India’s first quantum computer simulator toolkit launched

The toolkit will enable researchers and students to carry out research in quantum computing in a cost-effective manner.

The Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has launched the country’s first ‘Quantum Computer Simulator (QSim) Toolkit’.  QSim is a first-of-its-kind toolkit to be indigenously developed and is intended to be a vital tool in learning and understanding the practical aspects of programming using quantum computers. It is a collaborative effort of IISc (Indian Institute of Science) Bangalore, IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) Roorkee and C-DAC (Centre for Development of Advanced Computing). It will enable researchers and students to research quantum computing in a cost-effective manner. 

What is quantum computing? 

Quantum computing is a rapidly emerging computational paradigm that can perform a variety of tasks with greater speed and efficiency than present day digital computers by harnessing the power of quantum mechanics. In areas such as cryptography, computational chemistry and machine learning, quantum computing promises exponential growth in computing power.  

Features of Qsim 

• QSim allows researchers and students to write and debug quantum code that is essential for developing quantum algorithms. 
• It equips researchers to explore quantum algorithms under idealised conditions and assists them in making necessary arrangements for experiments to run on actual quantum hardware.  
• It can serve as an essential educational/research tool providing an excellent way to attract students/researchers to the field of quantum technology. 
• The toolkit creates a platform that helps students and users acquire the skills of ‘programming’ and ‘designing’ real quantum hardware. 

As part of the “Design and Development of Quantum Computing Toolkit (Simulator, Workbench) and Capacity Building” project, the team from IIT Roorkee helped the teams from the Indian Institute of Science, CDAC-Bangalore, CDAC-Hyderabad, in providing the required expertise in quantum computing and developing programmes to be tested and implemented on the toolkit.  

Prof Ajit K Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee, said, “IIT Roorkee will continue to play an active role in quantum computing education and research. The quantum simulator being launched is poised to be a key enabler in this direction.” 

Introductory courses on quantum computation  

In line with promoting research and studies in quantum computing, IIT Roorkee recently offered two introductory courses on quantum computation. The first course was launched through the E&ICT academy in October 2020 and was attended by over 400 participants from various backgrounds, with 165 participants obtaining certificates from the academy.  

The second course was offered to scientists and officers at various government agencies and laboratories in March 2021 and was attended by close to 100 participants. 

Read more:

• IIT Patna offers free course on big data computing
• IIT Roorkee Director Interview: New MTech, MS courses launched in response to huge market demand