Modular software for real-time quantum control systems

Real-time control software and hardware is essential for operating quantum computers. In particular, the software plays a crucial role in bridging the gap between quantum programs and the quantum system. Unfortunately, current control software is often optimized for a specific system at the cost of flexibility and portability. We propose a systematic design strategy for modular real-time quantum control software and demonstrate that modular control software can reduce the execution time overhead of kernels by 633% on average while not increasing the binary size. Our analysis shows that modular control software for two distinctly different systems can share between 49.8% and 91.0% of covered code statements. To demonstrate the modularity and portability of our software architecture, we run a portable randomized benchmarking experiment on two different ion-trap quantum systems.

Automated summary

Real-time control software and hardware are crucial for operating quantum computers. This study proposes a systematic design strategy for modular real-time quantum control software, which can significantly reduce the execution time overhead of kernels without increasing the binary size. The experiment demonstrates the modularity and portability of the software architecture on two different ion-trap quantum systems.