Synthesis of Quantum Circuits with an Island Genetic Algorithm

TL;DR

This paper introduces an island genetic algorithm for efficiently decomposing unitary matrices into quantum circuits, aiding quantum algorithm development on classical simulators.

Contribution

It presents a novel evolutionary search method based on the island model for quantum circuit synthesis, applicable to various quantum gates.

Findings

Efficient decomposition of quantum circuits demonstrated.

Algorithm effective for coin, Toffoli, and Fredkin gates.

Approach limited only by computational resources.

Abstract

While advances in quantum hardware occur in modest steps, simulators running on classical computers provide a valuable test bed for the construction of quantum algorithms. Given a unitary matrix that performs certain operation, obtaining the equivalent quantum circuit, even if as an approximation of the input unitary, is a non-trivial task and can be modeled as a search problem. This work presents an evolutionary search algorithm based on the island model concept, for the decomposition of unitary matrices in their equivalent circuit. Three problems are explored: the coin for the quantum walker, the Toffoli gate and the Fredkin gate. The algorithm proposed proved to be efficient in decomposition of quantum circuits, and as a generic approach, it is limited only by the available computational power.