Scientific diagrams with TikZ

TikZ is the LaTeX drawing language, and it is the right tool for figures that need to be exactly right: Feynman diagrams, quantum circuits, chemical structures, and mathematical figures.

It is verbose and precise, which is the trade you are making. Nothing else here produces publication-quality output from text.

#When to reach for one

• Papers, theses and technical notes that will also exist as LaTeX.

• Teaching material in physics, chemistry and mathematics.

• Any figure where a hand-drawn approximation would be wrong.

#How to draw it in Capable

#A worked example

A simple quantum circuit, drawn with TikZ:

The source, which you can paste into a new diagram and edit:

\documentclass[tikz,border=6pt]{standalone}
\usetikzlibrary{quantikz}
\begin{document}
\begin{quantikz}
  \lstick{$\ket{0}$} & \gate{H} & \ctrl{1} & \qw      & \meter{} \\
  \lstick{$\ket{0}$} & \qw      & \targ{}  & \gate{X} & \meter{}
\end{quantikz}
\end{document}

#A few things that catch people out

• TikZ rendering is heavier than the other languages; expect it to take longer.

• TikZ is disabled by default and has to be enabled by an administrator. See Administration.

• Use the right library: quantikz for circuits, tikz-feynman for Feynman diagrams, chemfig for molecules.

#Related

Approximately right is wrong here.