StrawberryFields 0.7.0

Open source library for continuous-variable quantum computation

Strawberry Fields
#################

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Strawberry Fields is a full-stack Python library for designing,
simulating, and optimizing continuous variable (CV) quantum
optical circuits.

Features
========

.. image:: doc/_static/sfcomponents.svg
:align: right
:width: 60%

* An open-source software architecture for **photonic quantum computing**

* A **full-stack** quantum software platform, implemented in Python specifically targeted to the CV model

* Quantum circuits are written using the easy-to-use and intuitive **Blackbird quantum programming language**

* Includes a suite of CV **quantum computer simulators** implemented using **NumPy** and **Tensorflow** - these built-in quantum compiler tools convert and optimize Blackbird code for classical simulation

* Future releases will aim to target experimental backends, including **photonic quantum computing chips**

Dependencies
============

Strawberry Fields depends on the following Python packages:

* `Python <http://python.org/>`_ >=3.5
* `NumPy <http://numpy.org/>`_ >=1.13.3
* `SciPy <http://scipy.org/>`_ >=1.0.0
* `NetworkX <http://networkx.github.io/>`_ >=2.0
* `Tensorflow <https://www.tensorflow.org/>`_ >=1.3

These can be installed using pip, or, if on linux, using your package manager (i.e. ``apt`` if on a Debian-based system.)


Installation
============
.. highlight:: console

Installation of Strawberry Fields, as well as all required Python packages mentioned above, can be done using pip:
::

$ python -m pip install strawberryfields


Software tests
==============

To ensure that Strawberry Fields is working correctly after installation, the test suite can be run by navigating to the source code folder and running
::

make test

Note that this runs *all* of the tests, using *all* available backends, so can be quite slow (it should take around 40 minutes to complete). Alternatively, you can run the full test suite for a particular backend by running
::

make test-[backend]

where ``[backend]`` should be replaced with the backend you would like to test (``fock``, ``tf``, or ``guassian``).

Individual test modules are run using
::

python3 tests/test_gate.py --backend=[backend]


Documentation
=============

The Strawberry Fields documentation is built automatically and hosted at `Read the Docs <https://strawberryfields.readthedocs.io>`_.

To build the documentation locally, the following additional packages are required:

* `Sphinx <http://sphinx-doc.org/>`_ >=1.5
* `graphviz <http://graphviz.org/>`_ >=2.38
* `sphinxcontrib-bibtex <https://sphinxcontrib-bibtex.readthedocs.io/en/latest/>`_ >=0.3.6

If using Ubuntu, they can be installed via a combination of ``apt`` and ``pip``:
::

$ sudo apt install graphviz
$ pip3 install sphinx --user
$ pip3 install sphinxcontrib-bibtex --user

To build the HTML documentation, go to the top-level directory and run the command
::

$ make docs

The documentation can then be found in the ``doc/_build/html/`` directory.


Support
=======

- **Source Code:** https://github.com/XanaduAI/strawberryfields
- **Issue Tracker:** https://github.com/XanaduAI/strawberryfields/issues

If you are having issues, please let us know by posting the issue on our Github issue tracker.


License
=======

Strawberry Fields is **free** and **open source**, released under the Apache License, Version 2.0.