Adding a user-friendly qml.transform.decompose function

[andrijapau]

Context:

Users often want to inspect and transform quantum circuits at different stages of decomposition. This feature will allow them to gain a better understanding for the decomposition and to think about algorithms at different layers of abstraction.

Prior to this feature, users only had access to qml.devices.preprocess.decompose- a function focused on device preprocessing. Over time, it became apparent that this function is developer focused, making use of hard-coded error messages / exceptions as well as non-intuitive stopping conditions. This led to some frustrations where users were trying to explore abstract decompositions (such as counting the number of CNOTs in a multi-controlled gate). For now, this function will serve to call the qml.devices.preprocess.decompose function and prune any developer-focused features. This feature should accomplish the following,

1. Decomposition of circuits into a desired gate set.
2. Decomposition of circuits into gate sets defined by a Callable[Operator, bool] (e.g. lambda op: len(op.wires) <= 2).
3. Decomposition of circuits in stages to understand the process. This can be done by adjusting the max_expansion kwarg.

Description of the Change:

The goal of this feature is to create a user-facing function that enables intuitive decomposition in a less restrictive manner.

Examples:

>>> @partial(decompose, gate_set={qml.Toffoli, "RX", "RZ"})
>>> @qml.qnode(dev)
>>> def circuit():
>>>     qml.Hadamard(wires=[0])
>>>     qml.Toffoli(wires=[0,1,2])
>>>     return qml.expval(qml.Z(0))
>>>
>>> print(qml.draw(circuit)())
0: ──RZ(1.57)──RX(1.57)──RZ(1.57)─╭●─┤  <Z>
1: ───────────────────────────────├●─┤
2: ───────────────────────────────╰X─┤

>>> @partial(decompose, gate_set=lambda op: len(op.wires) <= 2)
>>> @qml.qnode(dev)
>>> def circuit():
>>>     qml.Hadamard(wires=[0])
>>>     qml.Toffoli(wires=[0,1,2])
>>>     return qml.expval(qml.Z(0))
>>>
>>> print(qml.draw(circuit)())
0: ──H────────╭●───────────╭●────╭●──T──���●─┤  <Z>
1: ────╭●─────│─────╭●─────│───T─╰X──T†─╰X─┤
2: ──H─╰X──T†─╰X──T─╰X──T†─╰X──T──H────────┤

>>> tape = qml.tape.QuantumScript([qml.IsingXX(1.2, wires=(0,1))], [qml.expval(qml.Z(0))])
>>> batch, fn = qml.transforms.decompose(tape, gate_set={"CNOT", "RX", "RZ"})
>>> batch[0].circuit
[CNOT(wires=[0, 1]), RX(1.2, wires=[0]), CNOT(wires=[0, 1]), expval(Z(0))]

Benefits:

Users can explore quantum circuit decomposition in a more abstract sense without having to rely on specific device architectures.

Possible Drawbacks:

None that I am aware of (yet 😄).

Related Shortcut Story:

[sc-51282]

[andrijapau]

Hi @lillian542 & @albi3ro,

Would appreciate any comments on the implementation and whether or not I have the right idea for what's required.

I'm working on tests now but I figured I would get it out to you ASAP 😄.

[lillian542]

Looks like great progress, @andrijapau 🚀 I left a few thoughts on the implementation so far, let me know if you have any questions!

Wrt names, one suggestion could be to rename the other function to device_decompose (that would probably require a deprecation cycle), and then call this something like apply_decomposition. I think that would make it fairly clear that one is intended for the preprocess of a device, and the other is just a user applying a decomposition they want to specify.

[andrijapau]

Hi @lillian542 & @albi3ro,

Thank you for your input, I've implemented the suggestions into the newest commit. 😄

Notable changes:

• The user can use max_expansion to "step through" decomposition stages of the circuit.
• Warnings are raised if operators can no longer be decomposed and were not a part of their desired gate set.

Open to feedback!

[lillian542]

Looking good! I left a few more comments/questions :)

[lillian542]

Looking good! If you feel it's ready, you could switch this from a draft to ready-for-review now. Then CI will run and you will see any CodeCov warnings if there are any lines missing test coverage 😅

[codecov]

Codecov Report

All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests ✅

Project coverage is 99.39%. Comparing base (dbb64fb) to head (be09ee9).
Report is 324 commits behind head on master.

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##           master    #6334      +/-   ##
==========================================
- Coverage   99.71%   99.39%   -0.32%     
==========================================
  Files         447      448       +1     
  Lines       42365    42464      +99     
==========================================
- Hits        42244    42209      -35     
- Misses        121      255     +134     

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[lillian542]

Left some comments about documentation, this one is very user-facing, so being extra careful 🚀

[albi3ro]

❤️ No more concerns from my side. So happy to be getting this in :)

[lillian542]

Looks great, thanks @andrijapau!