local simulator that is included in the Amazon Braket SDK, 2/ the Amazon Braket SV1 managed simulator, and 3/ the Amazon Braket TN1 managed simulator. The local simulator and SV1 are general purpose quantum circuit simulators, whereas TN1 is only suitable for certain types of quantum circuits.

You can run a circuit on Amazon Braket simulators with a single API call. A request to run your algorithm on a simulator works in the same way as a request to run on quantum hardware; by changing a single line of code, you can change from running on a simulator to an actual quantum computer. You also have a choice of three gate-based quantum circuit simulators to run and test quantum algorithms. These include: 1/ the local simulator that is included in the Amazon Braket SDK, 2/ the Amazon Braket SV1 managed simulator, and 3/ the Amazon Braket TN1 managed simulator. The local simulator and SV1 are general purpose quantum circuit simulators, whereas TN1 is only suitable for certain types of quantum circuits. Quantum Computers: Amazon Braket provides access to both annealing and gate-based quantum computers. Following the gate-based quantum computing paradigm, you can access trapped-ion technology from IonQ and superconducting quantum processors from Rigetti. Alternatively, you can solve quantum annealing problems using the latest QPUs from D-Wave. This helps you test different technologies, compare the compute performance of different machines for the problem that you are trying to solve, and choose the hardware system that is best suited to your application.

Amazon Braket provides access to both annealing and gate-based quantum computers. Following the gate-based quantum computing paradigm, you can access trapped-ion technology from IonQ and superconducting quantum processors from Rigetti. Alternatively, you can solve quantum annealing problems using the latest QPUs from D-Wave. This helps you test different technologies, compare the compute performance of different machines for the problem that you are trying to solve, and choose the hardware system that is best suited to your application. Expert Help: Amazon Quantum Solutions Lab a collaborative research and professional services program staffed with quantum computing experts who can assist you to more effectively explore quantum computing and assess the current performance of this nascent technology. Additionally, you can work with our qualified technology and consulting partners in the AWS Partner Network (APN) that specialize in applications for quantum computing and can help you address your specific requirements.

Amazon Quantum Solutions Lab a collaborative research and professional services program staffed with quantum computing experts who can assist you to more effectively explore quantum computing and assess the current performance of this nascent technology. Additionally, you can work with our qualified technology and consulting partners in the AWS Partner Network (APN) that specialize in applications for quantum computing and can help you address your specific requirements. Management and Security: Amazon Braket is integrated with AWS services such as Amazon CloudWatch, AWS CloudTrail, Amazon EventBridge, and AWS IAM to enable the monitoring of workloads, generate notifications when your tasks are completed, and manage access controls and permissions. Your simulation and quantum task results are delivered to your preferred Amazon S3 bucket for storage and analysis, giving you full control over your data.

Pricing

Amazon Braket provides access to quantum computers, managed simulators that simulate quantum circuits, and managed notebook development environments. You will also be billed separately for use of each of these capabilities, as well as other AWS services that you use with Amazon Braket such as Amazon S3 for storing the results of quantum computations.

Moreover, you define how many shots you want included in a task when you submit the task to Amazon Braket. Per-task pricing is the same across all QPUs. Pricing for each hardware provider and QPU is in the image below:

Customers using Amazon Bracket

Conclusion

In this blog, we have discussed Amazon Braket as a fully managed quantum computing service. We have discussed its benefits, features, how it works, customers & pricing. We will demonstrate how to create and simulate a Simple Circuit using Amazon Braket in our upcoming blog. We will also demonstrate Quantum Machine Learning with Amazon Braket to create a Binary Classifier in our upcoming blogs. Stay tuned to keep getting all updates about our upcoming new blogs on AWS and relevant technologies.

For any further queries, feel free to post your comments, we are happy to help!

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