Muzzle the Shuttle: Efficient Compilation for Multi-Trap Trapped-Ion Quantum Computers

TL;DR

This paper presents compiler optimizations for multi-trap trapped-ion quantum computers that significantly reduce shuttle operations and improve program fidelity, enabling more efficient quantum computations.

Contribution

It introduces novel compiler techniques that cut shuttle operations by up to 51.17% and enhance fidelity, addressing limitations of previous methods.

Findings

Up to 51.17% reduction in shuttle operations.

Fidelity improved by up to 22.68 times.

Average shuttle reduction of approximately 33%.

Abstract

Trapped-ion systems can have a limited number of ions (qubits) in a single trap. Increasing the qubit count to run meaningful quantum algorithms would require multiple traps where ions need to shuttle between traps to communicate. The existing compiler has several limitations which result in a high number of shuttle operations and degraded fidelity. In this paper, we target this gap and propose compiler optimizations to reduce the number of shuttles. Our technique achieves a maximum reduction of $51.17\%$ in shuttles (average $\approx 33\%$) tested over $125$ circuits. Furthermore, the improved compilation enhances the program fidelity up to $22.68$X with a modest increase in the compilation time.