The book

Operating Quantum Computers

A systems engineering handbook for building, operating, and improving quantum computing services.

27Core chapters

232Reference readings

6Simulator scenarios

THE OPERATING VIEWPOINT

“A quantum computer is a managed physical experiment that is repeatedly compiled, calibrated, executed, measured, statistically interpreted, secured, governed, costed, and improved.”

For infrastructure engineers, technical founders, research engineers, and quantum platform teams. Start with the foundations, then follow the stack from physical hardware to dependable services.

Run the Bell-state experiment, inspect its evidence, and learn when a completed job supports a scientific claim. All required exercises use simulators.

EXPLORE THE BOOK

Reference library · Interactive lab + Python project · Bibliography

27 pages · In reading order

I. Foundations4

CORE · Chapter 1

What Operating a Quantum Computer Means4 min read

CORE · Chapter 2

Circuits, Measurement, and Observables4 min read

CORE · Chapter 3

Hardware and Its Operating Constraints4 min read

CORE · Chapter 4

Run Your First Hybrid Experiment4 min read

II. Trustworthy Experiments4

CORE · Chapter 5

Noise and Physical Error Budgets4 min read

CORE · Chapter 6

Shots, Uncertainty, and Stopping Rules4 min read

CORE · Chapter 7

Error Mitigation and Verification4 min read

CORE · Chapter 8

Benchmarking and Defensible Claims4 min read

III. Compilation and Execution4

CORE · Chapter 9

Compilation, Target Constraints, and Portability4 min read

CORE · Chapter 10

Calibration and Execution Validity4 min read

CORE · Chapter 11

Timing, Feedback, and Dynamic Circuits4 min read

CORE · Chapter 12

Jobs, Sessions, and Hybrid Workflows4 min read

IV. Platform Engineering4

CORE · Chapter 13

Workload Contracts and Service Architecture4 min read

CORE · Chapter 14

Reproducible Runs and Experiment Data4 min read

CORE · Chapter 15

Testing, Releases, and Compatibility4 min read

CORE · Chapter 16

Identity, Isolation, and Platform Security4 min read

V. Reliable Operations4

CORE · Chapter 17

Telemetry, SLOs, and Service Error Budgets5 min read

CORE · Chapter 18

Detecting Drift and Interpreting Alerts5 min read

CORE · Chapter 19

Incidents, Recovery, and Safe Changes4 min read

CORE · Chapter 20

Capacity, Scheduling, and Cost5 min read

VI. Logical and Distributed Computing4

CORE · Chapter 21

From Physical to Logical Qubits4 min read

CORE · Chapter 22

Decoding, Pauli Frames, and Feedback Deadlines4 min read

CORE · Chapter 23

Fault-Tolerant Resource Estimates and Admission4 min read

CORE · Chapter 24

Quantum Networks and Distributed Operations4 min read

VII. Applications and Capstone3

CORE · Chapter 25

Workload Patterns and Their Practical Limits4 min read

CORE · Chapter 26

Build a Reproducible Workload Service4 min read

CORE · Chapter 27

Validate and Operate the Service4 min read

REVIEW & SCOPE · 9 SEPTEMBER 2026 UTC

The core book connects 27 chapters to a reproducible simulator experiment. Separate AI reviews cover quantum correctness, statistics, and software implementation.

Human expert review has not been performed. This is a simulator-based teaching book and reference library. Inspect the review record →

Operating Quantum Computers

Contents