Quantum Zoo – Exploring the Realm of Quantum Computing

Are you interested in diving into the fascinating world of quantum computing? In the realm of quantum computing, operations are performed on quantum states, which can represent more than one classical state at the same time. If used in the right algorithm, this allows for parallel computations that would exceed traditional computations on an exponential scale. At Fraunhofer IKS, we specialize in investigating quantum algorithms applicable to real-world problems, particularly in optimization, simulation, and machine learning. The Quantum Zoo playfully demonstrates how quantum operations function in a gate-based approach and shows how to build simple quantum circuits and visualize their outcomes.

Challenge: Harnessing Quantum Parallelism

Quantum computing offers the potential for exponential speedup through parallel computations by utilizing quantum states, which can represent multiple classical states simultaneously. However, expressing real-world problems in quantum operations remains a significant challenge. Only a few algorithms, such as Grover’s and Shor’s, have been proven to provide theoretical speedup.

In gate-based quantum computing, the challenge is to find a sequence of operations on quantum states (so-called “gates”), which give a desired final measurement state while using quantum parallelism. The collection of all gate operations acting on a given set of qubits is called a quantum “circuit”. In practical applications, the number of operations required in a circuit is often too much to be executed on existing quantum hardware.

Quantum Zoo: Interactive Quantum Circuit Demonstration

The Quantum Zoo highlights three essential principles that enable quantum computing:

• Superposition: A qubit can be in a state that represents 0 and 1 at the same time, and at measurement, we can get either with a certain probability.
• Interference: Qubit states combine together, such that the probabilities of individual states can be enhanced or suppressed.
• Entanglement: Individual states can be coupled, so that they have a dependency on each other.

The Quantum Zoo features an intuitive interface where users can drag and drop quantum gates onto qubit wires to perform operations. The quantum circuit layout visually reflects the timeline of qubits, initialized in the state |0>. By applying quantum gates, you can explore how quantum operations create superpositions of states.