[Feature Request] Layout Specification Format

[gwwatkin]

Issue Description

We want to be able to specify the layout of a device running a lattice surgery computation. This is required for both visualization and resource estimation.

Proposed Solution

We already have a format for representing layouts in python to route and json to visualize, but they are cumbersome for humans to read and write.

An ASCII format that can be read and visualized by a human, and easily parsed by machine:

rrrrr111
QrQQr111
QrQQr111
rrrrr222
QrQQr222
QrQAr222
rrrrr333
44444333
44444333

Where:

• Q indicates a 1 qubit patch, with the convention of assuming X boundaries left and right, and Z top and bottom
• r ancilla dedicated to routing
• A ancilla dedicated to pre prepared states
• 0-9 indicate distillation regions. Different numbers to distinguish different regions that distill at different times