Qiskit-Torch-Module: Fast Prototyping of Quantum Neural Networks

Abstract: Quantum computer simulation software is an integral tool for the research efforts in the quantum computing community. An important aspect is the efficiency of respective frameworks, especially for training variational quantum algorithms. Focusing on the widely used Qiskit software environment, we develop the qiskit-torch-module. It improves runtime performance by two orders of magnitude over comparable libraries, while facilitating low-overhead integration with existing codebases. Moreover, the framework provides advanced tools for integrating quantum neural networks with PyTorch. The pipeline is tailored for single-machine compute systems, which constitute a widely employed setup in day-to-day research efforts.