pytket-aqt

Pytket is a python module for interfacing with tket, a quantum computing toolkit and optimising compiler developed by Quantinuum.

pytket-aqt is an extension to pytket that allows pytket circuits to be executed on AQT's (Alpine Quantum Technologies') quantum devices and simulators.

See extension documentation for more.

Getting started

pytket-aqt is available for Python 3.10, 3.11 and 3.12, on Linux, MacOS and Windows. To install, run:

pip install pytket-aqt

This will install pytket if it isn't already installed, and add new classes and methods into the pytket.extensions namespace.

Available devices

pytket-aqt offers offline simulators for aqt devices that do not require special access. Access to remote simulators and machines can be configured by providing an AQT access token.

To see which devices are available to you, use the AQTBackend.print_device_table method. This method will prompt for an access token if none has been configured. Providing a token at the prompt will store it in memory for further API use. Skip the prompt to see the available offline simulators. It is also possible to store and use your access token across sessions using config.set_aqt_config.

Ion Shuttling

The AQTMultiZoneBackend supports routing of a circuit to a particular segmented ion-trap architecture before submission. This feature is experimental and not necessary for any currently available AQT devices. In order to use the graph partitioning based algorithms within this context, a manual installation of the mt-kahypar package is necessary. See the instructions there for details.

Bugs, support and feature requests

Please file bugs and feature requests on the Github issue tracker.

There is also a Slack channel for discussion and support. Click here to join.

Development

This project uses Poetry for packaging and dependency management and Nox for task automation.

Recommended development setup

Install development tools:

pip install -r dev-tool-requirements.txt

Local development with Nox (recommended)

Nox can be used to automate various development tasks running in isolated python environments. The following Nox sessions are provided:

• pre-commit: run the configured pre-commit hooks within .pre-commit-config.yaml, this includes linting with black and pylint
• mypy: run type checks using mypy
• tests: run the unit tests
• docs-build: build the documentation

To run a session use:

nox -s <session_name>

To save time, reuse the session virtual environment using the -r option, i.e. nox -rs <session_name> (may cause errors after a dependency update).

Pre-commit can be used to run the pre-commit hooks before each commit. This is recommended. To set up the pre-commit hooks to run automatically on each commit run:

nox -s pre-commit -- install

Afterward, the pre-configured hooks will run on all changed files in a commit and the commit will be rejected if the hooks find errors. Some hooks will correct formatting issues automatically (but will still reject the commit, so that the git commit command will need to be repeated).

Local development without Nox

To install the local package, its dependencies and various development dependencies run:

poetry install --with tests,docs,mypy,pre-commit

This will install the dependencies within an isolated virtual environment managed by Poetry. To activate that environment run:

poetry shell

Within this environment, the following commands can be used:

# run tests
pytest tests
# run mypy
mypy --explicit-package-bases pytket tests docs/conf.py docs/build-docs
# run pre-commit checks
pre-commit run --all-files --show-diff-on-failure
# build documentation
./docs/build-docs

To exit the Poetry environment, run:

exit

Contributing

Pull requests are welcome. To make a PR, first fork the repo, make your proposed changes on the main branch, and open a PR from your fork. If it passes tests and is accepted after review, it will be merged in.

Code style

Formatting and Linting

All code will be checked on the CI with black and pylint as configured within the pre-commit checks. These checks should be run locally before any pull request submission using the corresponding nox session or pre-commit directly (see above). The used versions of the formatting ad linting tools is specified in the pyproject.toml.

Type annotation

On the CI, mypy is used as a static type checker and all submissions must pass its checks. You should therefore run mypy locally on any changed files before submitting a PR. This should be done using the method described under Local development with Nox or without Nox.

Adding Tests

When adding a new feature, please add appropriate tests for it within the tests directory. When fixing a bug, please add a test that demonstrates the fix.