References
Curated recommendations for going deeper. These are the resources we actually use and recommend — not an exhaustive bibliography.
Textbooks
Introductory
| Book |
Authors |
Why we recommend it |
| Quantum Computing: An Applied Approach (2nd ed.) |
Jack Hidary |
Practical, code-forward, covers real algorithms with implementations |
| Quantum Computation and Quantum Information |
Nielsen & Chuang |
The classic. Dense but definitive. Best used as a reference after you have intuition |
| An Introduction to Quantum Computing |
Kaye, Laflamme, Mosca |
Cleaner than N&C for a first pass; good balance of theory and algorithms |
| Quantum Computer Science |
Mermin |
Wonderfully clear writing. Best "second book" for CS people |
For physicists and chemists
| Book |
Authors |
Why we recommend it |
| Quantum Chemistry in the Age of Quantum Computing |
Babbush et al. |
The bridge between chemistry and quantum algorithms |
| Modern Quantum Chemistry |
Szabo & Ostlund |
Classical comp-chem foundations; essential if you want to understand VQE deeply |
| Qubit-Efficient Encodings for Binary Optimisation Problems |
Azariah et al. |
A practical reference on encoding fermions onto qubits. A good companion to the Circuit Bench quantum simulation notes |
For the mathematically inclined
| Book |
Authors |
Why we recommend it |
| Quantum Information Theory |
Mark Wilde |
Rigorous information-theoretic foundations |
| Quantum Computing Since Democritus |
Scott Aaronson |
Half philosophy, half complexity theory, entirely entertaining |
Online courses
Key papers
These are the papers behind the circuit notes. Each note references the relevant paper directly; this is the collected list.
| Paper |
Year |
Relevant note |
| Einstein, Podolsky, Rosen — "Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?" |
1935 |
Bell State |
| Bell — "On the Einstein Podolsky Rosen Paradox" |
1964 |
Bell State |
| Bennett et al. — "Teleporting an Unknown Quantum State" |
1993 |
Teleportation |
| Deutsch & Jozsa — "Rapid Solution of Problems by Quantum Computation" |
1992 |
Deutsch-Jozsa |
| Grover — "A Fast Quantum Mechanical Algorithm for Database Search" |
1996 |
Grover's Search |
| Farhi, Goldstone, Gutmann — "A Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm" |
2014 |
QAOA |
| Peruzzo et al. — "A Variational Eigenvalue Solver on a Photonic Quantum Processor" |
2014 |
VQE |
| Shor — "Algorithms for Quantum Computation" |
1994 |
QPE / QFT |
| Resource |
What it is |
| Quokka |
The 30-qubit quantum computing platform these circuits are built for |
| OpenQASM 2.0 spec |
The language every circuit note uses |
| Qiskit |
IBM's full-stack quantum SDK — if you want to go beyond QASM |
| Quirk |
Drag-and-drop quantum circuit simulator in the browser — great for visual intuition |
| Quantum Computing Stack Exchange |
The best Q&A site for quantum computing questions |
Notation guide
We use standard Dirac notation throughout the Circuit Bench:
| Symbol |
Meaning |
| \(\|0\rangle\), \(\|1\rangle\) |
Computational basis states |
| \(\|+\rangle\), \(\|-\rangle\) |
Superposition states \(\frac{1}{\sqrt{2}}(\|0\rangle \pm \|1\rangle)\) |
| \(H\) |
Hadamard gate |
| \(\text{CNOT}\), \(CX\) |
Controlled-NOT gate |
| \(\otimes\) |
Tensor product (combining systems) |
| \(\langle \psi \| \phi \rangle\) |
Inner product / overlap |
If the notation in a circuit note ever feels unfamiliar, check back here or follow the prerequisite links near the start of the note.