QUA, A Universal Language for Quantum Computers

20 June, 2020

QUA is qubit agnostic and supports all quantum processors. It combines universal quantum operations at the pulse-level, together with Turing-complete processing and control

A new computers language called QUA may be the first standard universal language for Quantum Computing. QUA allows researchers to intuitively program even the most complex quantum programs that are tightly integrated with classical processing and real-time decision-making. It was developed by Quantum Machines from Tel Aviv, whose prime activity is building a complete hardware and software solution for the control and operation of quantum computers.

A primary challengetoday is that every quantum computer has its own unique hardware. The unique nature of every system results in teams spending big amounts of time coding and programming new programs and algorithms. QUA is a pulse-level programming language for quantum devices, aimed to be a universal quantum computing software abstraction layer, suitable for all. To achieve this, several different criteria had to be fulfilled: semantical, technological, commercial and qubit agnostic.

From a semantic perspective, QUA combines universal quantum operations at the pulse-level, together with universal classical operations, namely, Turing-complete classical processing and comprehensive control-flow such as used in classical standard computers. QUA is relying on QM’s proprietary compiler, XQP, to do the heavy lifting for optimizing the many entangled quantum and classical operations. XQP compiles quantum programs to QM’s Pulse Processor assembly language which can then run them. Finally, QUA is qubit agnostic and supports all quantum processors.

$17.5M ivestment round

Used as part of Quantum Machines’ existing Quantum Orchestration Platform, QUA is a universal language. The company announced that its beta version has already been adopted by leading teams in multinational organisations, startups, national-labs, and academic institutions that develop quantum computers. “QUA is the first-ever programming language designed with the needs of quantum research in mind and offers teams a powerful and intuitive language designed not only for their present needs but also those of the future,” said Itamar Sivan, CEO of Quantum Machines.

QM was founded in 2018 by Drs. Itamar SivanYonatan Cohen and Nissim Ofek, three physics Ph.Ds from Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science. The QM team has since grown to nearly 30 employees — more than half of them physicists. In March 2020 it has secured $17.5M ivestment, led by the Israeli entrepreneur Avigdor Willenz, who sold Habana Labs to Intel in 2019 for $2 billion.

“The race to commercial quantum computers is one of the most exciting technological challenges of our generation,” said Willenz. “Our goal at QM is to make this happen faster than anticipated, and establish ourselves as an essential player in this emerging industry.”

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Posted in tags: Quantum Computer