cQASM v1.0: Towards a Common Quantum Assembly Language

TL;DR

This paper introduces cQASM v1.0, a standardized quantum assembly language designed to improve interoperability and reduce translation issues across quantum computing tools by providing a common, hardware-agnostic syntax.

Contribution

The paper proposes a unified QASM syntax, cQASM, to facilitate tool interoperability and hardware abstraction in quantum computing workflows.

Findings

Defines a common QASM syntax standard

Reduces translation overhead between tools

Enhances portability across hardware platforms

Abstract

The quantum assembly language (QASM) is a popular intermediate representation used in many quantum compilation and simulation tools to describe quantum circuits. Currently, multiple different dialects of QASM are used in different quantum computing tools. This makes the interaction between those tools tedious and time-consuming due to the need for translators between theses different syntaxes. Beside requiring a multitude of translators, the translation process exposes the constant risk of loosing information due to the potential incompatibilities between the different dialects. Moreover, several tools introduce details of specific target hardware or qubit technologies within the QASM syntax and prevent porting the code to other hardwares. In this paper, we propose a common QASM syntax definition, named cQASM, which aims to abstract away qubit technology details and guarantee the interoperability between all the quantum compilation and simulation tools supporting this standard. Our vision is to enable an extensive quantum computing toolbox shared by all the quantum computing community.