Despite remarkable milestones in quantum computing, the performance of current quantum hardware remains limited. One critical path to higher performance is to expand the quantum ISA with basis gates that have higher fidelity and greater synthesis capabilities than the standard CNOT. However, this substantially increases gate calibration overhead and introduces challenges in compiler optimization. Consequently, although more expressive ISAs (even complex, continuous gate sets) have been proposed, they still remain primarily proofs-of-concept and have not been widely adopted.

The design and architecture of a quantum instruction set are paramount to the performance of a quantum computer. This work introduces a gate scheme for qubits with XX + YY coupling that directly and efficiently realizes any two-qubit gate up to single-qubit gates. First, this scheme enables high-fidelity execution of quantum operations, especially when decoherence is the primary error source. Second, since the scheme spans the entire SU(4) group of two-qubit gates, we can use it to attain the optimal two-qubit gate count for algorithm implementation. These two advantages in synergy give rise to a quantum Complex yet Reduced Instruction Set Computer (CRISC). Though the gate scheme is compact, it supports a comprehensive array of quantum operations. This may seem paradoxical but is realizable due to the fundamental differences between quantum and classical computer architectures.

We revisit the problem of Pauli shadow tomography: given copies of an unknown n-qubit quantum state$\rho$, estimate Tr$(P\rho)$for some set of Pauli operators$F$to within additive error$\epsilon$. This has been a popular testbed for exploring the advantage of protocols with quantum memory over those without: with enough memory to measure two copies at a time, one can use Bell sampling to estimate$\vert \text{Tr}(P\rho)$for all$P$using$O(n/\epsilon^{4})$copies, but with$k\leq n$qubits of memory,$\Omega(2^{(n-k)/3})$copies are needed. These results leave open several natural questions. How does this picture change in the physically relevant setting where one only needs to estimate a certain subset of Paulis? What is the optimal dependence on$\epsilon ?$What is the optimal tradeoff between quantum memory and sample complexity? We answer all of these questions: •For any subset$A$of Paulis and any family of measurement strategies, we completely characterize the optimal sample complexity, up to$\log\vert A\vert$factors. •We show any protocol that makes poly$(n)$-copy measure-ments must make$\Omega(1/\epsilon^{4})$measurements. •For any protocol that makes poly$(n)$-copy measurements and only has$k < n$qubits of memory, we show that$\tilde{\Theta}(\min\{2^{n}/\epsilon^{2},2^{n-k}/\epsilon^{4}\})$copies are necessary and sufficient. The protocols we propose can also estimate the actual values$\text{Tr}(P\rho)$, rather than just their absolute values as in prior work. Additionally, as a byproduct of our techniques, we establish tight bounds for the task of purity testing and show that it exhibits an intriguing phase transition not present in the memory-sample tradeoff for Pauli shadow tomography.