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Quantum Computing through Comics

Follow here for comics and classes on Quantum Computing updates every week.

Instructors artbyphysicistkittyartbyphysicistkitty
Thursday, August 24, 2020 12:00 am GMT - Sunday, November 1, 2020 12:00 am GMT Local time zone:
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UPDATE: 

Check out the latest updates:

***April 2021

  1. Customized quantum learning experience
  2. New community-written book

*** Nov. 2020

Class of 2020 had finished.  I learned a lot by teaching the class on Sunday since March and digesting complex ideas into drawings. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. All the recordings can be found here.

We also have a cartoon "textbook" which can be found in 13 markets on Amazon. Search for ASIN : B08HGLPZXP Quantum Computing & Some Physics

See you in future classes!

***

We discussed a new topic for 30 mins every week. The topic is based on my comics of the week below in the log. You can also follow progress of the drawings on my website, LinkedInTwitterInstagram and YouTube.  Hackaday is adding the classes gradually to their channel here: Intro to Quantum Computing playlist

You can send questions and requests in the comments section below. I'll address them in the comics, in the comments or during the class. Past recordings are in the description of the slides under the "Files" areas.

***

Quantum computing has been a hot topic since the past couple of years, especially with recent progress made in industry. However, there hasn't been enough materials to lead hobbyists into the subject, as most books and papers are written for professional academics and media articles are technically shallow. These hobbyists include scientists, engineers, developers and hackers who are highly technical but may not have a background in quantum computing. Even with a PhD in Applied Physics who studied quantum properties of materials, I did not know how quantum computers worked. As I started learning the subject, I realize that one does not need a degree in physics to understand quantum computing. All they need is some necessary math and physics foundations. This subject can be taught in a straightforward way at the right level. Once people know what goes into quantum computing, they will be able to dig deeper and demystify the subject.   

As I've been teaching our employees at Microsoft, I've built up a series of systematic materials from basic concepts to algorithms to hardware systems, and a tutorial on Q# (Q-sharp) - a domain-specific programming language used for expressing quantum algorithms. Typically we took a few months to go through all the basic concepts. Every class was followed by a few Q# exercises. But it is do-able for a 2-hour workshop, such as the one at Hackaday Supercon. On November 15, 2019, I gave a workshop on a hands-on introduction to Quantum Computing at Supercon. Here are the slides for everyone.  It might felt like a lot to people who encountered the concepts for the first time. But if they go back to the slides now, they'll be able to recall and digest at their own pace. The workshop was also on high demand. We didn't have enough space for more people. So anyone who missed it can take a look at the slides which hopefully can give them directions to study further.  

Please feel free to post any questions and discussions in this project page. And any mistakes to correct in the slides. I'll try to answer them here. Enjoy!

***

About the instructor:

Dr. Kitty Yeung, Sr. Quantum Architect at Microsoft Quantum Systems; Producer of MS Learn quantum modules and the Quantum Learning website with customized learning materials; Creator of comic series Quantum Computing through Comics; Lecturer at HackadayU and Microsoft Reactor on Introduction to Quantum Computing; Founder & Designer of sustainable and STEAM fashion brand, Art by Physicist; Creative Technologist & Lead of the Fashion Hack at Microsoft; Public Speaker on quantum computing and fashion tech. Harvard University 15′ Applied Physics; University of Cambridge 10′ Natural Sciences – Physical.

Slides Nov 1.pdf

Session 25: Quantum Error Correction by Dr. Michael Beverland Recording: https://youtu.be/5zFpLLaVmAs

Adobe Portable Document Format - 1.89 MB - 11/01/2020 at 20:51

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qcvv_Chris.pdf

Session 24: Quantum Tomography by Prof. Chris Ferrie Recording: https://youtu.be/utH6YcaoGTE

Adobe Portable Document Format - 887.31 kB - 10/19/2020 at 15:17

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Slides Oct 18.pdf

Session 24: Quantum Tomography by Prof. Chris Ferrie Recording: https://youtu.be/utH6YcaoGTE

Adobe Portable Document Format - 1.02 MB - 10/19/2020 at 15:18

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qml_maria.pdf

Session 23: Quantum Machine Learning by Dr. Maria Schuld Recording: https://youtu.be/DGNc0gmtumE

Adobe Portable Document Format - 3.57 MB - 10/13/2020 at 09:47

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Slides Oct 11.pdf

Session 23: Quantum Machine Learning by Dr. Maria Schuld Recording: https://youtu.be/DGNc0gmtumE

Adobe Portable Document Format - 778.06 kB - 10/11/2020 at 19:44

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  • Comics: Quantum Computing & some Physics

    artbyphysicistkitty03/22/2020 at 13:06 0 comments

    In the mist of the COVID-19 pandemic, I am bummed that I don't have a 3D printer and my sewing machine is still to be shipped from SF to my new home in Germany, with no supplies to join the PPE making :( But to contribute, in addition to donating to non-profits, I want to provide some support to people staying at home, with what I can do the best. 

    Every Sunday and Wednesday, I'll post a comic about quantum computing and some physics concepts. Watch out here for updates. I'll also post on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and possibly other media. I hope this can be of help for people spending time to learn new things. It will certainly be an exciting challenge for me as well. Feel free to share the contents and discuss in the comments. Also let me know any questions and topics you'd like me to draw.

  • Pages 5 & 6

    artbyphysicistkitty03/25/2020 at 21:21 0 comments

    First Wednesday update. More to come to explain these various concepts.

    For interested readers, Wikipedia articles on binary systems, early computers and Ada Lovelace are very good backgrounds.

  • Pages 7 & 8

    artbyphysicistkitty03/29/2020 at 14:20 0 comments

    (First Sunday update) The contrast between "amplitude" Vs "probability" is very important, which helps build intuition to interpret measurements - will be explained later.  

  • Pages 9 & 10

    artbyphysicistkitty04/01/2020 at 14:28 1 comment

    Emphasizing a bit more on amplitude. What's coming up is very exciting.

  • Pages 11 & 12

    artbyphysicistkitty04/05/2020 at 13:23 0 comments

    Quantum mechanics explained with interference. With all the possibilities in our world, we are just observing the events that are the most likely, resulted from interference!

    I should probably make some additional pages on complex numbers. But will prioritize the next few topics that are more urgent. 

  • Page 13 & 14

    artbyphysicistkitty04/08/2020 at 14:30 0 comments

    Since there's been so much confusion on this entanglement, I'll show what it is NOT.

  • Pages 15 & 16

    artbyphysicistkitty04/12/2020 at 14:10 0 comments

    We won't delve into decoherence any time soon. If you are interested to learn more about it, just take a search online. 

    We will next lean how to control and manipulate qubits. 

  • Pages 17 & 18

    artbyphysicistkitty04/15/2020 at 14:14 0 comments

    This week, we will start talking about how to manipulate qubits to build quantum algorithms.

  • Pages 19 & 20

    artbyphysicistkitty04/19/2020 at 14:09 0 comments

    While an infinite number of gates can be used to change a state (and move it around on the Bloch Sphere), some gates are special cases that are commonly used in algorithms. 

  • Pages 21 & 22

    artbyphysicistkitty04/22/2020 at 14:16 0 comments

    A couple build-ups for what's to come: using the gates to construct algorithms, and using Q# quantum programming language for large numbers of qubits (when the circuit representation doesn't scale).

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Discussions

Marcelo Costa wrote 04/07/2020 at 18:25 point

Just joined! I am new to Quantum Computing. Where do I start?

  Are you sure? yes | no

artbyphysicistkitty wrote 04/11/2020 at 09:00 point

Here.

  Are you sure? yes | no

Marcelo Costa wrote 04/16/2020 at 12:16 point

I was looking for an answer like "watch the recording of the first class". Or "start by visiting the logs pages." 

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artbyphysicistkitty wrote 04/16/2020 at 19:37 point

You got it ;) Recording, links, logs, slides are all in here. Please read the project details. 

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Robert E. Griffith wrote 04/06/2020 at 23:59 point

(programming note: anyone know how I  can subscribe to this discussion so that I get emails when someone posts a message?)

When I started investigating quantum computing a while ago, I got caught up on one question in particular. I followed a video explanation of Grovers algorithm pretty well (not that I could still follow it without some work) but I could not understand how the oracle function could be implemented. If the oracle function is classical, how does it interact with the quantum gate logic? If the oracle function is not classical, what does it look like and does it limit the application to a certain type of problem?

--BobG 

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artbyphysicistkitty wrote 04/08/2020 at 19:22 point

Thank you, Bob. Will answer that when we get to Grover's algorithm. Working on a visual way to represent it. (Not sure if people can notifications when there's a message. Do you get a notification when I post something?)

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Robert E. Griffith wrote 04/05/2020 at 22:53 point

this is not the easiest place to find. Kitty, maybe you need a link on your pages.

To be clear, when I came to hackaday without an account and seached for "quantum computing", this did not make the cut. I only got uear+ old articals from AI Williams. I had to click on hackaday.io 'tab', create and account and then I found you easily.

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artbyphysicistkitty wrote 04/06/2020 at 17:51 point

We will publicize the next meetings with this project page. I'll also include it in my posts. Thanks!

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artbyphysicistkitty wrote 04/03/2020 at 19:35 point

Making a note of the questions from the first class. Some I had addressed in the class. I may come back to address more in future classes or comics. If anyone else would like to answer them, feel free to add comments. 

"I don't know lots of maths , am I safe?"

"why we square the amplitudes?"

"you showed that we can represent quantum states with vectors mathematically but could explain its physical significance?"

"Thanks Kitty, this is really interesting. Another vote for a session on the hardware"

"One question you mention you worked on photonics if I recall correctly, you mind giving more info about it?"

"does Microsoft have a quantum computer like IBM? (i remember they have a site where you can run examples on it)"

"any cloud access to a QC available?"

"I'd like to know if quantum machine learning is limited only to parameterized quantum circuits,"

"Are the tutorials for quantum circuits on NISQ devices or on universal quantum computers?"

-"Any reading recommendations beyond Quantum Computing: An Applied Approach, or Quantum Computing for Software Engineers? I’m interested in hardware designs, and deeper mathematical QC algorithm / circuit design. Not a lot of depth colocated for advanced readers with QM backgrounds."

-"If it's not too late, I have another question:Do you have any recent estimation about how far we are from manufacturable? (10, 20, 30 years?)"

-"also what languages will we writing code in if any ?"

-"Any open source hardware?"

-"please could you mention a bit about deep learning algorithms used in quantum computing if any?"

-"are there softwares that one can use to reinforce ones understanding?"

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Hirmay Sandesara wrote 07/20/2020 at 06:41 point

I would like to answer some of the question as best as I could 

Q1 "I don't know lots of maths , am I safe?"

A1 I guess at earlier stages you're fine with just basic knowledge of linear algebra(vectors and matrices).

Q2 "why we square the amplitudes?"

A2 We square amplitudes(which can be -ve, +ve or even imaginary) to get probability of a given state which has to be between 0 and 1, including them.

Q3 "you showed that we can represent quantum states with vectors mathematically but could explain its physical significance?"

A3 The physical significance at least at a basic level could be given with an analogy so you might have used Polarized sunglasses (which are specialized eyewear designed to reduce glare from surfaces such as water, snow, and glass) the surface blocks the glare by filtering out the horizontal light waves that don't fit through the chemical laminate pattern. So you could imagine horizontal light as state |0> and vertical light as state |1> and let's say we allow only horizontal lines to pass through so when a light who has some state passes through it makes angle thetha with |0> and so the probability of that light passing through would cos^2(thetha) or it's dot product squared with |0>.

Q4 "One question you mention you worked on photonics if I recall correctly, you mind giving more info about it?"

A4 I found this video which could help you https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=PljbV-wsxeg&feature=emb_title.

Q5  "does Microsoft have a quantum computer like IBM? (i remember they have a site where you can run examples on it)"

A5 yes it does you can read more about it here  

https://www.wired.com/story/microsoft-taking-quantum-computers-cloud/

Q6 "any cloud access to a QC available?"

A6 I'm not sure if Microsoft gives access to QC but IBM does upto 15 qubits(I personally tried it). Here's the IBMQ experience https://quantum-computing.ibm.com/

Q7  "I'd like to know if quantum machine learning is limited only to parameterized quantum circuits,"

A7 There's a very good course of Q machine learning by university of toronoto on edx which could benefit you. https://www.edx.org/course/quantum-machine-learning

Q8 -"Any reading recommendations beyond Quantum Computing: An Applied Approach, or Quantum Computing for Software Engineers? I’m interested in hardware designs, and deeper mathematical QC algorithm / circuit design. Not a lot of depth colocated for advanced readers with QM backgrounds."

A8 I would highly recommend taking this course on edx https://www.edx.org/professional-certificate/delftx-quantum-computing-and-quantum-internet

Q9 "Do you have any recent estimation about how far we are from manufacturable? (10, 20, 30 years?)"

A9 hope this image helps https://i.redd.it/vfs7f0yc9jb51.jpg

Q10 "also what languages will we writing code in if any ?"

A10 it depends if it's in Q# then it's based on C# and if it's qiskit then python.

Q11 "Any open source hardware?"

A11 not sure what do you mean by open source hardware but see if this helps https://github.com/Hirmay/awesome-quantum-software

Q12 "please could you mention a bit about deep learning algorithms used in quantum computing if any?"

A12 I guess course mentioned in A7 has also information about that.

Q13 "are there softwares that one can use to reinforce ones understanding?"

A13 Well certain things like Bloch sphere(3D representation of states) could be visualized here, you could also watch professor quantum videos on youtube to get more intuition. Also you can play this game https://quantumgame.io/ which is very educational.

I've not answered some questions as I thought it would be best if professor kitty would answer them.

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Edward C. Deaver, IV wrote 03/30/2020 at 03:00 point

On Slide 14 from the March 29th slides, the comic shows Qubits like a ratio of 0 and 1. I was wondering is there a limit to how large the denominator in that ratio can be or is there a limit to the resolution of a Qubit? Ex. 1/4 of 0 and 3/4 of 1 vs 1/99999 of 0 and 99998/99999 of 1.

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artbyphysicistkitty wrote 04/03/2020 at 19:15 point

Great question, Edward. (By the way, the examples should be sqrt(1/99999) of 0 and sqrt(99998/99999) of 1 if we are talking about amplitudes.) The limit in resolution we experience in classical computers are due to the bits being digital and discrete, while the amplitudes in qubits are analogue and continuous. In theory, there shouldn't be any limit - the amplitudes can be any number as long as the total probability is 1. But then, in practice in physical systems we can never truly be so precise. It depends on the types of quantum hardware and how they form qubits, which I will show in later classes. For example, superconducting qubits will rely on the resolution of the microwave frequency that tunes the circuit to the corresponding qubit state. Or a topological qubit may rely on the resolution of the magnetic flux applied to the nanowire. They all have unique pros and cons based on the setup. The precision of the setup may certainly contribute to error. And error correction is an active field of research in quantum computing. But then this source of error may not be a major one. The more fundamental problem for error correction is how easily decoherence happens, as the qubits entangle with their environment if not isolated properly. Definitely an interesting area of research!       

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Alexander wrote 11/22/2019 at 14:19 point

Seems to be very well prepared lecture. Sadly, slides alone aren't giving much understanding, sure would like to see a video of your workshop.

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artbyphysicistkitty wrote 11/25/2019 at 02:28 point

Unfortunately some workshops were not recorded. I do have a written version of the materials. Hopefully will be able to publish it soon.

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artbyphysicistkitty wrote 03/22/2020 at 12:47 point

Just updated the project. Producing a comic series explaining quantum computing. Hope this helps!

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Dan Maloney wrote 11/21/2019 at 17:03 point

This was one of the workshops on my list that I didn't make it to, which is too bad because I really wanted to get some QC background. Thanks for posting the material!

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artbyphysicistkitty wrote 11/22/2019 at 05:51 point

You are welcome! Thank you.

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artbyphysicistkitty wrote 03/22/2020 at 12:53 point

I'm now updating the material with comics. I'll post a new page every Sunday and Wednesday. Let me know topics you'd like me to explain. I'll also direct people to programming exercise.      

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