Add Simulon remote access to docs (#547)

* add simulon entry * update introduction * minor text update * Apply suggestions from code review Co-authored-by: Josh Izaac <josh146@gmail.com> * update headings * update doc * add ref * add details Co-authored-by: Josh Izaac <josh146@gmail.com>
XanaduAI · Feb 26, 2021 · 57c4242 · 57c4242
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diff --git a/doc/introduction/circuits.rst b/doc/introduction/circuits.rst
@@ -83,6 +83,7 @@ the same structure as the above example; in particular,
     Strawberry Fields also provides support for constructing and simulating photonic
     time domain multiplexing algorithms. For more details, please see :class:`~.TDMProgram`.
 
+.. _simulating_your_program:
 
 Simulating your program
 -----------------------

diff --git a/doc/introduction/introduction.rst b/doc/introduction/introduction.rst
@@ -62,7 +62,7 @@ In the following sections you can learn more about the key features of Strawberr
 ..
 
 5. :doc:`photonic_hardware` gives an overview of building, submitting, and managing
-   remote hardware jobs through Strawberry Fields.
+   remote jobs on both hardware and cloud simulators through Strawberry Fields.
 
 ..
 

diff --git a/doc/introduction/photonic_hardware.rst b/doc/introduction/photonic_hardware.rst
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
-Hardware
-========
+Hardware and cloud
+==================
 
-Using Strawberry Fields, you can submit quantum programs
-to be executed on photonic hardware using the Xanadu cloud platform.
+Using Strawberry Fields, you can submit quantum programs to be executed on photonic
+hardware or to be run on a cloud simulator via the Xanadu Quantum Cloud.
 
 .. warning::
 
@@ -69,8 +69,8 @@ or the ``ping`` flag can be used on the command line:
 
    :doc:`command line interface </code/sf_cli>`
 
-Submitting jobs
----------------
+Submitting jobs on hardware
+---------------------------
 
 Once connected to the Xanadu cloud platform, the Strawberry Fields
 :class:`~.RemoteEngine` can be used to submit quantum programs to available
@@ -130,6 +130,30 @@ the Strawberry Fields command line interface:
 After executing the above command, the result will be stored in ``out.txt`` in the current working directory.
 You can also omit the ``--output`` parameter to print the result to the screen.
 
+Cloud simulator
+---------------
+
+In addition to submitting jobs to be run on quantum hardware, it is also possible to run jobs on
+the Xanadu Quantum Cloud simulator Simulon. The process is very similar to running jobs on hardware. You
+will need to configure your account, as described above, and submit a job via the ``RemoteEngine``,
+using ``"simulon"`` as the target instead of a specific chip:
+
+>>> eng = sf.RemoteEngine("simulon")
+>>> result = eng.run(prog)
+
+Simulon jobs can also be submitted asynchronously using ``eng.run_async``, or by submitting a
+Blackbird script with the ``target`` set to ``simulon`` in the Blackbird header.
+
+See the `Submitting jobs on hardware`_ section above for more details.
+
+.. note::
+
+    Simulon runs on the ``gaussian`` backend (see :ref:`simulating_your_program`) and thus only supports
+    Gaussian operations, including homodyne and heterodyne measurements, as well terminal
+    Fock measurements. Note that there are limits to how many measurements a circuit can have depending
+    on the type of measurement. These can be retrieved by calling ``engine.device_spec.modes`` with
+    ``engine = sf.RemoteEngine("simulon")``.
+
 Tutorials
 ---------