Amazon Web Services (AWS) has introduced a cloud-based queue system primarily for research and experimental data uploading. The Cloud Queue for Quantum Devices project offers a straightforward cloud-based access mechanism for exposing practical devices to a global audience. Logging into a bespoke web interface allows users to see which devices they can access, learn about the device’s specific attributes, conduct experiments on that device, and receive their experimental data when finished.
All of the quantum computers now available on Amazon Bracket, Amazon Web Services (AWS) quantum computing service, began in the laboratories of experimental physicists. Technological innovation in these complex systems requires continuous iteration of device design, fabrication procedures, and control strategies. These devices require highly segregated settings and sensitive, complicated components to facilitate interactions.
Open-Source Software for Quantum Experiments
The Quantum Instrumentation Control Kit (QICK) project is a collaborative project initiated by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the University of Chicago, and Princeton University. The Quantum Science Center supports it, a Department of Energy National Quantum Information Science Research Center headquartered at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
QICK is an open-source software project that provides firmware that runs on an AMD Xilinx general-purpose rapid prototyping board, converting it into an FPGA-powered control platform for quantum devices.
Through David Schuster, an Amazon Scholar, the QICK platform has made the cloud-based system to the quantum team of QICK to allow access to users not physically close to the hardware and enable anyone in the research community to use the AWS Cloud to access the devices from anywhere globally.
Thus, the Amazon quantum team has collaborated with the Quantum Instrumentation Control Kit (QICK) team to create a cloud-based queue that allows many users to submit tests remotely and experimental findings to be uploaded to the cloud for analysis. The Cloud Queue for Quantum Devices makes it simple for the owner of a QICK-based device to build a queue for devices, create user accounts, provision access, and manage workloads in the queue.
Logging into a bespoke web interface allows users to see which devices they have access to, learn about the device’s specific attributes, conduct experiments on that device, and receive their experimental data when finished.
“This collaboration with AWS is a key example of how QICK research funded by the Quantum Science Center is accelerating the development of quantum technology.”
Travis Humble, director of the Quantum Science Center.
The possibility of collaborating with other open-source control systems for quantum computing and sensing devices, such as ARTIQ, QubiC, or QIBO, excites the researchers.
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