Demonstration of Shor’s factoring algorithm for N $$=$$ = 21 on IBM quantum processors

• Main Authors: Unathi Skosana, Mark Tame
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Nature Publishing Group 2021-08-01
• Series: Scientific Reports
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-95973-w

Abstract We report a proof-of-concept demonstration of a quantum order-finding algorithm for factoring the integer 21. Our demonstration involves the use of a compiled version of the quantum phase estimation routine, and builds upon a previous demonstration. We go beyond this work by using a configuration of approximate Toffoli gates with residual phase shifts, which preserves the functional correctness and allows us to achieve a complete factoring of $$N=21$$ N = 21 . We implemented the algorithm on IBM quantum processors using only five qubits and successfully verified the presence of entanglement between the control and work register qubits, which is a necessary condition for the algorithm’s speedup in general. The techniques we employ may be useful in carrying out Shor’s algorithm for larger integers, or other algorithms in systems with a limited number of noisy qubits.