Publication Date

Spring 2025

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Computer Engineering

Advisor

Hiu Yung Wong; Christopher Smallwood; Shrikant Jadhav

Abstract

Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) have been used in most of the physics sub-fields for various unique purposes. This includes particle physics, quantum optics, and, more recently, quantum computing. FPGAs boast many benefits over previous experimental and computational setups. They are versatile, easy to program, and cost-effective, leading to an understandable desire to incorporate them into the new field of quantum computing. While FPGAs have been used to help control the readout and control of physical qubits, they can also be a good tool for improving algorithm simulations, which is the focus of this paper. Different algorithms have different computational limits because of the varying operations and circuit depth levels. Due to the ease of incorporating parallel processes and the ability to optimize FPGAs on a deeper level, we can speed up computationally expensive operations, increasing the size of the quantum circuits we can simulate. This paper aims to provide an educational walkthrough for quantum computing physicists interested in taking advantage of FPGAs in their research. Our findings indicate that an inexpensive FPGA with a clock rate of 100MHz can perform simple, unoptimized matrix operations on the order of 107 ns faster than a CPU using optimized Python libraries. This can be further improved upon using more expensive hardware and optimized designs. This will provide many researchers and students with the tools needed to study quantum algorithms without the need for costly hardware.

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