Optyx: A ZX-based Python library for networked quantum architectures
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Abstract
Distributed, large-scale quantum computing will need architectures that combine matter-based qubits with photonic links, but today's software stacks target either gate-based chips or linear-optical devices in isolation. We introduce Optyx, an open-source Python framework offering a unified language to program, simulate, and prototype hybrid, networked systems: users create experiments that mix qubit registers, discrete-variable photonic modes, lossy channels, heralded measurements, and real-time feedback; Optyx compiles them via ZX/ZW calculus into optimised tensor-network forms, and executes with state-of-the-art contraction schedulers based on Quimb and Cotengra. Benchmarking on exact multi-photon circuit simulations shows that, versus permanent-based methods, tensor network contraction can deliver speedups of orders of magnitude for low-depth circuits and entangled photon sources, and natively supports loss and distinguishability -- establishing it as both a high-performance simulator and a rapid-prototyping environment for next-generation photonic-network experiments.