PennyLaneAI / PennyLaneAI/catalyst

Support generation of spec-compliant QIR

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Python
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Description

Are there any plans to add the capability of generating spec-compliant QIR as an output type for the catalyst compiler?

I know that I can currently view the qir generated by catalyst using

qml.qjit(circuit).qir

but this seems to be catalyst-specific qir designed for linking against catalyst-compatible runtimes (i.e. gates are called __catalyst__qis__CNOT instead of __quantum__qis__cnot__body, etc...).

A spec-compliant catalyst output could also potentially be linked against the qir-stdlib from qir_runner, or other quantum devices not associated with pennylane/catalyst, making pennylane an attractive front-end language for more devices.

I know this is a lot to ask for, given the rather incomplete state of the qir-spec, but I thought I'd ask whether any plans exist that go into this direction.
If not, feel free to close this issue.

(Note: I have seen Custom Device support, but this does not seem to be quite what I'm looking for, since this would force the catalyst-dialect of qir onto the Custom Device, instead of standard-qir being the interchange format between compiler and device. If I'm wrong here, please correct me.)

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Research direction

Start with the qml.qjit(circuit).qir output and compare its Catalyst-specific operations with the QIR specification and qir-runner expectations. The issue does not name implementation files or tests; done would mean defining and validating a spec-compliant QIR output that can serve as an interchange format for compatible runtimes.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
compilers
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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