Insider Brief
- Amazon has released version 0.11 of its Qiskit-Braket provider, making it easier for Qiskit users to run quantum programs on hardware available through Amazon Braket.
- The update adds support for the latest version of Qiskit and simplifies how users prepare and send their quantum circuits to different types of quantum devices.
- It also introduces new tools that make it easier to run calculations and collect results more efficiently on Braket-supported systems.
Amazon has released version 0.11 of its Qiskit-Braket provider, adding new execution primitives and expanded circuit compilation capabilities aimed at improving how Qiskit users access quantum hardware through Amazon Braket.
The update, announced in a recent technical post by Cody Wang, Charunethran Panchalam Govindarajan, Ishaan Pakrasi, Ryan Shaffer and Scott Smart, extends support to Qiskit 2.0 and introduces more flexible compilation workflows for running quantum circuits on Braket-supported devices.
The Qiskit-Braket provider acts as a bridge between IBM’s open-source Qiskit framework and Amazon Braket, the company’s managed quantum computing service. The new release focuses on expanding compatibility and simplifying execution.
Updated Qiskit Support
Version 0.11 adds support for Qiskit 2.0, which introduced structural changes and performance improvements compared with earlier 1.x versions. According to the developers, users can now take advantage of Qiskit 2.0’s refactoring and execution enhancements when submitting jobs to Braket devices. The provider remains backward compatible to Qiskit version 0.34.2, allowing existing workflows to continue operating without modification.
The update is intended to reduce friction for researchers and developers who build applications in Qiskit but deploy them on hardware available through Braket, including superconducting, trapped-ion and neutral-atom systems.
One of the more significant additions is expanded compilation support through a function called to_braket. The feature allows users to transpile — or compile — quantum circuits using familiar Qiskit tools and convert them directly into Braket-native circuit objects.
The to_braket function accepts multiple input formats, including Qiskit circuits, Braket circuits and OpenQASM 3 programs. It also supports Qiskit transpilation settings, device targets and optimization levels. Compiled circuits can then be submitted directly to Braket devices without additional conversion steps.
This flexibility is designed to streamline cross-platform workflows, particularly for developers who prototype algorithms in Qiskit but require device-specific compilation to match hardware constraints.
New Execution Primitives
The release also introduces BraketEstimator and BraketSampler primitives. These mirror similar abstractions in Qiskit and are designed to simplify how expectation values and sampling tasks are executed on Braket backends.
Previously, Braket devices were accessed through generic backend wrappers such as BackendEstimator and BackendSampler. The new primitives are more tightly integrated and allow users to take advantage of Braket-specific features, including program sets that batch multiple related tasks into a single submission.
According to the developers, the updated primitives improve performance and provide more direct handling of observables, circuit parameters and grouped execution workflows. Users can inspect aggregated program objects and manage results more efficiently within Qiskit-based applications.
Version 0.11 of the Qiskit-Braket provider is now available, and example notebooks demonstrating the new features are accessible through Amazon Braket.
