What is Azure Quantum?
Azure Quantum offers a range of quantum computing solutions, including quantum hardware from industry-leading providers, quantum software, and quantum services. With Azure Quantum, you can run quantum programs on real quantum hardware, simulate quantum algorithms, and estimate the resources needed to run your quantum programs on future scaled quantum machines.
To learn more about how you can use quantum computing and quantum algorithms, see What is quantum computing?
How to get started with Azure Quantum#
To use Azure Quantum, you need an Azure account and an Azure Quantum workspace. To develop quantum programs and submit jobs to run on Azure Quantum, use the Microsoft Quantum Development Kit (QDK).
To get an Azure account, register for free and sign up for a pay-as-you-go subscription. If you're a student, you can take advantage of a free Azure account for students.
Note: You don't need an Azure account to use the QDK.
The Microsoft Quantum Development Kit#
The Microsoft Quantum Development Kit (QDK) is a software development kit designed specifically for quantum development. With the QDK, you can write programs in different quantum programming languages, debug your code, visualize quantum circuits and results, and submit jobs to quantum hardware providers on Azure Quantum. The QDK supports Microsoft's Q# programming language, along with other languages like Qiskit, Cirq, and OpenQASM.
The QDK is free and open source. To get started, install the QDK extension in Visual Studio Code or install the QDK Python package. For more information, see Set up the Microsoft Quantum Development Kit.
The Azure portal#
If you have an Azure account, use the Azure portal to create an Azure Quantum workspace — a collection of assets associated with running quantum programs. With the Azure portal, you can submit your quantum programs to real quantum hardware, manage your workspace, view information about your quantum jobs, and monitor your programs.
What is Q#?#
Q# is an open-source quantum programming language created by Microsoft to develop and run your quantum programs.
You can think of a quantum program as a set of classical subroutines that interact with a quantum system to perform a computation. A Q# program doesn't directly model the quantum state, but rather describes how a classical control computer interacts with qubits. Q# is hardware-agnostic, so you don't need to consider actual qubit technologies when you write Q# programs — your Q# code can run on any quantum hardware technology.
Q# is a standalone language that offers a high level of abstraction. There's no notion of a quantum state or circuit; instead, Q# implements programs in terms of statements and expressions, like classical programming languages such as Python. You can seamlessly integrate classical and quantum computing structures in your Q# code.
To start writing Q# code, see Create your first Q# program.
What can I do with Azure Quantum?#
Azure Quantum offers a wide range of services and tools to help you develop quantum solutions.
Hybrid quantum computing#
Hybrid quantum computing refers to the processes and architecture of a classical computer and a quantum computer working together to solve a problem. With the latest generation of hybrid quantum computer architecture available in Azure Quantum, you can get started with a classical-quantum hybrid approach to programming.
Resource estimation in quantum computing#
Resource estimation is a technique to understand the resources required to run an algorithm on a quantum computer. When you understand the resource requirements for different types of quantum hardware, you can prepare and refine your quantum solutions to run on future scaled quantum machines — for example, to determine the feasibility of breaking a particular encryption algorithm on a specific type of quantum computer.
The Microsoft Quantum resource estimator lets you assess architectural decisions, compare qubit technologies, and determine the resources needed to run a specific quantum algorithm, using pre-defined fault-tolerant protocols or your own models.
Quantum speedup#
Quantum computers do exceptionally well with problems that require calculations across a large number of possible combinations — quantum simulation, cryptography, quantum machine learning, and search problems. One well-known example is Grover's algorithm, which speeds up unstructured data searches by running the search in fewer steps than any classical algorithm could.
Quantum providers available on Azure Quantum#
Azure Quantum partners with several providers so you can run your quantum programs on real hardware or on hardware simulators:
- IonQ — Dynamically reconfigurable trapped-ion quantum computers for up to 36 fully connected qubits, letting you run a two-qubit gate between any pair.
- Pasqal — Neutral atom-based quantum processors that operate at room temperature, with long coherence times and impressive qubit connectivity.
- Quantinuum — Trapped-ion systems with high-fidelity, fully connected qubits, low error rates, qubit reuse, and the ability to perform mid-circuit measurements.
- Rigetti — Superconducting qubit-based quantum processors offering fast gate times, low-latency conditional logic, and fast program execution times.