The giant needs software that is compatible and beneficial for the quantum processors. To get it, it has just released a developer toolkit that does not require special training in quantum physics.
Quantum computers are still in their infancy. Therefore, the manufacturers of these exotic computers want to encourage software developers to experiment with the first prototypes.
Programming the circuits of a quantum computer is a real challenge. Instead of the typical digital bits, represented in the form of ones and zeros, quantum computers use “Ellen”, which, thanks to a phenomenon known as quantum superposition, can be simultaneous in both states.
Cubits can influence each other even if they are physically connected. In addition, this sensitive quantum state disappears in no time at all. Working on a quantum computer requires completely different software, but at the moment there are only a handful of developers with the highly specialized knowledge to write such programs.
Google wants to help overcome these challenges with Cirq, a software toolkit that enables developers to develop algorithms without quantum physics knowledge. Cirq is an open source initiative, i.e. anyone can access and modify the software. Google compares it to its popular open-source artificial intelligence toolkit, TensorFlow, which has made it easy to create automatic learning software (see The gift of automatic learning that Google has given to the world and to itself). For the time being, developers can use Cirq to create quantum algorithms that run on simulators. But the goal in the future is to develop software that can run on a variety of real machines.
The technology giant has also launched OpenFermion-Cirq, a set of tools for creating algorithms that simulate molecules and material properties. In fact, chemistry is one of the first areas of research that could benefit most from quantum computers in the short term. One of the companies that worked with Google to develop Cirq is Zapata Computing, which focuses on developing software for chemical and materials research (see The first store to specialize in selling quantum algorithms is born).
Another Google partner is Quantum Benchmark, which can be used to evaluate the performance of different types of quantum hardware for different applications. The CEO and founder of the company, Joseph Emerson, says: “Cirq offers us an accessible platform from which we can make our tools available to users. There are other open source initiatives that allow developers to create code for some existing quantum computers. Nevertheless, this is an important step for Google as it is trying to develop powerful quantum processors such as the Bristlecone chip in the above image that leads the ellen counter record.
Researchers in quantum computing say that sharing open source will make the development community more dynamic, as is the case in other areas of software. Andrew Childs, co-director of the Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science at the University of Maryland, USA, says: “We are at such an early stage of quantum computing that it is a win-win situation for everyone involved to do things publicly.
Since most early quantum computers are still limited to research laboratories, easier access to them will also arouse their interest in creating programs for them. Companies like IBM and Rigetti Computing are already letting interested researchers work on their quantum computers and it looks like Google is following their example. The giant plans to make the Bristlecone processor available via the cloud and use Cirq for developers to write programs for it.