Quantum Variables

A model operates on quantum objects, by modifying their states using different kinds of operations. Quantum objects represent values that are stored on one or more qubits. The simplest quantum object is a single qubit, representing the values 0 or 1 when measured. Other types of quantum objects are stored on multiple qubits and represent numeric values or arrays of qubits.

Quantum objects are managed in Qmod using quantum variables. Variables are introduced into the scope of a quantum function through the declaration of arguments or the declaration of local variables.

A quantum variable establishes its reference to some object by explicitly initializing it. This is often done by passing it as the output argument of a function, such as allocate(). Once initialized, the state of the object it references can be modified, but the variable's reference itself is immutable.

NativePython

qfunc main(output q1: qbit) {
  q2: qbit;
  allocate<1>(q1);
  allocate<1>(q2);
  CX(q1, q2);
}

A quantum variable is declared as a function argument using a Python class as a type hint. The same Python class is instantiated to declare a local variable, but in this case the name of the variable needs to be passed as an argument explicitly.

from classiq import Output, QBit, allocate, qfunc, CX


@qfunc
def main(q1: Output[QBit]):
    q2 = QBit("q2")
    allocate(1, q1)
    allocate(1, q2)
    CX(q1, q2)

Managing Quantum Variables

Here are the rules for managing quantum variables:

• Local variables and output-only arguments (arguments declared with the output modifier) are uninitialized upon declaration.
• Quantum arguments declared without a modifier or with the input modifier are guaranteed to be initialized.
• A variable is initialized in one of the following ways:
  • It is passed as the output-only argument of a function
  • It is used as the left-value of an assignment
  • It occurs on the right side of a -> (bind) statement
• Once initialized, a variable can be used as an argument in any number of quantum function calls, as long as it is not an output only or input-only argument (an argument declared with the output or input modifier).
• An initialized variable returns to its uninitialized state in one of the following ways:
  • It is passed as the input-only argument of a function
  • It occurs on the left side of a -> (bind) statement

The following diagram illustrates these rules:

flowchart LR
    StartUninit["local declaration
    output declaration"] --- Uninit
    Uninit((Uninitialized)) -- "output-arg
    bind-RHS
    assign-LHS" --> Init
    Init((Initialized)) -- "input-arg
    bind-LHS" --> Uninit
    Init -- arg --> Init
    Init --- StartInit["arg declaration
    output declaration"]

In the next example, the local variable a must be initialized prior to applying X() on it, since it is declared as an output-only argument of function main. Similarly, the local variable b is uninitialized upon declaration, and subsequently initialized through the call to prepare_state, to which it is passed as an output-only argument.

NativePython

qfunc main(output a: qbit) {
  allocate<1>(a);
  X(a);
  b: qbit[];
  prepare_state<[0.25, 0.25, 0.25, 0.25], 0.01>(b);
}

from classiq import allocate, qfunc, QBit, QArray, prepare_state, Output, X


@qfunc
def main(a: Output[QBit]) -> None:
    allocate(1, a)
    X(a)
    b = QArray("b")
    prepare_state(probabilities=[0.25, 0.25, 0.25, 0.25], bound=0.01, out=b)