CAREER: Enabling Scalable and Resilient Quantum Computer Architectures through Synergistic Hardware-Software Co-Design

Abstract Quantum computers can help solve some of the most complex problems in physics, chemistry, material design, optimization, and machine learning. A worldwide effort is underway to create larger, more reliable quantum computers, enhancing their ability to execute complex quantum algorithms. Despite this progress, practical quantum computing faces significant challenges, including the susceptibility of quantum bit (qubit) devices to environmental noise, producing inaccurate results. Furthermore, the limited availability of algorithms that can leverage quantum computers in the near term is a significant hurdle, as existing algorithms require millions of noise-free operations beyond the current quantum hardware capabilities. The gap between the quantum hardware necessary for solving real-world problems and today's quantum computing technology is significant. This award seeks to bridge this gap by focusing on scalable and resilient quantum computer architectures through an integrated approach to hardware and software design and developing software tools to help users leverage existing and future quantum hardware. Moreover, this award will create a broadly accessible quantum computing curriculum and support outreach activities to engage and educate undergraduates in quantum information sciences. This project focuses on two research thrusts. The first thrust concentrates on co-designing Instruction Set Architecture (ISA) and Runtime to enable efficient and resilient architectures and introduce new hardware-software primitives to help scale distributed qubit control. On the ISA front, the project will investigate how flexible instruction sets offered by most quantum hardware platforms, which allow new gates by calibrating pulses, can be leveraged without overly increasing the calibration complexity. For enabling a large number of operations on a Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computer (FTQC), required by most real-world applications, this project will develop a runtime capable of detecting noise amplification events due to unstable qubit devices and mitigating them by moving data and learning optimal noise mitigation policies. The second thrust of this project will focus on developing software tools to facilitate efficient empirical design and evaluation of quantum algorithms. To that end, the project will develop tools to design, tune, and debug hybrid classical-quantum workflows. Moreover, the project will study the efficacy of partially fault-tolerant quantum computer architectures, where only a subset of operations are protected against errors, and investigate if co-designing ISA, runtime, error correction, and applications can push partial FTQC toward practical utility. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.