Abstract While the main thrust of quantum computing research in materials science is to accurately measure the classically intractable electron correlation effects due to Coulomb repulsion, designing optimal quantum algorithms for simpler problems with well-understood solutions is a useful tactic to advance our quantum ``toolbox''. With this in mind, we consider the quantum calculation of a periodic system's single-electron band structure over a path through reciprocal space. Previous efforts have used the Variational Quantum Eigensolver algorithm to solve the energy of each band, which involves numerically optimizing the parameters of a variational quantum circuit to minimize a cost function, constructed as the expectation value of a Hamiltonian operator. Traditionally, a unique Hamiltonian operator is constructed for each k-point, so that many cost functions, each with their own parameter space, must be optimized to generate a single band. Similarly, calculating higher bands than the first has traditionally involved modifying the cost function with additional overlap terms to ensure higher-energy eigenstates are orthogonal to those of lower bands. In this paper, we adopt a direct space approach, using a novel hybrid first/second-quantized qubit mapping which allows us to construct a single Hamiltonian, and a single cost-function, suitable for solving the entire band-structure. In contrast to previous approaches, the k-point and the band index are selected by additional parameters in our quantum circuit, rather than through modifications to the cost function. The result is a technically and conceptually simpler approach to band structure calculations on a quantum computer. Moreover, we expect that the tools developed herein will motivate new strategies for tackling highly-correlated materials beyond the grasp of classical computing.
While the main thrust of quantum computing research in materials science is to accurately measure the classically intractable electron correlation effects due to Coulomb repulsion, designing optimal quantum algorithms for simpler problems with well-understood solutions is a useful tactic to advance our quantum "toolbox". With this in mind, we consider the quantum calculation of a periodic system's single-electron band structure over a path through reciprocal space. Previous efforts have used the Variational Quantum Eigensolver algorithm to solve the energy of each band, which involves numerically optimizing the parameters of a variational quantum circuit to minimize a cost function, constructed as the expectation value of a Hamiltonian operator. Traditionally, a unique Hamiltonian operator is constructed for each k-point, so that many cost functions, each with their own parameter space, must be optimized to generate a single band. Similarly, calculating higher bands than the first has traditionally involved modifying the cost function with additional overlap terms to ensure higher-energy eigenstates are orthogonal to those of lower bands. In this paper, we adopt a direct space approach, using a novel hybrid first/second-quantized qubit mapping which allows us to construct a single Hamiltonian, and a single cost-function, suitable for solving the entire electronic band structure. In contrast to previous approaches, the k-point and the band index are selected by additional parameters in our quantum circuit, rather than through modifications to the cost function. The result is a technically and conceptually simpler approach to band structure calculations on a quantum computer. Moreover, we expect that the tools developed herein will motivate new strategies for tackling highly-correlated materials beyond the grasp of classical computing.
Development of quantum architectures during the last decade has inspired hybrid classical-quantum algorithms in physics and quantum chemistry that promise simulations of fermionic systems beyond the capability of modern classical computers, even before the era of quantum computing fully arrives. Strong research efforts have been recently made to obtain minimal depth quantum circuits which could accurately represent chemical systems. Here, we show that unprecedented methods used in quantum chemistry, designed to simulate molecules on quantum processors, can be extended to calculate properties of periodic solids. In particular, we present minimal depth circuits implementing the variational quantum eigensolver algorithm and successfully use it to compute the band structure of silicon on a quantum machine for the first time. We are convinced that the presented quantum experiments performed on cloud-based platforms will stimulate more intense studies towards scalable electronic structure computation of advanced quantum materials.
The variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) typically optimizes variational parameters in a quantum circuit to prepare eigenstates for a quantum system. Its application to many problems may involve a group of Hamiltonians, e.g., a Hamiltonian of a molecule is a function of the nuclear configurations. In this paper we incorporate derivatives of the Hamiltonian into the VQE and develop some hybrid quantum-classical algorithms, which explore both Hamiltonian and wave-function spaces for solving quantum chemistry problems more efficiently. For geometry optimization, we propose a mutual gradient-descent algorithm that updates the parameters of the Hamiltonian and wave function alternately, which can give a rapid convergence towards equilibrium structures of molecules as demonstrated in numerical simulations. Moreover, to speed up the calculation of the energy potential surface, we establish differential equations that govern how the optimized variational parameters of the wave function change with the intrinsic parameters of the Hamiltonian. Our study suggests a direction for a hybrid quantum-classical algorithm for solving quantum systems more efficiently by considering spaces of both the Hamiltonian and the wave function.
Abstract Variational quantum algorithms such as the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) and variational quantum deflation (VQD) have emerged as leading candidates for computing electronic structure on near-term quantum hardware. For periodic solids, however, their reach has been limited not by the quantum algorithm itself but by the cost of constructing a faithful second-quantized Hamiltonian for each material, typically via density-functional theory (DFT) followed by Wannierization or by hand-fitted empirical tight-binding parameters. SlaKoNet, a recently developed method, significantly reduces the computational cost of electronic Hamiltonian construction with a small accuracy tradeoff. It integrates modern deep-learning methods and the Slater-Koster tight-binding formalism to fit thousands of onsite and distance-dependent hopping and overlap tight-binding parameters across 65 elements of the periodic table. After fitting, these parameters can be used to deterministically construct an electronic Hamiltonian for any crystal made up of any of the 65 elements in the training set, and the crystal's band structure can subsequently be computed. In this work, we combine a SlaKoNet model trained on the JARVIS-TBmBJ dataset with a Qiskit-based variational quantum deflation algorithm, replacing the traditional and costly Hamiltonian construction step with a universal neural Hamiltonian generator. Within the 65-element set, the resulting SlaKoNet-VQD workflow is structure-agnostic, fully differentiable, fast, and suited to high-throughput screening of band structures. We benchmark the workflow on silicon, recovering the full eight-band band structure along the standard high-symmetry k-path with a mean absolute deviation of 1.78 meV from exact diagonalization on a 3-qubit statevector simulator. We further compute the full band structure for five additional conventional superconductors, Al, Ta, Nb, V, and ZrN, achieving a mean absolute deviation within approximately 1.8 meV, and demonstrate full execution of SlaKoNet-VQD on IBM Quantum hardware for a representative k-point ground-state calculation on aluminum with a mean absolute error of roughly 0.37 eV. Beyond the single-particle level, we promote the same SlaKoNet Hamiltonian to a correlated Hubbard model and solve it with dynamical mean-field theory, recovering the weakening of correlations across the group-5 metals and strong quasiparticle renormalization in the cuprate La₂CuO₄, and we identify the resulting impurity problem as the natural target for a quantum solver. The pipeline opens a path to high-throughput benchmarking of variational quantum algorithms across the periodic table and to gradient-based co-optimization of ansatz and Hamiltonian for materials discovery. An interactive web app is available at https://atomgpt.org/quantum.
High Resolution Image Download MS PowerPoint Slide We propose a cost-efficient measurement scheme of the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) for atomistic simulations of electronic structures based on a tight-binding (TB) theory. Leveraging the lattice geometry of a material domain, the sparse TB Hamiltonian is constructed in a bottom-up manner and is represented as a linear combination of the standard-basis (SB) operators. The cost function is evaluated with an extended version of the Bell measurement circuit that can simultaneously measure multiple SB operators and therefore reduces the number of circuits required by the evaluation process. The proposed VQE scheme is applied to find band gap energies of metal-halide-perovskite supercells that have finite dimensions with closed boundaries and are described with an sp 3 TB model. Experimental results confirm that the proposed scheme gives solutions that follow well the accurate ones but, more importantly, has computing efficiency that is obviously superior to the commutativity-based Pauli grouping methods. Extending the application scope of VQE to three-dimensional confined atomic structures, this work can serve as a practical guideline for handling TB simulations and, more generally, for calculations of sparse Hermitian matrices in the noise-intermediate-scale quantum devices.
Quantum chemistry models atoms and molecules using quantum mechanics, with the electronic structure problem at its core. This problem, which determines the energy and properties of electrons in a molecule, is exponentially hard to solve exactly on classical computers. To approximate solutions, effective models introduce layers of simplifications. However, these approximations can fail for strongly correlated systems, necessitating alternative approaches. Quantum computers, capable of processing quantum information natively, offer a promising path to simulate molecular systems beyond classical reach, with potential applications in catalysis, materials science, and photochemistry. Despite rapid advancements in quantum hardware, practical quantum computations remain challenging due to limited resources. This thesis optimizes quantum resource usage in computational chemistry, introducing novel embedding techniques and exploring applications beyond ground-state energies. Chapter 1 establishes the foundation by reviewing quantum chemistry methods, from Hartree-Fock and Density Functional Theory (DFT) to active space approaches. It also provides an introduction to quantum computing for chemistry, focusing on near-term algorithms. The following chapters present novel methods aimed at reducing quantum resource requirements and tackling problems classical methods struggle with. Chapter 2 introduces a technique to reduce the
λ-norm of the electronic structure Hamiltonian, a key measure of quantum resource demand. By transforming molecular orbitals, this method enhances sampling efficiency in Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) algorithms and reduces runtime in Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computing (FTQC). Localized orbitals outperform canonical ones, and an orbital-optimization scheme is proposed to minimize the
λ-norm. Benchmarks on hydrogen chains, FeMoco, and Ruthenium complexes demonstrate its effectiveness. Chapter 3 presents the FragPT2 framework for simulating large systems with multiple interacting fragments. This method embeds each fragment in the mean field of others and applies multi-reference perturbation theory to capture inter-fragment correlations such as dispersion and charge transfer efficiently. The approach reduces computational overhead and enables scalable simulations, as shown in applications to \ce{N2} dimers, aromatic dimers, and butadiene. Chapter 4 focuses on photochemical systems, where multiple electronic states must be treated equally. The state-averaged orbital-optimized variational quantum eigensolver (SAOOVQE) is extended with analytical energy gradients and non-adiabatic couplings, enabling geometry optimizations and simulations of non-adiabatic dynamics on quantum hardware. This is demonstrated by locating the conical intersection in formaldimine, highlighting SAOOVQE’s potential for studying photoisomerization in biomolecules. Building on this, Chapter 5 develops a quantum algorithm to detect conical intersections, where the Born-Oppenheimer approximation breaks down. These intersections are characterized by a discrete Berry phase (0 or
π), representing their topological nature. The algorithm extracts this phase as a single bit of information, ensuring resilience to noise. Analytical proof and numerical validation using a toy molecular model illustrate its effectiveness for studying light-perception biochemistry and related photochemical processes. Finally, Chapter 6 explores machine learning density functionals trained on noisy quantum data. While DFT is computationally efficient, its accuracy depends on approximated exchange-correlation functionals. This work proposes a neural network-based approach to learn the exact functional from quantum data, showing that training on noisy outputs from NISQ devices can mitigate sampling errors. Applications to the Fermi-Hubbard model and other systems demonstrate its potential to generalize and provide accurate results under noise. This thesis advances quantum computational chemistry by optimizing quantum resource usage, developing new embedding strategies, and expanding the scope of quantum simulations beyond ground-state properties. These contributions pave the way for practical quantum algorithms that could revolutionize molecular simulations in the near future.