Design Verification of the Quantum Control Stack

Abstract: This paper describes the verification of the classical software and hardware stack that is used to control cold atom- and superconducting-based quantum computing hardware. The paper serves both as an introduction to quantum computing and to how classical device verification techniques can be employed there. Two main challenges in building a quantum control stack are generating precise deterministic-timing operations at the edge and scaled-out processing in the middle layer. Both challenges are to do with a certain kind of functional performance correctness. And, as usual, the design lives under tight power, memory and latency constraints. The quantum control stack is a complex interaction of algorithms, software runtimes and digital hardware. We take inspiration from modern software approaches to engineering, such as continuous integration and hardware automation, to quickly ship experimental features to customers in the field.