NetQASM -- A low-level instruction set architecture for hybrid quantum-classical programs in a quantum internet

TL;DR

NetQASM is a universal, extendable instruction set architecture designed for quantum internet applications, enabling high-level programming of quantum networks with platform independence and integration of classical and quantum operations.

Contribution

The paper introduces NetQASM, a novel low-level instruction set architecture that supports quantum networking, classical logic, and is platform-independent, with accompanying tools and SDKs for practical implementation.

Findings

NetQASM enables programming of quantum internet applications in high-level, platform-independent software.

The authors developed tools and SDKs, including Python interfaces and simulators, for writing and executing NetQASM code.

NetQASM facilitates integration of classical and quantum operations at different layers of quantum networks.

Abstract

We introduce NetQASM, a low-level instruction set architecture for quantum internet applications. NetQASM is a universal, platform-independent and extendable instruction set with support for local quantum gates, powerful classical logic and quantum networking operations for remote entanglement generation. Furthermore, NetQASM allows for close integration of classical logic and communication at the application layer with quantum operations at the physical layer. This enables quantum network applications to be programmed in high-level platform-independent software, which is not possible using any other QASM variants. We implement NetQASM in a series of tools to write, parse, encode and run NetQASM code, which are available online. Our tools include a higher-level SDK in Python, which allows an easy way of programming applications for a quantum internet. Our SDK can be used at home by making use of our existing quantum simulators, NetSquid and SimulaQron, and will also provide a public interface to hardware released on a future iteration of Quantum Network Explorer.