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IonQ Backend Configuration

The IonQBackend allows execution of your HLQuantum workloads natively on IonQ trapped-ion quantum computers or simulators over the IonQ Cloud API.

Installation

Ensure you have the required extra installed:

pip install hlquantum[ionq]

This installs the qiskit-ionq provider plugin that HLQuantum relies on.

API Key Authentication

Running on IonQ infrastructure requires an API key, which you can obtain from the IonQ Quantum Cloud Console.

There are two primary ways to provide your setup with the key:

  1. Environment Variables: You can place your credentials in the IONQ_API_KEY or QISKIT_IONQ_API_TOKEN environment variables. This is the recommended approach for production deployments.

bash export IONQ_API_KEY="your-ionq-api-secret"

  1. Constructor Argument: You can pass the token directly through Python during instantiation.

```python from hlquantum.backends import IonQBackend

backend = IonQBackend(api_key="your-ionq-api-secret") ```

Backends Available

  • ionq_simulator: Ideal quantum simulator hosted in the IonQ cloud. It supports statevector retrieval. (Default setting).
  • ionq_qpu: Executes circuits against physical IonQ Trapped-Ion Quantum Hardware (Aria, Forte). Only count metrics are available as it's physical hardware.
from hlquantum.backends import IonQBackend
import hlquantum as hlq

# Instantiate an ionq_qpu backend instance
backend = IonQBackend(backend_name="ionq_qpu")
result = hlq.run(circuit, backend=backend, shots=1000)