Amazon Braket launches new 54-qubit superconducting quantum processor from IQM

Amazon Braket enables customers to design and run quantum algorithms on a broad selection of quantum hardware through a unified interface. Today, we expand the hardware available on Braket with the general availability of IQM’s latest quantum processing unit (QPU). The device, named Emerald, is a 54-qubit superconducting QPU providing customers higher fidelity gates and full square lattice connectivity.

With the addition of IQM Emerald to Braket, customers can now access two IQM quantum processors: the 20-qubit Garnet and the new 54-qubit Emerald. Both devices are available through the Europe (Stockholm) Region, providing customers with greater choice in selecting the appropriate quantum hardware for their specific research needs and algorithm requirements.

Figure 1: IQM Emerald processor

In this early phase of quantum computing, experimentation across a variety of available devices is crucial for developing quantum algorithms to eventually address complex problems across domains like finance, energy, pharmaceuticals, and logistics. Customers worldwide can now run experiments on IQM’s most advanced quantum hardware, using on-demand access for designing and executing programs and priority access via Hybrid Jobs for running variational quantum algorithms, all with simple pay-as-you-go pricing. For workloads with latency or time-sensitive requirements, customers can reserve dedicated capacity on the Emerald QPU on a per-hour basis through Braket Direct.

Advanced architecture for quantum research

Emerald features IQM’s Crystal 54 architecture, built using superconducting transmon qubits arranged in a square lattice and interconnected via tunable couplers. This high-connectivity configuration enables efficient mapping of quantum algorithms to the device topology. The square lattice design natively supports surface-code error correction, positioning it for future fault-tolerant quantum computing applications.

The device supports arbitrary X and Y rotations as native single-qubit gates and uses the CZ gate as its native two-qubit operation. This gate set provides flexibility for implementing quantum algorithms while maintaining high fidelity operations. Early characterization data shows median single-qubit gate fidelity of 99.93% and median two-qubit gate fidelity of 99.5%. Up-to-date performance metrics can be found on Emerald’s device details page in the Braket Console.

Figure 2: The Emerald QPU topology showing a 54-qubit square lattice with tunable couplers

Enhanced availability and accessibility

Both IQM Emerald and Garnet are available 19 hours a day, enabling customers to run quantum workloads at their convenience regardless of time zone. The expanded availability windows from IQM enables continuous experimentation and development cycles for customers globally.

Customers can access these EU-based QPUs in the Europe (Stockholm) Region, meaning customers can meet European data residency requirements and work with cutting-edge hybrid quantum-classical computing capabilities all in one environment.

Getting Started with Emerald on Braket

Braket provides customers a unified, easy-to-use programming interface to access quantum hardware. Customers can build, test, and run quantum programs on Emerald with the Braket SDK, or other popular programming frameworks, such as Qiskit, Pennylane, and NVIDIA CUDA-Q. To execute programs on Emerald, specify the Amazon Resource Name (ARN) in the device definition before running your circuit:

device = AwsDevice("arn:aws:braket:eu-north-1::device/qpu/iqm/Emerald")

You can run a circuit with just a few lines of code as shown in the Bell State example that follows:

from braket.aws import AwsDevice
from braket.circuits import Circuit

device = AwsDevice("arn:aws:braket:eu-north-1::device/qpu/iqm/Emerald")

# run circuit
bell = Circuit().h(0).cnot(control=0, target=1)
result = device.run(bell, shots=1000).result()

Exploring larger-scale quantum entanglement on Emerald

The 54-qubit capacity of Emerald enables exploration of quantum algorithms that require substantial qubit resources. Building on the GHZ state experiments demonstrated with Garnet, Emerald’s expanded qubit count and high connectivity allow for even larger entangled states and more complex quantum circuits.

Here’s an example of preparing a 49-qubit GHZ state using Emerald’s square lattice connectivity:

from braket.aws import AwsDevice
from braket.circuits import Circuit

device = AwsDevice("arn:aws:braket:eu-north-1::device/qpu/iqm/Emerald")

# Define a path through Emerald's topology
path = [
        1, 2, 6, 12, 13, 14, 22, 30, 31, 39, 38, 46, 45, 
        51, 50, 54, 53, 52, 48, 47, 41, 33, 32, 24, 23, 
        15, 16, 8, 9, 3, 4, 5, 11, 10, 18, 17, 25, 26, 27,
        19, 20, 21, 29, 37, 36, 35, 34, 42, 43
]

circuit = Circuit().h(path[0])
for idx in range(len(path)-1):
    q1 = path[idx]
    q2 = path[idx+1]
    circuit.cnot(q1, q2)

task = device.run(circuit, shots=5000, disable_qubit_rewiring=True)

Advanced quantum programming with dynamic circuits

from braket.aws import AwsDevice
from braket.circuits import Circuit
from braket.experimental_capabilities import EnableExperimentalCapability
from math import pi

with EnableExperimentalCapability():
    circuit = Circuit()
    circuit.prx(1, pi, 0)  # Flip qubit 1 to |1> state
    circuit.measure_ff(1, feedback_key=0)  # Mid-circuit measurement
    circuit.cc_prx(1, pi, 0, feedback_key=0)  # Conditional bit flip
circuit = Circuit().add_verbatim_box(circuit)

device = AwsDevice("arn:aws:braket:eu-north-1::device/qpu/iqm/Emerald")

result = device.run(circuit, shots=100).result()
print(f"Measurement counts: {result.measurement_counts}")
# Expected: predominantly "0" due to active reset

Get Started Today

Visit the Amazon Braket management console to view the device topology, availability, and get up-to-date information about single and two-qubit gate fidelities and readout fidelities. Researchers at accredited institutions can apply for AWS credits to support experiments on Amazon Braket through the AWS Cloud Credits for Research program.

To get started with running your own quantum programs on the Emerald processor, refer to our GitHub repository for example notebooks and tutorials. You can run these programs using one of our managed Jupyter notebooks or from your local development environment.