Topic outline

  • General


    Lecture hall: R001/M140 Majakka

    Q&A hall: R001/Y307

    Schedule (list of topics might change slightly)

    Week Tuesday
    		 Wednesday
    1 (24 April - 30 April)
    		 0800-1200 Introduction, Gates, Circuit Identities
    		 0800-1000 Cirq tutorial;
    1000-1200 Q&A
    2 (1 May - 7 May)
    		 0800-1200 Teleportation, Superdense Coding, QKD
    		 0800-1000 Qiskit Tutorial;
    1000-1200 Q&A
    3 (8 May - 14 May)
    		 0800-1200 Phase Kickback, Toffoli, Bernstein-Vazirani, Simon's and Grover's Algorithms;
    		 0800-1000 Prog. Q&A;
    1000-1200 Q&A
    4 (15 May - 21 May)
    		 no lecture
    		 0800-1000 Prog. Q&A;
    1000-1200 Q&A
    5 (22 May - 28 May)
    		 0800-1200  Arithmetic Circuits
    		 0800-1000 Prog. Q&A;
    1000-1200 Q&A
    6 (29 May - 4 June)
    		 0800-1200 Fault-Tolerance
    		 0800-1000 Prog. Q&A;
    1000-1200 Q&A

    Grading.
    Total points: 50; Min. needed to pass: 20 points
    • Quiz (timed on MyCourses, with tutorial questions, at the end of last week) - 20 points
    • Project Simulator - 10 Points
    • Project Circuit Optimizer - 20 Points
    • Project 3 - 50 Points

    Grade Points
    0 0-19
    1 20-30
    2 31-40
    3 41-50
    4 51-75
    5 76-100

    Project3
    • can be a github issue from Cirq, Qiskit or PennyLane issues after having discussed the selection beforehand with us
    • can be chosen from a list which will be provided after week 1
    • will be presented in the form of a workshop on a date to be announced
    TAs:
    1. Arshpreet Singh Maan arshpreet.maan@aalto.fi
    2. Alex Ilov alex.ilov@aalto.fi

    Motivation. Quantum computing promises a technical revolution, but what exactly does it refer to? Popular science articles often talk about qubit, entanglement, algorithm, quantum chemistry and the discovery of new drugs and materials. It is important to introduce the foundations of quantum computing, from a practical, realistic and (whenever possible) visual perspective. Quantum communication networks are already used for communicating across continents (Europe-Asia), and the first small scale quantum computers are available in the cloud for experiments. Nevertheless, industrially relevant quantum computing seems to be at least a decade away, because quantum error correction is a necessity but the current hardware is too resource restricted.

    Objectives. Introduce the theory and practice necessary for answering:

    • What is quantum computing and what are quantum computers?
    • What is quantum supremacy, or when will quantum computers become more powerful/relevant than classical ones?
    • What can be computed with the currently available quantum chips (NISQ)?
    • How does one use the current available quantum chips?
    • How is arithmetic performed on a quantum computer?
    • What is the surface code? What is braiding? Lattice surgery?
    Cirq tutorial: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1DgZOz2samNm1B6RQ-VRcCqPIvA3QmZ4PUHQB-CpIjq0/edit?usp=sharing