AWS Braket: The Quantum Computing Tool

Gitesh Dhore 12 Oct, 2022 • 5 min read

This article was published as a part of the Data Science Blogathon.

Introduction

AWS named the service after a standard quantum notation called Braket, created in the late 1930s by Paul Dirac, a famous theoretical physicist. The Braket is a fully managed AWS service that provides a primarily technology-agnostic environment. Customers can design, develop, test, and run their quantum algorithms. Braket also offers simulated quantum computers that use Amazon EC2 computing resources and can simulate up to 34 qubits for testing and troubleshooting algorithms.

AWS Bracket
https://aws.amazon.com

What is AWS Braket?

Each piece of quantum hardware is accessible through Braket but resides on the premises of each respective provider. Once the customer is satisfied that their quantum algorithms are complete, they can run them on three different types of quantum hardware of their choice. Amazon Braket quantum hardware providers are: Superconducting qubits are an advanced technology with easy coupling, electronic control, and fast gates. It is the most widely used quantum technology.

IonQ provides an 11-qubit gated ion quantum computer. Individual ions, held in a vacuum by an electromagnetic trap generated by surrounding electrodes, use laser pulses to perform gate operations. Note: You cannot compare qubit-to-qubit between quantum annealers and gate-based machines. They are different technologies.

Prices of AWS Braket

Braket’s pricing structure has a task fee and a shot fee. You can also pay an hourly rate for using the quantum simulator managed by Amazon Braket. Amazon Braket defines a job as repeated shots (runs) based on the same circuit design or annealing problem. There is a per-task pricing tier for D-Wave, Rigetti, and IonQ. Missiles have a variable cost. Think of a shot as every time the algorithm runs. D-Wave, Rigetti, and IonQ have different speeds per shot.

Working and Functionalities of Braket

Amazon Braket is not the only quantum cloud service. IBM has a huge fleet of 22 superconducting quantum computers. In 2016, IBM was the first company to bring a quantum computer online. In addition to offering premium services, most of IBM’s quantum systems are publicly available, along with complete tutorials and a large library of useful algorithms. According to IBM, billions of quantum circuits are running on its network monthly.

Microsoft Azure Quantum offers a similar cloud service to Braket. However, its platform is still in a version for a select group of customers. Not available for general use. The Azure platform features trapped ion technologies from Honeywell Quantum Solutions and IonQ plus superconducting hardware from Quantum Circuits, Inc. (QCI). Honeywell recently announced that it has the world’s most powerful quantum computer with a quantum volume of 64.

Although the quality of the qubits is an important factor, the number of qubits alone does not tell the whole performance story. Meanwhile, quantum volume is a suitable measurement for gate-based quantum computers. It is hardware agnostic and considers the number of qubits, connectivity, ty and gate, and measurement errors. Additionally, and no less important, its numerical simplicity makes quantum computing more understandable to the general public, corporate management, and investors. Unfortunately, although it would be interesting, few companies publish their quantum volume numbers.

AWS Bracket
https://www.forbes.com

Keep in mind that we are still in the experimental era of quantum computing. A classical computer can usually do everything a quantum computer can do. Nevertheless, quantum cloud computing provides widespread global access to this technology. It enables customers, students, and researchers to start learning and planning for the future. With some of the technologies we’ve seen in the pipeline, there will come a time, maybe in 10 to 20 years, when quantum applications will be an integral part of our daily lives. Then quantum computers will be able to solve tomorrow’s big scientific, financial, and medical problems.

Recently, Google also made a breakthrough when it announced that the company had achieved quantum supremacy. The researchers published a scientific journal discussing efforts and techniques to build a quantum computer that can perform tasks that no classical computer can. On the other hand, instead of making against a big thing, the e-commerce giant Amazon quietly laid its cards on the table. Realizing the potential to solve computational problems beyond the reach of classical computers by using the laws of quantum mechanics to build more powerful information processing tools, the electronic communications giant’s cloud computing platform has joined hands with D-Wave, IonQ, and Rigetti to introduce its all-new quantum service of computers known as Braket.

A few days ago, the AWS office finally announced the launch of a trial version of Braket, its first-ever Quan computing service. The braket is derived from “braket notation,” a common for quantum states in quantum mechanics. Amazon’s Braket is a fully managed service that helps start quantum computing by providing a development environment for researching and designing quantum algorithms, testing them on simulated quantum computers, and running them on various quantum hardware technologies.

Why Use a Braket?

Accessing quantum computing hardware to run algorithms and optimize designs can be expensive and inconvenient. Also, programming quantum computers to solve problems requires new skills. Amazon Braket helps overcome these difficulties by providing a service that allows developers, researchers, and scientists to explore, evaluate, and experiment with quantum computing.

The service allows users to choose from a range of quantum computers, which include gate-based superconducting computers from Rigetti, superconducting quantum annealing computers from D-Wave, and ion trap computers from IonQ. Braket also allows users to design their quantum algorithms from scratch or choose from pre-built algorithms. Once an algorithm is defined, Braket provides a fully managed simulation service to assist in troubleshooting and verifying the implementation. The user can then run the algorithm on quantum computers, as mentioned earlier.

Conclusion

To make it easier for users to develop a hybrid algorithm that combines classical and quantum tasks, Amazon Braket helps manage classical computing resources and establish low-latency connections to quantum hardware.

  • Although the quality of the qubits is an important factor, the number of qubits alone does not tell the whole performance story. Meanwhile, quantum volume is a suitable measurement for gate-based quantum computers.
  • The service allows users to choose from a range of quantum computers, which include gate-based superconducting computers from Rigetti, superconducting quantum annealing computers from D-Wave, and ion trap computers from IonQ.
  • A classical computer can usually do everything a quantum computer can do. Nevertheless, quantum cloud computing provides widespread global access to this technology. It enables customers, students, and researchers to start learning and planning for the future.

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Gitesh Dhore 12 Oct 2022

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