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arXiv · 2610.34841

Large Language Models for Quantum Code Translation: An Exploratory Study

Xiyuan Li·Yuechen Li·Jianjun Zhao
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Abstract

Quantum software development is challenged by quantum-mechanical semantics and fragmented software development kits (SDKs), which complicate cross-SDK code translation and execution. In this paper, we propose an LLM-based approach for translating executable programs between high-level quantum SDKs. We develop a quantum-aware translation workflow whose prompt design and validation reflect quantum semantics and accommodate the version evolution of quantum ecosystems. We conduct a preliminary evaluation of 4 LLM configurations on 43 tasks, translating Qiskit programs to PennyLane and Q#. LLMs achieve a zero-shot Pass@1 of up to 72.33%, while one-shot prompting further improves the translation effectiveness. These results suggest potential for quantum code translation by LLMs.

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Xiyuan Li, Yuechen Li, Jianjun Zhao. 2026-10-26. Large Language Models for Quantum Code Translation: An Exploratory Study. https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.34841

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