Quantum Programming on Azure Quantum—An Open Source Tool for Quantum Developers

Abstract

Quantum computing has become a new buzzword in recent years. Although quantum computing techniques have been available in the literature for the past 40 or more years, the desire for real-time implementation of such quantum computing techniques has become possible due to the ongoing superspeed development of quantum computers by multinational corporations. Albeit, only 40 qubits quantum computer has been developed to date. Still, the pathway of big corporations reveals that by the end of this decade, a full-fledged quantum computer will be available in the market for everyone. Quantum computing uses quantum key distribution for quantum communication. It is expected that quantum computing and quantum communication will completely change the workflow of many industries. Studies are also predicting that the market demand for the quantum computing industry will be in multi-trillion dollars as early as 2030. Besides, the perspective of researchers has been drastically changing due to the plethora of opportunities brought forth by quantum computing for data processing and data encryption tasks. The quantum computer is deep-rooted in uncertainty principle, and probability theories thereby prohibit the copying and replicating of quantum information. Consequently, the guarantee of unconditional security for transmitted data is ensured, otherwise impossible. Generally, transmitted data are hacked due to attackers’ generation of keys replica. We may note that despite quantum computing being in a nascent stage, it possesses the potential to change internet activities by speeding up many tasks. Many day-to-day activities of many industries like finance, healthcare, and security will unseal imperceptible abilities. Furthermore, many big corporations invest in developing quantum computers and open-source tools to enable the development of quantum programs running on quantum computers. Also, community-driven activities are accomplished to upgrade the skills of current software developers to make them ready with appropriate skills for the development of future quantum software, which will run on large bits quantum computers. In this direction, Microsoft Incorporation has not only developed a quantum development kit (QDK) but also provides cloud-based quantum computing as a service, namely Azure Quantum, for developing and testing new quantum programs for the community. The newly designed quantum programs can now be simulated locally or run on the real quantum computer through Azure Quantum. Consequently, this chapter introduces the what, when, and why’s of quantum computing. Also, this chapter presents all necessary tools (with detailed installation and execution steps) required by the quantum developer for the possible development of a quantum program.