Tackling the Challenges of Adding Pulse-level Support to a Heterogeneous HPCQC Software Stack : MQSS Pulse
/ Authors
Jorge Echavarria, Muhammad Nufail Farooqi, A. Devra, Santana Lujan, L. V. Damme, Hossam Ahmed, Martín Letras, Ercüment Kaya, Adrian Vetter, M. Werninghaus
and 15 more authors
M. Knudsen, F. Rohde, Albert Frisch, Eric Mansfield, Rakhim Davletkaliyev, V. Kukushkin, N. Farkkila, Janne Mantyla, N. Pomplun, Andreas Sporl, Lukas Burgholzer, Yannick Stade, Robert Wille, L. Schulz, Martin Schulz
/ Abstract
We study the problem of adding native pulse-level control to heterogeneous High Performance Computing-Quantum Computing (HPCQC) software stacks, using the Munich Quantum Software Stack (MQSS) as a case study. The goal is to expand the capabilities of HPCQC environments by offering the ability for low-level access and control, currently typically not foreseen for such hybrid systems. For this, we need to establish new interfaces that integrate such pulse-level control into the lower layers of the software stack, including the need for proper representation.Pulse-level quantum programs can be fully described with only three low-level abstractions: ports (input/output channels), frames (reference signals), and waveforms (pulse envelopes). We identify four key challenges to represent those pulse abstractions at: the user-interface level, at the compiler level (including the Intermediate Representation (IR)), and at the backend-interface level (including the appropriate exchange format). For each challenge, we propose concrete solutions in the context of MQSS. These include introducing a compiled (C/C++) pulse Application Programming Interface (API) to overcome Python runtime overhead, extending its LLVM support to include pulse-related instructions, using its C-based backend interface to query relevant hardware constraints, and designing a portable exchange format for pulse sequences. Our integrated approach provides an end-to-end path for pulse-aware compilation and runtime execution in HPCQC environments. This work lays out the architectural blueprint for extending HPCQC integration to support pulse-level quantum operations without disrupting state-of-the-art classical workflows.CCS Concepts• Software and its engineering → Just-in-time compilers; Runtime environments; Formal language definitions; General programming languages; • Computer systems organization → Quantum computing; • Hardware → Quantum technologies.
Journal: SC25-W: Workshops of the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis