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Release notes for the Quantum Development Kit (QDK) and Azure Quantum - 2023

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This article outlines updates to the Quantum Development Kit (QDK) and the Azure Quantum service.

For 'getting started' instructions, see Set up Azure Quantum. For instructions on how to update your QDK to the latest version, see Update the Quantum Development Kit (QDK) to the latest version.

azure-quantum python version 0.29.2

2023-12-06

  • Update to qiskit-qir 0.4 which transitively updates to pyqir >=0.10,<0.11 which has bug fixes for base profile QIR code generation. Identity gates should now be generated correctly from qiskit circuits.

azure-quantum python version 0.29.1

2023-12-01

  • Locking Cirq python package version due to a breaking change in Job Results API.

azure-quantum python version 0.29.0

2023-11-22

  • Added two input parameters maxDuration and maxPhysicalQubits to specify constraints for resource estimation solutions.
  • Added support for handling partial success in batch jobs in Resource Estimator, by displaying No solution found as an output for job results.
  • The azure-quantum python SDK now ships separately from the rest of the QDK. The first version available as a standalone release is 0.29.0.
  • The previous qdk-python GitHub repository has been renamed azure-quantum-python to better reflect the purpose and content of the repository.
  • The qdk python package for qdk.chemistry python interop has been deprecated and it will no longer be maintained or receive further updates.

QDK version 0.28.302812

2023-09-15

  • You can now generate resource estimation profiles to learn how operations in your quantum program contribute to the overall cost.
  • You can now call result.json to get the JSON representation of a resource estimation result.
  • Updated IonQ cost estimation function for aria-1 to use minimum job pricing of $97.50 (this assumes that error mitigation is enabled by default). Learn more about IonQ pricing or how to enable/disable error mitigation.
  • Removed deprecated Quantinuum target names. See full list of Quantinuum supported targets.

QDK version 0.28.291394

2023-07-31

  • Added a support of custom distillation units. Resource Estimator now accepts your custom definitions of distillation algorithms that can be applied to physical or logical qubits.
  • Added more granularity of physical qubit error definitions: idle error rates for all types of qubits and 'readout' and 'process' error rates for Majorana qubit measurements.
  • You can now use the result.diagram endpoint to visualize your algorithm's estimated runtime and space requirements.
  • Added rQOPS to the resource estimation results summary.
  • Breaking change: Removed the ability to submit jobs to Microsoft QIO targets or 1QBit targets, as these have now been deprecated.

QDK version 0.28.277227

2023-06-05

  • Added support for sessions to improve experience for interactive hybrid algorithms.
  • You can now use a unified and convenient resource estimation client API to submit jobs from Q#, Qiskit, and QIR.
  • In Q# Jupyter notebooks, fixed an issue microsoft/iqsharp#776 where Q# exceptions would cause the notebook kernel to run out of memory.
  • Removed references to previously deprecated Rigetti Aspen M-2 target.
  • Added a warning that Microsoft QIO solvers will be deprecated and no longer available in Azure Quantum after June 30, 2023.

QDK version 0.28.263081

2023-03-29

QDK version 0.27.258160

2023-03-01

  • In Q# Jupyter notebooks, fixed an issue where %azure.connect would take several minutes before succeeding in certain environments. For more information, see microsoft/Quantum#762.
  • Removed support for Rigetti Aspen-11 Quantum Processor due to deprecation. For other targets available, see the Rigetti provider documentation.
  • Added a warning that the local Resources Estimator will be removed in March 2023. The Azure Quantum Resource Estimator is now available through Azure Quantum.

QDK version 0.27.253010

2023-01-31

  • Added support for Rigetti Aspen-M-3 Quantum Processor.
  • Compiler errors related to hardware capabilities are now warnings by default. Programs with these warnings may or may not run on a specific target, but they are validated by the Azure Quantum service before execution and users are not to be charged if the program does not pass validation.
  • The Q# compiler now uses LLVM 14 to generate QIR.
  • In the iqsharp-base image, removed support for .NET Core 3.1, since it is end-of-life. Upgraded various packages in the image and made small improvements to decrease container size. Fixes microsoft/iqsharp#757.
  • In the azure-quantum package, fixed cost_estimate() pricing for IonQ Aria from \$0.00022 per one qgs to \$0.0002205 per one qgs.