Implement virtual distillation, an error mitigation technique, in Qiskit

[derek-wang-ibm]

Description

Quantum error mitigation is "the continuous path that will take us from today's quantum hardware to tomorrow's fault-tolerant quantum computers". Error mitigation reduces the effects of noise to achieve the best performance with today's near-term intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) devices. Several error mitigation techniques have already been implemented in Qiskit, such as readout error mitigation and dynamical decoupling.

Virtual distillation is a new method for correcting errors in estimating observable by distilling out the desired quantum state from multiple virtual and noisy copies. In Qiskit, we have prototyped a more resource-efficient version of this method and demonstrated improvements in performance.

We would like to implement this method fully into Qiskit, potentially taking advantage of Qiskit Runtime, to enable broader use of this novel error mitigation technique and, ultimately, usage of IBM's quantum devices.

Deliverables

PR request for virtual distillation for error mitigation and, potentially, a blog post and section in Qiskit Textbook's error mitigation chapter

Mentors details

• Mentor 1
  • Name: Swarnadeep Majumder
  • GitHub ID: swarnadeep-majumder
  • What they do: Researcher on Qiskit Leap
• Mentor 2
  • Name: Alireza Seif
  • GitHub ID: alireza-seif
  • What they do: Researcher on Qiskit Leap
• Mentor 3
  • Name: Derek Wang
  • GitHub ID: Derek-Wang
  • What they do: Researcher on Qiskit Leap

Number of mentees

1

Type of mentees

• Mentee 1
  • Required:
  • Experience contributing to open-source software and, specifically, Qiskit
  • Nice to have:
  • Basic knowledge of quantum information theory, including error characterization and error mitigation techniques

[zlatko-minev]

Great project and we get to work together

[BramDo]

This seems to be a great project, with great possibilities. I have som experience with contributing open source software also qiskit, but on a smaller scale like simple bug removal and test scripts.

[orielkiss]

Hi @GemmaDawson

[newsma]

Hi @GemmaDawson

[alirezaseif-ibm]

tag @GemmaDawson

[GemmaDawson]

Please add your Checkpoint 1 presentation materials.

[orielkiss]

Material for check point 1 VD.pptx

[orielkiss]

QAMP_22_VD.pdf Here is the report and one figure summarizing the main results obtained at this stage @GemmaDawson

[orielkiss]

Here are my slides @GemmaDawson VD_qamp.pdf

[GemmaDawson]

Congratulations on completing all the requirements for QAMP Fall 2022!! 🌟🌟🌟