Amazon Braket Getting Started

Amazon Braket is a service that gives you access to multiple different types of quantum computers. We’re regularly adding new quantum devices to the service; check out our Quantum Computers page for the most up-to-date list. To access the quantum devices, you can use the Amazon Braket Python SDK¹ or use other developer frameworks such as PennyLane and Qiskit though our supported plugins. Whether you’re starting at the quantum “Hello, World!” stage of creating your first Bell state or researching cutting-edge quantum machine learning algorithms, our Braket example notebooks can help you get up and running. 

This page covers common questions and guide you to the resources you need to start programming quantum computers on Braket.

You can access the Quantum Processing Units (QPUs) on the Braket service using the open source Amazon Braket Python SDK. You can do this in a couple different ways:

• Use a Jupyter notebook or IDE in your local development environment by installing the Braket SDK via pip and setting up the AWS Command Line Interface on your laptop
  
• Use a managed notebook instance via the AWS console, which runs a Jupyter notebook hosted on AWS servers that comes with the Braket SDK and other useful libraries pre-installed
  

Alternatively, if you’re familiar with another quantum programming SDK, you can use one of our plugins, such as PennyLane or Qiskit plugin, to access Braket devices.

When people say, “quantum computer,” they’re usually referring to a universal gate-based QPU. We currently have three examples of these devices on the Braket service: superconducting qubit devices from Rigetti, as well as ion trap devices from IonQ. To program these universal gate-based QPUs, you will usually write a quantum circuit, built from a standard set of quantum gates, using the Braket SDK. When you submit the program, it will be automatically compiled to use the specific gates that are native to your chosen device. The Braket service also provides access to special purpose quantum devices, like QuEra’s Rydberg atom array for Analog Hamiltonian Simulation. To access these devices with Braket, you’ll need to submit quantum programs in a specific format, different from the standard gate-based circuit model, which you can learn from our Introduction to Aquila demo.

We’ve got you covered! To run on your local machine (e.g., your laptop or a shared computing cluster) can use the free local simulator included in the Braket SDK. The number of qubits you can simulate with the local simulator will depend on the amount of memory you’ve got available (remember, quantum simulations scale exponentially in memory and runtime with qubit count!) For larger-scale simulations, you’ll want to use one of our Braket on-demand simulators: SV1 for full state vector simulations up to 34 qubits, DM1 for simulating noise on circuits up to 16 qubits, or TN1 for simulating quantum circuits with higher local entanglement up to 50 qubits. Another perk of these on-demand simulators is that they allow you to run quantum circuits in parallel, greatly reducing the runtime of your quantum programs. To learn how to pick the right simulator for your use case, check out this section of our Developer Guide, or for quick reference, refer to the table below:

You can run quantum circuit simulations for free with the local simulator, and you have access to an hour of on-demand simulator time per month with the AWS Free Tier. For quantum hardware, the price will depend on the execution mode and the device: If you execute circuits on-demand, the price depends on the number of quantum circuits you want to run (referred to as “tasks”) and the number of times you want to repeat your circuit (“shots”). If you execute circuits using a reservation, then it only depends on the duration of your reservation. This means, regardless of how you choose to execute your workloads, you will know exactly how much it will cost before you run it. You can check out the pricing page for specifics. We’ve also implemented near real-time cost tracking in all our example notebooks to help you manage costs automatically. For a deep dive on cost management, check out our blog post on the subject.

The following self-paced courses are available:

• Amazon Braket Getting Started
• Quantum Application Development with Amazon Braket

You can also earn a digital Badge by following the Amazon Braket Learning Path, consisting of the two courses above followed by a Braket Knowledge Assessment.