Quantum circuit

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Quantum circuit

In <a href="/en/Quantum_information_theory" title="Quantum information theory" class="mw-redirect wl">quantum information theory</a>, a quantum circuit is a <a href="/en/Model_of_computation" title="Model of computation" class="wl">model</a> for <a href="/en/Quantum_computation" title="Quantum computation" class="mw-redirect wl">quantum computation</a>, similar to <a href="/en/Circuit_(computer_science)" title="Circuit (computer science)" class="wl">classical circuits</a>, in which a computation is a sequence of <a href="/en/Quantum_gate" title="Quantum gate" class="mw-redirect wl">quantum gates</a>, <a href="/en/Measurement_in_quantum_mechanics" title="Measurement in quantum mechanics" class="wl">measurements</a>, initializations of <a href="/en/Qubit" title="Qubit" class="wl">qubits</a> to known values, and possibly other actions. The minimum set of actions that a circuit needs to be able to perform on the qubits to enable quantum computation is known as <a href="/en/DiVincenzo's_criteria" title="DiVincenzo's criteria" class="wl">DiVincenzo's criteria</a>.

<div class="shortdescription nomobile noexcerpt noprint searchaux" style="display:none" about="#mwt1">Model of quantum computing</div>
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<figure class="mw-halign-right wiki-thumb"><a href="/en/File:Quantum_teleportation_circuit.svg" class="mw-file-description image media-thumb" data-hash="File:Quantum_teleportation_circuit.svg"><img loading="lazy" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dc/Quantum_teleportation_circuit.svg/300px-Quantum_teleportation_circuit.svg.png" decoding="async" data-file-width="200" data-file-height="75" data-file-type="drawing" height="113" width="300" srcset="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dc/Quantum_teleportation_circuit.svg/450px-Quantum_teleportation_circuit.svg.png 1.5x, //upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dc/Quantum_teleportation_circuit.svg/600px-Quantum_teleportation_circuit.svg.png 2x" alt="Quantum_teleportation_circuit.svg"></a><figcaption>Circuit that performs <a href="/en/Quantum_teleportation" title="Quantum teleportation" class="wl">teleportation</a> of a qubit.<a href="#cite_note-1" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 1;">[1]</a> This circuit consists of both <a href="/en/Quantum_gate" title="Quantum gate" class="mw-redirect wl">quantum gates</a> and <a href="/en/Measurement_in_quantum_mechanics" title="Measurement in quantum mechanics" class="wl">measurements</a>. Measurement is a quantum phenomenon that does not occur in <a href="/en/Circuit_(computer_science)" title="Circuit (computer science)" class="wl">classical circuits</a>.</figcaption></figure>
Circuits are written such that the horizontal axis is time, starting at the left hand side and ending at the right. Horizontal lines are <a href="/en/Qubit" title="Qubit" class="wl">qubits</a>, doubled lines represent classical <a href="/en/Bit" title="Bit" class="wl">bits</a>. The items that are connected by these lines are operations performed on the qubits, such as measurements or gates. These lines define the sequence of events, and are usually not physical cables.<a href="#cite_note-Williams-2" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 2;">[2]</a><a href="#cite_note-Nielsen-Chuang-3" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 3;">[3]</a><a href="#cite_note-Oemer-4" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 4;">[4]</a>

The graphical depiction of quantum circuit elements is described using a variant of the <a href="/en/Penrose_graphical_notation" title="Penrose graphical notation" class="wl">Penrose graphical notation</a>.[<a href="/en/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed" class="wl">citation needed</a>] <a href="/en/Richard_Feynman" title="Richard Feynman" class="wl">Richard Feynman</a> used an early version of the quantum circuit notation in 1986.<a href="#cite_note-feynman-5" style="counter-reset: mw-Ref 5;">[5]</a>

In quantum information theory, a quantum circuit is a model for quantum computation, similar to classical circuits, in which a computation is a sequence of quantum gates, measurements, initializations of qubits to known values, and possibly other actions. The minimum set of actions that a circuit needs to be able to perform on the qubits to enable quantum computation is known as DiVincenzo's criteria. Circuits are written such that the horizontal axis is time, starting at the left hand side and ending at the right. Horizontal lines are qubits, doubled lines represent classical bits. The items that are connected by these lines are operations performed on the qubits, such as measurements or gates. These lines define the sequence of events, and are usually not physical cables. The graphical depiction of quantum circuit elements is described using a variant of the Penrose graphical notation. 