A Quantum Logic Array Microarchitecture: Scalable Quantum Data Movement and Computation

• Main Authors: Metodi, Tzvetan S., Thaker, Darshan D., Cross, Andrew W., Chong, Frederic T., Chuang, Isaac L.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Error correction; Fault tolerance; Fault tolerant systems; Hardware > Emerging technologies; Hardware > Integrated circuits > Semiconductor memory; Logic arrays; Microarchitecture; Protocols; Quantum computing; Quantum mechanics; Resource management; Scalability
• ISSN: 1072-4451
• DOI: 10.1109/MICRO.2005.9

Recent experimental advances have demonstrated technologies capable of supporting scalable quantum computation. A critical next step is how to put those technologies together into a scalable, fault-tolerant system that is also feasible. We propose a Quantum Logic Array (QLA) microarchitecture that forms the foundation of such a system. The QLA focuses on the communication resources necessary to efficiently support fault-tolerant computations. We leverage the extensive groundwork in quantum error correction theory and provide analysis that shows that our system is both asymptotically and empirically fault tolerant. Specifically, we use the QLA to implement a hierarchical, array-based design and a logarithmic expense quantum-teleportation communication protocol. Our goal is to overcome the primary scalability challenges of reliability, communication, and quantum resource distribution that plague current proposals for large-scale quantum computing. Our work complements recent work by Balenseifer et al [1], which studies the software tool chain necessary to simplify development of quantum applications; here we focus on modeling a fullscale optimized microarchitecture for scalable computing.