Running Quantum Circuits on IBM Quantum Computers

IBM provides free access to real quantum computers through the IBM Quantum Platform. Using Qiskit, you can design quantum circuits, simulate them, and run them on real quantum hardware.

This guide explains the steps, tools, and concepts needed to run your own quantum circuits.

🔹 1. What You Need Before You Start

To run quantum circuits on IBM Quantum devices, you need:

IBM Quantum Account

Create one at: quantum-computing.ibm.com

Qiskit installed

Install using:

pip install qiskit

API token

Available in your IBM Quantum dashboard.

Required to authenticate Qiskit with IBM’s quantum backends.

🔹 2. Understanding the Basics

Quantum Circuits

A quantum circuit is made up of:

Qubits (quantum bits)

Gates (quantum operations like H, X, CNOT)

Measurements (convert quantum info → classical bits)

Example:

A simple circuit to create a Bell state.

Quantum Backends

A backend is a device where the circuit runs.

Two types:

Simulators (local or cloud-based)

Real quantum computers (e.g., IBM’s 5-qubit or 27-qubit devices)

Examples:

ibmq_qasm_simulator

ibm_nairobi

ibm_perth

🔹 3. Steps to Run Your First Quantum Circuit

Step 1: Load Your IBM Quantum Account

from qiskit import IBMQ

IBMQ.save_account('YOUR_API_TOKEN')

IBMQ.load_account()

Step 2: Choose a Backend

provider = IBMQ.get_provider(hub='ibm-q')

backend = provider.get_backend('ibm_nairobi')

You can also check available devices:

provider.backends()

Step 3: Build a Quantum Circuit

Example: create a Bell state (entangled qubits)

from qiskit import QuantumCircuit

qc = QuantumCircuit(2, 2)

qc.h(0) # Hadamard on qubit 0

qc.cx(0, 1) # CNOT between qubit 0 and 1

qc.measure([0,1], [0,1])

qc.draw()

Step 4: Execute the Circuit

Submit your circuit to run on the backend:

from qiskit import execute

job = execute(qc, backend=backend, shots=1024)

job_id = job.job_id()

print("Job ID:", job_id)

Step 5: Get the Results

result = job.result()

counts = result.get_counts()

print(counts)

Example output:

{'00': 520, '11': 504}

This shows entanglement because the results are strongly correlated.

🔹 4. Choosing Between Simulator vs Real Hardware

Feature Simulator Real Quantum Computer

Noise None or very low Significant

Speed Fast Slower (queue times)

Accuracy Ideal results Real-world imperfections

Use Case Experiment, debug Validate real hardware performance

For learning: use simulators.

For real experiments: use hardware backends.

🔹 5. Dealing With Noise & Errors

Real quantum devices have:

Decoherence

Gate errors

Measurement errors

To improve results, Qiskit provides:

Error mitigation tools

Measurement calibration

Transpiler optimizations

Example:

from qiskit import transpile

optimized_qc = transpile(qc, backend, optimization_level=3)

🔹 6. Visualizing Results

Qiskit includes visualization tools:

from qiskit.visualization import plot_histogram

plot_histogram(counts)

This shows the probability distribution measured from the circuit.

🔹 7. Running Advanced Quantum Circuits

You can run:

Quantum algorithms (Grover, Shor, QFT)

Variational circuits (VQE, QAOA)

Quantum machine-learning experiments

Multi-qubit entanglement tests

Random quantum circuits for benchmarking

IBM Quantum also supports:

Pulse-level programming (Qiskit Pulse)

Dynamic circuits

Qiskit Runtime for faster execution

🔹 8. Tips for Efficient Use of IBM Quantum Devices

Use transpilation to optimize circuits

Use shorter-depth circuits to avoid noise

Check device properties before running

Use error mitigation tools

Submit jobs when queues are shorter (late night / early morning)

🎯 Summary

Running quantum circuits on IBM Quantum involves:

Creating a quantum circuit with Qiskit

Connecting to IBM’s quantum backends

Choosing the right device (simulator or real hardware)

Executing the job

Viewing and interpreting results

IBM Quantum makes it possible for anyone to experiment with real quantum computers.

Learn Quantum Computing Training in Hyderabad

Read More

The Differences Between Qiskit, Cirq, and Braket

Introduction to Cirq: Google’s Quantum Programming Framework

Getting Started with Qiskit: Your First Quantum Program

Quantum Programming & Tools

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December 10, 2025

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