Blueprinting quantum computing systems

TL;DR

This paper reviews various architectural structures for quantum computing systems, highlighting their evolution from basic proposals to detailed blueprints used by national programs and startups, emphasizing the importance of system design at scale.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive review of quantum computer architectures that have been adopted by major programs and startups, illustrating the evolution and complexity of system design.

Findings

Architectural designs have evolved from simple qubit identification to detailed blueprints.

Several architectures reviewed are adopted by national and commercial quantum initiatives.

Design considerations now include physical qubit nature, environmental, and control infrastructure.

Abstract

The development of quantum computing systems has been a staple of academic research since the mid-1990s when the first proposal for physical platforms were proposed using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and Ion-Trap hardware. These first proposals were very basic, essentially consisting of identifying a physical qubit (two-level quantum system) that could be isolated and controlled to achieve universal quantum computation. Over the past thirty years, the nature of quantum architecture design has changed significantly and the scale of investment, groups and companies involved in building quantum computers has increased exponentially. Architectural design for quantum computers examines systems at scale: fully error-corrected machines, potentially consisting of millions if not billions of physical qubits. These designs increasingly act as blueprints for academic groups and companies and are becoming increasingly more detailed, taking into account both the nature and operation of the physical qubits themselves and also peripheral environmental and control infrastructure that is required for each physical system. In this paper, several architectural structures that I have worked on will be reviewed, each of which has been adopted by either a national quantum computing program or a quantum startup.