Getting Started with Qiskit

Qiskit is an open-source quantum computing framework developed by IBM. It allows users to create and run quantum programs on IBM's quantum computers and simulators.

Key features of Qiskit include:

• Quantum circuit design
• Quantum simulation
• Access to real quantum hardware

To get started with Qiskit, follow the steps below:

1. Install Python (version 3.6 or higher).
2. Install Qiskit using pip:

pip install qiskit

3. Verify the installation:

python -m qiskit --version

Before diving into coding, it's essential to understand some key concepts in quantum computing:

• Qubit: The basic unit of quantum information.
• Quantum Circuit: A model for quantum computation consisting of qubits and gates.
• Gate: An operation that changes the state of qubits.

To create a quantum circuit in Qiskit, follow these steps:

1. Import necessary libraries:

from qiskit import QuantumCircuit

2. Create a quantum circuit:

qc = QuantumCircuit(2)

3. Add gates to the circuit:

qc.h(0)  # Apply Hadamard gate to qubit 0
qc.cx(0, 1)  # Apply CNOT gate between qubit 0 and qubit 1

4. Visualize the circuit:

qc.draw('mpl')

To run your quantum circuit on a simulator, follow these steps:

1. Import the Aer simulator:

from qiskit import Aer, execute

2. Set up the simulator:

backend = Aer.get_backend('statevector_simulator')

3. Execute the circuit:

job = execute(qc, backend)

4. Retrieve the results:

result = job.result()
output = result.get_statevector()