With the recent availability of multiple platforms for cloud quantum computing, Physical Review Applied is formalizing some expectations for manuscripts reporting work that makes use of such platforms.
First, regarding terminology, we will designate such work as “demonstrations”, to avoid confusion with experiments in the traditional sense. The language used in the paper should reflect this.
Second, it is essential that the results of such demonstrations be reproducible, so sufficient details about the cloud platform need to be given in the main paper or appendices. We expect the layout of the computing device and its characteristics (qubit frequencies, qubit coherence times, couplings, gate and measurement fidelities, etc.) at the time of the demonstration to be presented in the paper. These details are important, as the device characteristics can change over time. Furthermore, sufficient details of any data-analysis techniques also need to be provided.
By formalizing our expectations, we hope to give authors clear guidelines that will help them in preparing their submissions.
