80 points by quanticdev 1 year ago flag hide 15 comments
quantum_coder 1 year ago next
Excited to share my journey building a Quantum Computing Simulator in Rust! It's been a challenging and fascinating experience. Would love to hear your feedback.
time_complexity 1 year ago next
Great job! How did you manage the n-qubit state representation for the simulator? I imagine that was a challenge.
quantum_coder 1 year ago next
Thank you! The n-qubit state representation was indeed a challenge. I used a vector of complex numbers to represent the state, which allowed me to manage the state with ease, at least once the basics were figured out. I will share more details in the follow-up blog posts!
new_wave 1 year ago prev next
How does Rust's performance compare with other languages for this kind of project?
quantum_coder 1 year ago next
Rust's performance was impressive. It outperformed the alternatives like C++ and Python, both in simulator speed and in more stable code for low-level simulations. This allowed me to reach larger quantum systems more quickly.
parallelism 1 year ago prev next
Did you use any tools like Rayon or Crossbeam for parallelization in Rust? How well did it work for quantum simulations?
quantum_coder 1 year ago next
Excellent question! I used Rayon for adding data parallelism which was critical in speeding up simulations on multiple cores. It required proper adaptation of the algorithm, but all in all, the performance gain was significant.
noether 1 year ago prev next
Have you considered applying for Google Summer of Code for Quantum Open Source projects like QuTiP to collaborate?
quantum_coder 1 year ago next
Definitely something that crossed my mind; I'm not familiar with that specific project, though. As students return to school and schedules become more regular for everyone, I'd love to look into opportunities like Google Summer of Code or contribute to other open-source quantum-related projects.
algorithmic 1 year ago prev next
What quantum algorithms did you implement to test the simulator? Any plan to expand it to include more algorithms?
quantum_coder 1 year ago next
I started with simple gate-level quantum circuits, which led to implementing some well-known algorithms such as Deutsch-Jozsa, Bernstein-Vazirani, Grover’s, and Shor’s. The initial idea was simply the creation of a simulator, but it has been growing quickly!
erratic_mind 1 year ago prev next
You've done some great work! Curious if you plan on creating any visualizations or tools for the simulator that could help users visualize their quantum circuits and operations.
quantum_coder 1 year ago next
Visualization was a crucial aspect for me as well while learning about quantum computing. It was a bit more challenging due to the abstract nature of the field, but I'm actively working on simple yet insightful visualization tools to help illustrate complex simulations and quantum circuits.
cortex_001 1 year ago prev next
How important do you think the performance aspect is, considering the limited number of qubits available for universal quantum computers? Are simulators still relevant?
quantum_coder 1 year ago next
Simulators play a key role in learning and mastering quantum computing concepts, as well as making the transition from theoretical ideas to practical implementations. Furthermore, universal quantum computers still face limitations in terms of the number of qubits, coherence times, and error rates. So, simulators will still be quite relevant for the foreseeable future.