Mind the Gap: Challenges and Opportunities in Closing the Algorithms-to-Devices Gap in Quantum Computing
From its initial proposal, Quantum Computing (QC) has had captivating potential, and scientists have worked on advancing towards that potential. With well-known algorithms as motivation, and increasingly capable hardware devices, QC has now reached an interesting and important inflection point. The Algorithms-to-Devices gap in QC refers to the orders of magnitude difference between the quantity and quality of resources needed by QC algorithms, and what has been successfully built today.
What is needed now are computer scientists and engineers to develop the crucial intermediate tool flows, abstraction layers, and programming languages that will help QC systems close this gap and reach practical quantum advantage. My talk will offer some recent results from my group about new applications, compiler, and architecture approaches for bridging the gap. More broadly, I will advocate for the role that computer scientists and engineers—particularly architecture and systems researchers — must play in order for QC to reach its full potential.