Introducing UNIQuE: The Unconventional Noiseless Intermediate Quantum Emulator

Abstract

We implement the first open-source quantum computing emulator that includes arithmetic operations, the quantum Fourier transform, and quantum phase estimation. The emulator provides significant savings in both temporal and spatial resources compared to simulation, and these computational advantages are verified through comparison to the Intel Quantum Simulator. We also demonstrate how to use the emulator to implement Shor's algorithm and use it to solve a nontrivial factoring problem. This demonstrates that emulation can make quantum computing more accessible than simulation or noisy hardware by allowing researchers to study the behavior of algorithms on large problems in a noiseless environment.