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arXiv:2310.05897

Tensor Network Based Efficient Quantum Data Loading of Images

Jason Iaconis, Sonika Johri

Published Oct 9, 2023• 2 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Image-based data is a popular arena for testing quantum machine learning algorithms. A crucial factor in realizing quantum advantage for these applications is the ability to efficiently represent images as quantum states. Here we present a novel method for creating quantum states that approximately encode images as amplitudes, based on recently proposed techniques that convert matrix product states to quantum circuits. The numbers of gates and qubits in our method scale logarithmically in the number of pixels given a desired accuracy, which make it suitable for near term quantum computers. Finally, we experimentally demonstrate our technique on 8 qubits of a trapped ion quantum computer for complex images of road scenes, making this the first large instance of full amplitude encoding of an image in a quantum state.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2310.05897

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Image-based data is a popular arena for testing quantum machine learning algorithms. A crucial factor in realizing quantum advantage for these applications is the ability to efficiently represent images as quantum states. Here we present a novel method for creating quantum states that approximately encode images as amplitudes, based on recently proposed techniques that convert matrix product states to quantum circuits. The numbers of gates and qubits in our method scale logarithmically in the number of pixels given a desired accuracy, which make it suitable for near term quantum computers. Finally, we experimentally demonstrate our technique on 8 qubits of a trapped ion quantum computer for complex images of road scenes, making this the first large instance of full amplitude encoding of an image in a quantum state.
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A central challenge in quantum machine learning is the state preparation bottleneck that describes the prohibitive computational cost of loading high-dimensional classical data into a quantum state. Although amplitude encoding can represent 2n2^n2n-dimensional data using only nnn qubits in principle, preparing arbitrary states remains computationally expensive, typically requiring variational optimization of a parameterized quantum circuit for each individual data instance. In this work, we propose a method that avoids iterative optimization by training a classical neural network to map input data directly to the continuous parameters of a fixed quantum circuit. We demonstrate the generation of quantum image states with high fidelity on data not seen during training. Since all optimization is performed once during training, the resulting model encodes new inputs in a single inference step, providing a scalable pathway for data loading in near-term quantum algorithms. We validate our method on the MNIST and Fashion-MNIST datasets, achieving fidelities up to 0.992 on unseen images and reducing the per-data-instance runtime by more than 5000-fold.
The amplitude encoding of an arbitrary nnn-qubit state vector requires Ω(2n)Ω(2^n)Ω(2n) gate operations, owing to the exponential dimension of the Hilbert space. We can, however, form dimensionality-reduced representations of quantum states using matrix product states (MPS). In this article, we illustrate that MPS techniques enable the preparation of quantum states representative of functions with complexity up to low-degree piecewise polynomials via shallow-depth quantum circuits with accuracy exceeding 99.99\%. We extend these results to the approximate amplitude encoding of pixel values. We showcase this approach by efficiently preparing a 128×128128\times 128128×128 ChestMNIST medical image (https://medmnist.com/) on 14 qubits with fidelity exceeding 99.2\% on a circuit with a total depth of just 425 single-qubit rotation and CNOT gates.
Abstract Quantum algorithms and simulations often require the preparation of complex states through sequences of 2-qubit gates. For a generic quantum state, the number of required gates grows exponentially with the number of qubits, becoming unfeasible on near-term quantum devices. Here, we aim at creating an approximate encoding of the target state using a limited number of gates. As a first step, we consider a quantum state that is efficiently represented classically, such as a one-dimensional matrix product state. Using tensor network techniques, we develop and implement an efficient optimization algorithm that approaches the optimal implementation, requiring a polynomial number of iterations. We, next, consider the implementation of the proposed optimization algorithm directly on a quantum computer and overcome inherent barren plateaus by employing a local cost function. Our work offers a universal method to prepare target states using local gates and represents a significant improvement over known strategies.
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Encoding classical data into quantum states is a central bottleneck in quantum machine learning: many widely used encodings are circuit-inefficient, requiring deep circuits and substantial quantum resources, which limits scalability on quantum hardware. In this work, we propose tensor network-based quantum data encoding (TNQE), a circuit-efficient framework built on structured unitary tensor network (TN) representations. TNQE first represents each classical input via a TN decomposition and then compiles the resulting tensor cores into an encoding circuit through two complementary core-to-circuit strategies. To make this compilation trainable while respecting the unitary nature of quantum operations, we introduce a unitary-aware constraint that parameterizes TN cores as learnable block unitaries, enabling them to be directly optimized and directly encoded as quantum operators. The proposed TNQE framework enables explicit control over circuit depth and qubit resources, allowing the construction of shallow, resource-efficient circuits. Across a range of benchmarks, TNQE achieves encoding circuits as shallow as 0.04×0.04\times0.04× the depth of amplitude encoding, while naturally scaling to high-resolution images (256×256256 \times 256256×256) and demonstrating practical feasibility on real quantum hardware.