A method of performing a quantum Fourier transform in a quantum computing circuit is disclosed. The method includes forming a quantum computing circuit as a collection of two-qubit gates operating on a sequence of input qubits. Auxiliary qubits are then interacted with the original input qubits to place the auxiliary qubits in a state corresponding to an output of a discrete Fourier transform of a classical state of the input qubits. The original input qubits are then re-set to their ground state by physically interacting the input qubits with the auxiliary qubits. The auxiliary qubits are then transformed to a state representative of a quantum Fourier transform of the sequence of input qubits.