Advancements in classical computing have significantly enhanced machine learning applications, yet inherent limitations persist in terms of energy, resource and speed. Quantum machine learning algorithms offer a promising avenue to overcome these limitations but poses its own hurdles. This experimental study explores the limits of training a real experimental quantum classical hybrid system using supervised training protocols, on an ion trap platform. Challenges associated with ion trap-coupled classical processors are addressed, highlighting the $robustness$ of the genetic algorithm as a classical optimizer in navigating the noisy channels of NISQ-devices and the complex optimization landscape inherent in binary classification problems with many local minima. We intricately discuss why gradient-based optimizers may not be suitable in the NISQ era through a thorough analysis. These findings contribute insights into the performance of quantum-classical hybrid systems, emphasizing the significance of efficient training strategies and hardware considerations for practical quantum machine learning applications. This work not only advances the understanding of hybrid quantum-classical systems but also underscores the potential impact on real-world challenges through the convergence of quantum and classical computing paradigms operating without the aid of classical simulators.Advancements in classical computing have significantly enhanced machine learning applications, yet inherent limitations persist in terms of energy, resource and speed. Quantum machine learning algorithms offer a promising avenue to overcome these limitations but poses its own hurdles. This experimental study explores the limits of training a real experimental quantum classical hybrid system using supervised training protocols, on an ion trap platform. Challenges associated with ion trap-coupled classical processors are addressed, highlighting the $robustness$ of the genetic algorithm as a classical optimizer in navigating the noisy channels of NISQ-devices and the complex optimization landscape inherent in binary classification problems with many local minima. We intricately discuss why gradient-based optimizers may not be suitable in the NISQ era through a thorough analysis. These findings contribute insights into the performance of quantum-classical hybrid systems, emphasizing the significance of efficient training strategies and hardware considerations for practical quantum machine learning applications. This work not only advances the understanding of hybrid quantum-classical systems but also underscores the potential impact on real-world challenges through the convergence of quantum and classical computing paradigms operating without the aid of classical simulators.

arXiv:2401.12089Jan 22, 20241 citation

Taking a quantum control perspective on quantum algorithms

Alicia B Magann

Apr 1, 20240 citations

Taking a quantum control perspective on quantum algorithms

Alicia B Magann

Apr 1, 20240 citations

Hierarchical Quantum Optimization via Backbone-Driven Problem Decomposition: Integrating Tabu-Search with QAOA

Gou, Minhui, Li, Zeyang, Hong-Ze Xu +6 more

As quantum computing advances, quantum approximate optimization algorithms (QAOA) have shown promise in addressing combinatorial optimization problems. However, the limitations of Noisy Intermediate Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices hinder the scalability of QAOA for large-scale optimization tasks. To overcome these challenges, we propose Backbone-Driven QAOA, a hybrid framework that leverages adaptive Tabu search for classical preprocessing to decompose large-scale quadratic unconstrained binary (QUBO) problems into NISQ-compatible subproblems. In our approach, adaptive Tabu search dynamically identifies and fixes backbone variables to construct reduced-dimensional subspaces that preserve the critical optimization landscape. These quantum-tractable subproblems are then solved via QAOA, with the resulting solutions iteratively refining the backbone selection in a closed-loop quantum-classical cycle. Experimental results demonstrate that our approach not only competes with, and in some cases surpasses, traditional classical algorithms but also performs comparably with recently proposed hybrid classical-quantum algorithms. Our proposed framework effectively orchestrates the allocation of quantum and classical resources, thereby enabling the solution of large-scale combinatorial optimization problems on current NISQ hardware.As quantum computing advances, quantum approximate optimization algorithms (QAOA) have shown promise in addressing combinatorial optimization problems. However, the limitations of Noisy Intermediate Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices hinder the scalability of QAOA for large-scale optimization tasks. To overcome these challenges, we propose Backbone-Driven QAOA, a hybrid framework that leverages adaptive Tabu search for classical preprocessing to decompose large-scale quadratic unconstrained binary (QUBO) problems into NISQ-compatible subproblems. In our approach, adaptive Tabu search dynamically identifies and fixes backbone variables to construct reduced-dimensional subspaces that preserve the critical optimization landscape. These quantum-tractable subproblems are then solved via QAOA, with the resulting solutions iteratively refining the backbone selection in a closed-loop quantum-classical cycle. Experimental results demonstrate that our approach not only competes with, and in some cases surpasses, traditional classical algorithms but also performs comparably with recently proposed hybrid classical-quantum algorithms. Our proposed framework effectively orchestrates the allocation of quantum and classical resources, thereby enabling the solution of large-scale combinatorial optimization problems on current NISQ hardware.

arXiv:2504.09575Apr 13, 20250 citations

First Steps towards Hybrid Quantum-Classical Optimization

Dapeng Wang

Jan 1, 20200 citations

robustness

of the genetic algorithm as a classical optimizer in navigating the noisy channels of NISQ-devices and the complex optimization landscape inherent in binary classification problems with many local minima. We intricately discuss why gradient-based optimizers may not be suitable in the NISQ era through a thorough analysis. These findings contribute insights into the performance of quantum-classical hybrid systems, emphasizing the significance of efficient training strategies and hardware considerations for practical quantum machine learning applications. This work not only advances the understanding of hybrid quantum-classical systems but also underscores the potential impact on real-world challenges through the convergence of quantum and classical computing paradigms operating without the aid of classical simulators.