Large machine learning models based on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) with rapidly increasing numbers of parameters are being deployed in a wide array of computer vision tasks. However, the insatiable demand for computing resources required to train these models is fast outpacing the advancement of classical computing hardware, and new frameworks including Optical Neural Networks (ONNs) and quantum computing are being explored as future alternatives. In this work, we report a novel quantum computing based deep learning model, the Quantum Optical Convolutional Neural Network (QOCNN), to alleviate the computational bottleneck in future computer vision applications. Using the MNIST dataset, we have benchmarked this new architecture against a traditional CNN model based on the seminal LeNet architecture. We have also compared the performance against previously reported ONNs, the GridNet and ComplexNet, and a Quantum Optical Neural Network (QONN) that we built by combining the ComplexNet with quantum-inspired sinusoidal nonlinearities. Our work extends the prior research on QONN by adding quantum convolution and pooling layers. We have evaluated the models using the metrics of accuracies, confusion matrices, Receiver Operating Characteristic curves, and Matthews Correlation Coefficients. The performance of the models were similar, and the metrics indicated that the new QOCNN model is robust. Finally, we estimated the gains in computational efficiencies from executing this novel framework on a quantum computer, concluding that switching to a quantum computing based approach to deep learning may result in comparable accuracies to classical models while simultaneously achieving unprecedented boosts in computational performances and power allocation.
Large machine learning models based on Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) with rapidly increasing numbers of parameters are being deployed in a wide array of computer vision tasks. However, the insatiable demand for computing resources required to train these models is fast outpacing the advancement of classical computing hardware, and new frameworks including Optical Neural Networks (ONNs) and quantum computing are being explored as future alternatives. In this work, we report a novel quantum computing based deep learning model, the Quantum Optical Convolutional Neural Network (QOCNN), to alleviate the computational bottleneck in future computer vision applications. Using the MNIST dataset, we have benchmarked this new architecture against a traditional CNN model based on the seminal LeNet architecture. We have also compared the performance against previously reported ONNs, the GridNet and ComplexNet, and a Quantum Optical Neural Network (QONN) that we built by combining the ComplexNet with quantum-inspired sinusoidal nonlinearities. Our work extends the prior research on QONN by adding quantum convolution and pooling layers. We have evaluated the models using the metrics of accuracies, confusion matrices, Receiver Operating Characteristic curves, and Matthews Correlation Coefficients. The performance of the models were similar, and the metrics indicated that the new QOCNN model is robust. Finally, we estimated the gains in computational efficiencies from executing this novel framework on a quantum computer, concluding that switching to a quantum computing based approach to deep learning may result in comparable accuracies to classical models while simultaneously achieving unprecedented boosts in computational performances and power allocation.
Deep learning algorithms and models have made an impact in the area of AI and machine learning, one among them is CNN. CNN is extensively used in the area of image recognition and object detection for classification purposes. CNN is composed of several layers of filters to get feature maps of input data, yet foremost and crucial one is convolutional layer, hence the name Convolutional neural networks. However, the growth of quantum computing and quantum neural network in deep learning is limited. Three main obstacles that limit the growth of these are, first is due to the lack of real-time quantum computers to experiment with. Second is the improper training algorithms and at last, non-linearity nature of the neural networks. This paper introduces a novel approach to begin one's journey in quantum computing, along with solutions and developments. This work provides a detailed description of architectures, frameworks and algorithms used for implementing a QCNN model. The research was made regarding image recognition and object detection using QCNN and found that QCNN can increase the computational speeds with better performance metrics compared to classical computational methods. This paper also debates about applications of QCNN in computer vision, signal and image processing, Pharmaceuticals, Cryptography and various other fields. This study also explains Key players and future work in developing quantum computers, quantum computing algorithms, software and hardware support to implement QCNN in various applications.
Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) are extensively utilized for image classification due to their ability to exploit data correlations effectively. However, traditional CNNs encounter several challenges, including limitations in accuracy improvement, computational efficiency, explain ability, and generalization. As data dimensionality or model complexity increases, CNNs often become more difficult to train efficiently, leading to slower processing times. To overcome these challenges, Quantum Convolutional Neural Networks (QCNNs) offer a promising quantum-based approach to enhance existing models, particularly by improving training efficiency and reducing processing times. This paper provides a comparative analysis of classical CNNs and a novel quantum circuit architecture tailored for image-based tasks. The analysis emphasizes the adaptability and potential of quantum circuits to enhance feature extraction, recognition accuracy, and processing efficiency.We applied various QCNN architectures to the Chinese-MNIST dataset and compared their performance with traditional CNN models. Although QCNNs achieved slightly lower accuracy, they demonstrated significantly greater stability. These findings high- light QCNNs’ potential to overcome the computational limitations of conventional deep learning, offering a promising pathway for quantum-enhanced solutions in computer vision. Future work will focus on refining quantum circuit designs, developing hybrid quantum-classical models, and extending QCNN applications to larger and more diverse datasets.
Quantum machine learning is emerging as a promising frontier at the intersection of quantum computing and Artificial Intelligence, offering potential gains in speed, efficiency, and robustness. In this paper, a hybrid Quantum Convolutional Neural Network (QCNN) architecture is presented for visual pattern recognition tasks, leveraging quantum superposition and entanglement for enhanced feature extraction. Unlike previous studies that focus on small-scale or simplified datasets, this study systematically evaluates QCNNs across multiple benchmark datasets and provides a direct comparison with classical CNNs, highlighting practical quantum advantages such as parameter efficiency and noise-resilience. The proposed approach encodes classical image data from benchmark datasets, including70K28×28grayscale images from MNIST and FashionMNIST, and60Kdownsampled grayscale CIFAR-10 images, into quantum states using amplitude encoding, followed by hierarchical quantum convolution and pooling layers implemented via parametrised quantum circuits (PQCs). The model culminates in a classical dense layer for final classification. Experimental results demonstrate that the QCNN achieves competitive performance on low-dimensional grayscale datasets with 93.2 % accuracy on MNIST and 88.5% on Fashion MNIST, though it underperforms on more complex datasets like CIFAR-10 with 67.8 % accuracy due to current quantum hardware limitations. While not yet surpassing classical CNNs in raw accuracy, the proposed QCNN exhibits notable parameter efficiency, noise resilience, and theoretical potential for energy-efficient computation, highlighting its promise for future applications as quantum technologies mature.
In the field of image processing, a well-known model is the Convolutional Neural Network, or CNN. The unique benefit that sets this model apart is its exceptional ability to use the correlation information included in the data. Even with their amazing accomplishment, conventional CNNs could have trouble improving further in terms of generalization, accuracy, and computing economy. However, it could be challenging to train CNN correctly and process information quickly if the model or data dimensions are too large. This is since it will cause the data processing to lag. The Quantum Convolutional Neural Network, or QCNN for short, is a novel proposed quantum solution that might either enhance the functionality of an existing learning model or solve a problem requiring the combination of quantum computing with CNN. To highlight the flexibility and versatility of quantum circuits in improving feature extraction capabilities, this paper compares deep quantum circuit architecture designed for image-based tasks with classical Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and a novel quantum circuit architecture. The covidx-cxr4 dataset was used to train quantum-CNN models, and their results were compared against those of other models. The results show that when paired with innovative feature extraction methods, the suggested deep Quantum Convolutional Neural Network (QCNN) outperformed the conventional CNN in terms of processing speed and recognition accuracy. Even though it required more processing time, QCNN outperformed CNN in terms of recognition accuracy. When training on the covidx-cxr4 dataset, this dominance becomes much more apparent, demonstrating how deeper quantum computing has the potential to completely transform image classification problems.
Compared with electrical neural networks, optical neural networks (ONNs) have the potentials to break the limit of the bandwidth and reduce the consumption of energy, and therefore draw much attention in recent years. By far, several types of ONNs have been implemented. However, the current ONNs cannot realize the acceleration as powerful as that indicated by the models like quantum neural networks. How to construct and realize an ONN with the quantum speedup is a huge challenge. Here, we propose theoretically and demonstrate experimentally a new type of optical convolutional neural network by introducing the optical correlation. It is called the correlated optical convolutional neural network (COCNN). We show that the COCNN can exhibit "quantum speedup" in the training process. The character is verified from the two aspects. One is the direct illustration of the faster convergence by comparing the loss function curves of the COCNN with that of the traditional convolutional neural network (CNN). Such a result is compatible with the training performance of the recently proposed quantum convolutional neural network (QCNN). The other is the demonstration of the COCNN's capability to perform the QCNN phase recognition circuit, validating the connection between the COCNN and the QCNN. Furthermore, we take the COCNN analog to the 3-qubit QCNN phase recognition circuit as an example and perform an experiment to show the soundness and the feasibility of it. The results perfectly match the theoretical calculations. Our proposal opens up a new avenue for realizing the ONNs with the quantum speedup, which will benefit the information processing in the era of big data.
The integration of quantum computing principles with classical deep learning architectures has emerged as a promising direction for advancing image recognition systems beyond the limitations of purely classical convolutional neural networks (CNNs). This study proposes and analyzes a hybrid quantum–classical deep learning framework based on quanvolutional neural network (QNN) principles, where quantum circuits are embedded within convolutional feature extraction layers to enhance representation capability. The research investigates how quantum-enhanced filters, particularly quanvolutional layers, contribute to improved feature diversity, non-linear transformation capacity, and classification accuracy in image recognition tasks. Building upon established convolutional architectures and quantum machine learning theories, the proposed framework integrates quantum random circuit encoding with classical deep neural networks to evaluate performance gains in comparison to conventional CNN models. The study further incorporates theoretical insights from hybrid quantum-classical learning systems, emphasizing the role of parameterized quantum circuits in feature mapping and optimization stability. The methodology is grounded in NISQ-era quantum computing constraints and leverages hybrid optimization strategies to ensure computational feasibility. Experimental evaluation demonstrates that quanvolution-based models can provide improved robustness in feature extraction, particularly in high-dimensional image spaces, while maintaining competitive computational efficiency. However, scalability limitations and noise sensitivity in quantum circuits remain key challenges. Overall, this work contributes to the growing field of quantum-enhanced machine learning by providing a structured performance analysis of hybrid quanvolutional architectures and highlighting their potential role in next-generation intelligent visual recognition systems.