APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR A HYBRID CLASSICAL-QUANTUM PROCESSOR

• US 20190042970A1
• Filed: 09/27/2018
• Published: 02/07/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2018
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Sonika Johri
• Inventors: Zou, Xiang, Johri, Sonika
• Application Number:
  US16/144,828
• Publication Number:
  US 20190042970A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/30101 Special purpose registers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/3013 according to data content, e.g. floating-point registers, address registers
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/3818 Decoding for concurrent execution
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/3858 Result writeback, i.e. updating the architectural state or memory
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/3877 using a slave processor, e.g. coprocessor peripheral processor G06F13/12; vector processor G06F15/8053
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 10/00 Quantum computing, i.e. information processing based on quantum-mechanical phenomena
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 20/00 Machine learning

Abstract

A hybrid classical-quantum processor is described. For example, one embodiment of a processor comprises: a decoder comprising quantum instruction decode circuitry to decode quantum instructions to generate decoded quantum instructions and non-quantum instruction decode circuitry to decode non-quantum instructions to generate decoded non-quantum instructions; execution circuitry including a first plurality of functional units to execute the decoded quantum instructions and a second plurality of functional units to execute the decoded non-quantum instructions; a shared register file shared by the first plurality of functional units and the second plurality of functional units, the shared register file to store operands used for execution of the decoded quantum instructions and decoded non-quantum instructions; and a classical-quantum (C-Q) interface to couple the execution circuitry to a quantum processor, the C-Q interface comprising digital-to-analog circuitry to generate analog signals to manipulate a current state of one or more quantum bits (qubits) of the quantum processor in response to execution of the decoded quantum instructions.

Claims

1. A processor comprising:

a decoder comprising quantum instruction decode circuitry to decode quantum instructions to generate decoded quantum instructions and non-quantum instruction decode circuitry to decode non-quantum instructions to generate decoded non-quantum instructions;

execution circuitry including a first plurality of functional units to execute the decoded quantum instructions and a second plurality of functional units to execute the decoded non-quantum instructions;

a shared register file shared by the first plurality of functional units and the second plurality of functional units, the shared register file to store operands used for execution of the decoded quantum instructions and decoded non-quantum instructions; and

a classical-quantum (C-Q) interface to couple the execution circuitry to a quantum processor, the C-Q interface comprising digital-to-analog circuitry to generate analog signals to manipulate a current state of one or more quantum bits (qubits) of the quantum processor in response to execution of the decoded quantum instructions.

2. The processor of claim 1 wherein the C-Q interface further comprises analog-to-digital circuitry to convert one or more analog measurements taken from one or more of the qubits to one or more digital values to be stored in the shared register file.

3. The processor of claim 2 wherein the quantum instruction decode circuitry decodes each quantum instruction into a set of one or more quantum microoperations (uops) and wherein the non-quantum instruction decode circuitry decodes each non-quantum instruction into a set of one or more non-quantum uops.

4. The processor of claim 3 wherein the first plurality of functional units are to execute the quantum uops and the second plurality of functional units are to execute the non-quantum uops.

5. The processor of claim 4 wherein the shared register file is to store source and destination operands responsive to execution of the quantum uops and non-quantum uops.

6. The processor of claim 5 wherein at least one destination operand comprises a result generated from a measurement of one or more of the qubits, the measurement converted to the destination operand by the C-Q interface.

7. The processor of claim 1 further comprising:

instruction fetch circuitry to fetch the quantum instructions and non-quantum instructions from executable program code stored in a region of a system memory, the executable program code including the quantum and non-quantum instructions.

8. The processor of claim 7 further comprising:

a level 1 (L1) instruction cache to store the quantum instructions and the non-quantum instructions prior to decoding by the decoder.

9. The processor of claim 6 wherein the digital-to-analog circuitry of the C-Q interface comprises a set of codeword triggered pulse generation (CTPG) units to generate sequences of pulses to control the qubits of the quantum processor in response to codewords generated by the first set of functional units.

10. The processor of claim 9 wherein a first codeword is to be generated in response to the first set of functional units executing a first decoded quantum instruction, the first codeword comprising a first field to identify one or more qubits on which an operation is to be performed and a second field to identify a channel over which to control the one or more qubits.

11. The processor of claim 2 wherein the analog-to-digital circuitry comprises one or more of the measurement discrimination units (MDUs) to generate digital values responsive to one or more qubit measurements.

12. A method comprising:

loading runtime program code containing quantum instructions and non-quantum instruction in a memory;

decoding the quantum instructions to generate decoded quantum instructions and decoding the non-quantum instructions to generate decoded non-quantum instructions;

concurrently executing the decoded quantum instructions on a first plurality of functional units of a processor and the decoded non-quantum instructions on a second plurality of functional units of the processor;

storing operands used for execution of the decoded quantum instructions and decoded non-quantum instructions in a shared register file; and

generating analog signals to manipulate a current state of one or more quantum bits (qubits) of the quantum processor in response to execution of the decoded quantum instructions.

13. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

converting one or more analog measurements taken from one or more of the qubits to one or more digital values; and

storing the one or more digital values in the shared register file.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein each of the decoded quantum instructions comprise one or more quantum microoperations (uops) and wherein each of the decoded non-quantum instructions comprise one or more non-quantum uops.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the first plurality of functional units are to execute the quantum uops and the second plurality of functional units are to execute the non-quantum uops.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the shared register file is to store source and destination operands responsive to execution of the quantum uops and non-quantum uops.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein at least one destination operand comprises a result generated from a measurement of one or more of the qubits and converted to the one or more digital values

18. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

fetching the quantum instructions and non-quantum instructions from executable program code stored in a region of a system memory, the executable program code including the quantum and non-quantum instructions.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

storing the quantum instructions and the non-quantum instructions in a level 1 (L1) instruction cache prior to decoding by the decoder.

20. The method of claim 17 generating sequences of pulses to control the qubits of the quantum processor in response to codewords generated by the first set of functional units.

21. The method of claim 20 wherein a first codeword is to be generated in response to the first set of functional units executing a first decoded quantum instruction, the first codeword comprising a first field to identify one or more qubits on which an operation is to be performed and a second field to identify a channel over which to control the one or more qubits.

22. The method of claim 13 wherein the converting is performed by analog-to-digital circuitry of one or more measurement discrimination units (MDUs).

23. A machine-readable medium having program code stored thereon which, when executed by a machine, causes the machine to perform the operations of:

loading runtime program code containing quantum instructions and non-quantum instruction in a memory;

decoding the quantum instructions to generate decoded quantum instructions and decoding the non-quantum instructions to generate decoded non-quantum instructions;

concurrently executing the decoded quantum instructions on a first plurality of functional units of a processor and the decoded non-quantum instructions on a second plurality of functional units of the processor;

storing operands used for execution of the decoded quantum instructions and decoded non-quantum instructions in a shared register file; and

generating analog signals to manipulate a current state of one or more quantum bits (qubits) of the quantum processor in response to execution of the decoded quantum instructions.

24. The machine-readable medium of claim 23 further comprising program code to cause the machine to perform the operations of:

converting one or more analog measurements taken from one or more of the qubits to one or more digital values; and

storing the one or more digital values in the shared register file.

25. The machine-readable medium of claim 24 wherein each of the decoded quantum instructions comprise one or more quantum microoperations (uops) and wherein each of the decoded non-quantum instructions comprise one or more non-quantum uops.

26. The machine-readable medium of claim 25 wherein the first plurality of functional units are to execute the quantum uops and the second plurality of functional units are to execute the non-quantum uops.

27. The machine-readable medium of claim 26 wherein the shared register file is to store source and destination operands responsive to execution of the quantum uops and non-quantum uops.

28. The machine-readable medium of claim 27 wherein at least one destination operand comprises a result generated from a measurement of one or more of the qubits and converted to the one or more digital values

29. The machine-readable medium of claim 23 further comprising program code to cause the machine to perform the operations of:

fetching the quantum instructions and non-quantum instructions from executable program code stored in a region of a system memory, the executable program code including the quantum and non-quantum instructions.

30. The machine-readable medium of claim 29 further comprising program code to cause the machine to perform the operations of:

storing the quantum instructions and the non-quantum instructions in a level 1 (L1) instruction cache prior to decoding by the decoder.

31. The machine-readable medium of claim 28 generating sequences of pulses to control the qubits of the quantum processor in response to codewords generated by the first set of functional units.

32. The machine-readable medium of claim 31 wherein a first codeword is to be generated in response to the first set of functional units executing a first decoded quantum instruction, the first codeword comprising a first field to identify one or more qubits on which an operation is to be performed and a second field to identify a channel over which to control the one or more qubits.

33. The machine-readable medium of claim 24 wherein the converting is performed by analog-to-digital circuitry of one or more measurement discrimination units (MDUs).