Optimize ConsolidateBlocks pass

qiskit/transpiler/passes/optimization/consolidate_blocks.py

@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 from qiskit.circuit.library.standard_gates import CXGate
 from qiskit.transpiler.basepasses import TransformationPass
 from qiskit.transpiler.passes.synthesis import unitary_synthesis
+from qiskit.transpiler.passes.utils.block_to_matrix import _block_to_matrix
 
 
 class ConsolidateBlocks(TransformationPass):
@@ -102,19 +103,24 @@ def run(self, dag):
                     if isinstance(nd, DAGOpNode) and getattr(nd.op, "condition", None):
                         block_cargs |= set(getattr(nd.op, "condition", None)[0])
                     all_block_gates.add(nd)
-                q = QuantumRegister(len(block_qargs))
-                qc = QuantumCircuit(q)
-                if block_cargs:
-                    c = ClassicalRegister(len(block_cargs))
-                    qc.add_register(c)
                 block_index_map = self._block_qargs_to_indices(block_qargs, global_index_map)
                 for nd in block:
                     if nd.op.name == basis_gate_name:
                         basis_count += 1
                     if self._check_not_in_basis(nd.op.name, nd.qargs, global_index_map):
                         outside_basis = True
-                    qc.append(nd.op, [q[block_index_map[i]] for i in nd.qargs])
-                unitary = UnitaryGate(Operator(qc))
+                if len(block_qargs) > 2:
+                    q = QuantumRegister(len(block_qargs))
+                    qc = QuantumCircuit(q)
+                    if block_cargs:
+                        c = ClassicalRegister(len(block_cargs))
+                        qc.add_register(c)
+                    for nd in block:
+                        qc.append(nd.op, [q[block_index_map[i]] for i in nd.qargs])
+                    unitary = UnitaryGate(Operator(qc))
+                else:
+                    matrix = _block_to_matrix(block, block_index_map)
+                    unitary = UnitaryGate(matrix)
 
                 max_2q_depth = 20  # If depth > 20, there will be 1q gates to consolidate.
                 if (  # pylint: disable=too-many-boolean-expressions

qiskit/transpiler/passes/utils/block_to_matrix.py

@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+# This code is part of Qiskit.
+#
+# (C) Copyright IBM 2017, 2018.
+#
+# This code is licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0. You may
+# obtain a copy of this license in the LICENSE.txt file in the root directory
+# of this source tree or at http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.
+#
+# Any modifications or derivative works of this code must retain this
+# copyright notice, and modified files need to carry a notice indicating
+# that they have been altered from the originals.
+
+"""Converts any block of 2 qubit gates into a matrix."""
+
+from numpy import identity, kron
+from qiskit.circuit.library import SwapGate
+from qiskit.quantum_info import Operator
+from qiskit.exceptions import QiskitError
+
+
+SWAP_GATE = SwapGate()
+SWAP_MATRIX = SWAP_GATE.to_matrix()
+IDENTITY = identity(2, dtype=complex)
+
+
+def _block_to_matrix(block, block_index_map):
+    """
+    The function converts any sequence of operations between two qubits into a matrix
+    that can be utilized to create a gate or a unitary.
+
+    Args:
+        block (List(DAGOpNode)): A block of operations on two qubits.
+        block_index_map (dict(Qubit, int)): The mapping of the qubit indices in the main circuit.
+
+    Returns:
+        NDArray: Matrix representation of the block of operations.
+    """
+    matrix = identity(2 ** len(block_index_map), dtype=complex)
+    for node in block:
+        try:
+            current = node.op.to_matrix()
+        except QiskitError:
+            current = Operator(node.op).data
+        q_list = [block_index_map[qubit] for qubit in node.qargs]
+        basis_change = False
+        if len(q_list) < 2:
+            if q_list[0] == 1:
+                current = kron(current, IDENTITY)
+            else:
+                current = kron(IDENTITY, current)
+        else:
+            if q_list[0] > q_list[1]:
+                if node.op != SWAP_GATE:
+                    basis_change = True
+        if basis_change:
+            matrix = (SWAP_MATRIX @ current) @ (SWAP_MATRIX @ matrix)
+        else:
+            matrix = current @ matrix
+    return matrix

releasenotes/notes/optimize-consolidate-blocks-3ea60c18bc546273.yaml

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+---
+fixes:
+  - |
+    Reduced overhead of the :class:`.ConsolidateBlocks` pass by performing matrix operations
+    on all two-qubit blocks privately instead of creating an instance of :class:`.QuantumCircuit`
+    and passing it to an :class:`.Operator`. The speedup will only be applicable when 
+    consolidating two-qubit blocks. Anything higher than that will still be handled by the 
+    :class:`.Operator` class.
+    Check `#8779 <https://github.com/Qiskit/qiskit-terra/issues/8779>`__ for details.