The role of coherence in Quantum Reservoir Computing

Keisuke Fujii, Kohei Nakajima

Ana Palacios, Rodrigo Martínez‐Peña, Miguel C. Soriano +2 more

Quantum Reservoir Computing (QRC) offers potential advantages over classical reservoir computing, including inherent processing of quantum inputs and a vast Hilbert space for state exploration. Yet, the relation between the performance of reservoirs based on complex and many-body quantum systems and non-classical state features is not established. Through an extensive analysis of QRC based on a transverse-field Ising model we show how different quantum effects, such as quantum coherence and correlations, contribute to improving the performance in temporal tasks, as measured by the Information Processing Capacity. Additionally, we critically assess the impact of finite measurement resources and noise on the reservoir’s dynamics in different regimes, quantifying the limited ability to exploit quantum effects for increasing damping and noise strengths. Our results reveal a monotonic relationship between reservoir performance and coherence, along with the importance of quantum effects in the ergodic regime. Quantum Reservoir Computing leverages the quantum properties of physical systems for solving temporal tasks. This study shows the importance of quantum effects, such as coherence and superposition, in the reservoir’s performance for different dynamical regimes, while considering the impact of finite measurements and noisy environments.

Claudio Conti

Karimi, Ali

The growing demand for efficient machine learning has motivated the exploration of neuro-morphic and reservoir computing, which are rooted in brain-inspired approaches that mimic the recurrent dynamics and adaptive information processing of biological neural circuits. These methods leverage the intrinsic dynamics of physical systems to process temporal in-formation with minimal training. Extending these ideas, Quantum Reservoir Computing (QRC) seeks to exploit uniquely quantum features—such as coherence, entanglement, and nonlinearity—for enhanced performance. Yet, the precise role of quantum resources in QRC remains unclear. This thesis investigates entanglement as a computational resource in QRC, focusing on a model of two coupled Kerr nonlinear oscillators. The Kerr platform is well suited for time-series prediction tasks due to its nonlinear interactions and access to a large Hilbert space. Using logarithmic negativity to quantify entanglement and normalized root mean square error (NRMSE) to measure predictive accuracy, we evaluate the effect of input drive strength, Kerr nonlinearity, and oscillator coupling on reservoir performance. Our results show that entanglement is related to improved computational accuracy on average and in worst-case scenarios, though it does not reduce the best-case error. The advantage persists under realistic imperfections: dissipation can enhance performance in certain regimes, while moderate dephasing does not completely remove the benefit. This thesis situates QRC within the context of neuromorphic and reservoir computing. It demonstrates the computational role of entanglement in a physically motivated QRC model and evaluates how key physical parameters affect performance under realistic conditions. This work advances understanding of whether and how quantum phenomena can be har-nessed for efficient learning, paving the way for high-performance quantum machine learning and time-series forecasting.

Luofei Wang, Da Zhang, Congren Wang +5 more

Quantum reservoir computing (QRC) uses quantum dynamics to represent input histories for prediction through a trained classical readout. Discrete time crystals (DTCs) exhibit robust subharmonic responses under periodic driving, and previous work has used their dynamics to construct DTC-QRC. Here we construct a DTC-based reservoir architecture to predict molecular properties from structural and dynamical observations. Coherent Floquet evolution processes local molecular graph events and surface-hopping frames, while controlled reset regulates the contribution of earlier inputs. Measurements at the end of each input sequence yield a feature vector of fixed dimension. Trained classical decoders use this vector for inhibitor-activity and blood--brain-barrier permeability classification and electronic-gap forecasting, while the reservoir parameters remain fixed during training. With matched input lengths and output widths, DTC-QRC outperforms echo-state networks on long-prefix graph classification and the studied ethene gap forecasting tasks. Dephasing lowers performance in both applications, consistent with a role for coherent propagation. Experiments on the Quafu superconducting quantum cloud platform show that pair observables retain task information under device noise. The architecture provides a common framework for molecular screening and time-resolved property prediction using quantum reservoir computing.