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Strong empiricalAlgorithmsQuantum Fourier transform

QFT resource screen

A resource-focused QFT construction with a readable compile comparison.

resource estimatecirqqftphase

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The QFT record emphasizes the metadata researchers need before reuse: wire count, phase-rotation structure, and what the export check actually covers.

Circuit & simulation
Phase-resolved basis75%
Other25%
What this takes and returns
TakesNothingWhat joins here

No input port at this edge: the record publishes no gate sequence and no register, so there is nothing here to read one off — and unlike a declared hole, nothing has been recorded about what belongs here.

Nothing in the Atlas meets this end.

ReturnsNothingWhat joins here

No output port at this edge: the record publishes no gate sequence and no register, so there is nothing here to read one off — and unlike a declared hole, nothing has been recorded about what belongs here.

Nothing in the Atlas meets this end.

This record publishes no gate sequence and no register, so there is nothing here to read an interface off. Absent rather than empty. See all 152 →

Where this sits

This record is named by the layer graph at:

  • Compile a circuit to a specific device Slot

    Takes An abstract circuit (arbitrary-angle rotations, arbitrary two-qubit gates, all-to-all qubit indices); a device model giving the native gate set, coupling graph and calibration data; an approximation budget ε\varepsilon. Returns A native-gate instruction sequence obeying the connectivity constraint, plus the overhead it added (SWAP count, T-count, depth) and the accumulated synthesis error.

How it works

The QFT maps computational basis states to a Fourier basis: QFTj=12nk=02n1e2πijk/2nk\mathrm{QFT}|j\rangle=\frac{1}{\sqrt{2^n}}\sum_{k=0}^{2^n-1}e^{2\pi i jk/2^n}|k\rangle for an nn-qubit register. The standard circuit applies a Hadamard on the top qubit, then controlled phase rotations Rk=diag(1,e2πi/2k)R_k=\mathrm{diag}(1,e^{2\pi i/2^k}) from every later qubit into it, repeats for each qubit in turn, and optionally reverses qubit order with a final SWAP layer depending on bit-order convention — the layer this record's metadata keeps explicit. The circuit uses nn Hadamards and (n2)\binom{n}{2} controlled-phase gates, giving O(n2)O(n^2) total gates versus the classical FFT's O(NlogN)=O(2nn)O(N\log N)=O(2^n\cdot n) arithmetic operations on a full amplitude vector — an exponential gate-count saving, but only over quantum amplitudes that must then be sampled, not a free classical output vector. This record's check is a parser/compile-compatibility comparison across the export path, not a numerical circuit-correctness proof.

Implementation
Native
qft_resource_screen.py
import cirq
import sympy

qubits = cirq.LineQubit.range(4)
theta = sympy.pi / 2
circuit = cirq.Circuit()
for index, qubit in enumerate(qubits):
    circuit.append(cirq.H(qubit))
    for offset, control in enumerate(qubits[index + 1:], start=2):
        circuit.append(cirq.CZPowGate(exponent=theta / (2 ** offset))(control, qubit))

FINAL_CIRCUIT = circuit
Quantum vs classical

Classical baseline

Compare Quantum Fourier transform with the strongest classical method for the same instance, input budget, and output metric.

Quantum claim

This reference exposes a quantum circuit pattern; it does not imply an application-level speedup without a matched benchmark.

How to compare

Report input loading, circuit depth, repetitions, classical preprocessing, post-processing, and wall-clock time together.

Declared gaps

Nobody has reviewed this record for gaps yet.

Literature & references
An approximate Fourier transform useful in quantum factoring2002 · D. Coppersmith

Analyzes an approximate QFT construction and the gate-count/precision trade-off this record describes.

arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0201067
Quantum Computation and Quantum Information: 10th Anniversary Edition2010 · Michael A. Nielsen and Isaac L. Chuang

Standard graduate textbook covering the single- and two-qubit gate definitions, matrix identities, and circuit primitives this record states.

doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511976667