ctrl-VQE: Julianic simulations of a pulse-level VQE

We discuss the ctrl-VQE algorithm, a variant of the popular Variational Quantum Eigensolver for solving molecular electronic states which has the potential to reduce runtimes on a quantum computer by orders of magnitude. Our most recent implementation of ctrl-VQE using Julia allows us to simulate our algorithm much faster than our previous Python code, enabling a more thorough analysis which has revealed strategies to improve the runtime of the algorithm even more.

This research was performed by a joint collaboration between the Virginia Tech Chemistry and Physics departments.

This research was supported by the US. Department of Energy (DoE) Award No. DE-SC0019199 and by the DoE Office of Science, National Quantum Information Science Research Centers, Co-design Center for Quantum Advantage (C2QA) under contract number DE-SC0012704.