A hybrid model called thegeometric (Clifford) quanvolutional neural network(GQNN) that merges elements of geometric (Clifford) convolutional neural networks (GCNNs) and variational quantum circuits (VQCs) is presented. In this model, a randomized quantum convolution operation is applied to the input image, giving as a result four output channels, which are treated as a single entity (quaternion image) by the subsequent quaternion layers. This approach is extended to Clifford algebras by choosing the number of qubits of the quantum circuit according to the dimension of the Clifford algebra so that the resulting output channels are regarded as the components of a multivector image to be further processed by Clifford layers.
A hybrid model called thegeometric (Clifford) quanvolutional neural network(GQNN) that merges elements of geometric (Clifford) convolutional neural networks (GCNNs) and variational quantum circuits (VQCs) is presented. In this model, a randomized quantum convolution operation is applied to the input image, giving as a result four output channels, which are treated as a single entity (quaternion image) by the subsequent quaternion layers. This approach is extended to Clifford algebras by choosing the number of qubits of the quantum circuit according to the dimension of the Clifford algebra so that the resulting output channels are regarded as the components of a multivector image to be further processed by Clifford layers.
Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are extensively employed for tasks such as image processing, employing a hierarchical feature extraction approach facilitated by convolutional layers. A recent trend explores quantum counterparts called Quanvolutional layers, utilizing random quantum circuits akin to convolutional filter layers. Our work advances this by introducing structured entanglement in quanvolutional layers using Basic and Strongly Entangled Layers. Unlike random circuit approaches, these layers have defined structures and high entanglement, requiring minimal error correction. We evaluated their performance on MNIST dataset, comparing various techniques like traditional CNNs, Quanvolutional Neural Networks (QNNs) with Random quantum circuits, basic entangled layers, strongly entangled layers. Structured entanglement shows promise in improving feature extraction for QNNs, providing insights into their understanding. Our work explores the use of structures quantum layers in constructing quantum-classical hybrid architectures and evaluates their performance. Future research may explore scalability and applicability in complex datasets and integration with other quantum computing techniques for enhanced performance and versatility.
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.
This paper proposes and evaluate Hybrid Quantum Convolutional Neural Networks (HQCNNs) that integrate Structured Variational Quantum Circuits (SVQCs) into classical convolutional networks for image classification. Prior quanvolutional architectures often rely on unstructured variational circuits, leading to barren-plateau training landscapes, unpredictable convergence, and poor scaling of expressivity as qubit count grows. Moreover, simplistic data-encoding schemes can either fail to capture spatial correlations or demand impractically deep circuits, while arbitrary entanglement patterns obscure the relationship between circuit design and learning capacity. To address these challenges, we design four HQCNN architectures with progressively increased quantum encoding precision, entanglement topology, and classical post-processing depth. Each HQCNN replaces the convolutional layer with a quanvolutional layer: local image patches are encoded into small qubit registers via an Enhanced Novel Enhanced Quantum Representation (ENEQR), then processed by the SVQCs, and then measured to produce quantum feature maps. The four versions vary in quantum structure: Version 1 uses a simple linear 5-qubit chain (q=2), Version 2 adds wrap-around entanglement (closed-loop topology), Version 3 augments the classical head with a deeper batch-normalized multilayer perceptron, and Version 4 increases encoding fidelity to q=4 (7 qubits per patch). All models end-to-end using the Adam optimizer and cross-entropy loss on the MNIST dataset for 10 epochs using a PennyLane simulator. Version 4 achieves the best test accuracy (96% on MNIST). Fourier spectrum analysis reveals that richer entanglement and higher-fidelity encoding broaden the circuits’ harmonic spectrum, correlating with enhanced representational capacity and improved classification performance. These results confirm that carefully structured quantum layers and enhanced encoding can enrich feature representations and boost accuracy, albeit with increased simulation overhead and training complexity.
Recent advancements in quantum machine learning have spurred the development of hybrid quantum-classical convolutional neural networks (HQCCNNs), which have demonstrated promising potential for image classification tasks. Building on the operational principles of classical transposed convolutional neural networks (CNNs), we introduce a novel quantum variant: the Quantum Pseudo-Transposed Convolutional Neural Network (QPTCNN). The QPTCNN adapts the concept of classical transposed CNNs to the quantum domain, leveraging a hybrid quantum-classical framework that combines a quantum convolutional layer with a classical fully connected layer. In the QPTCNN, the quantum convolutional layer emulates a transposed convolution operation, ensuring that the output feature map retains the same dimensions as the input image. This is accomplished using rotational angle encoding and a ring-structured quantum circuit, interconnected by two-qubit control gates such as CNOT and CRY gates, facilitating efficient quantum convolution. We evaluated the performance of the QPTCNN on the MNIST and Fashion-MNIST datasets, with two distinct versions of the model: Model A, which utilizes a CNOT-gate entanglement circuit, and Model B, which employs a CRY-gate entanglement circuit. The results demonstrate that both Model A and Model B achieve strong performance across the datasets. However, Model A outperforms Model B, achieving higher classification accuracy and lower loss compared to earlier models. These findings suggest that the QPTCNN is highly capable of learning and extracting relevant feature information from input images, making it well-suited for high-performance image classification tasks. This work represents a significant advancement in quantum-enhanced image classification.
Deep learning has achieved significant success in pattern recognition, with convolutional neural networks (CNNs) serving as a foundational architecture for extracting spatial features from images. Quantum computing provides an alternative computational framework, a hybrid quantum-classical convolutional neural networks (QCCNNs) leverage high-dimensional Hilbert spaces and entanglement to surpass classical CNNs in image classification accuracy under comparable architectures. Despite performance improvements, QCCNNs typically use fixed quantum layers without incorporating trainable quantum parameters. This limits their ability to capture non-linear quantum representations and separates the model from the potential advantages of expressive quantum learning. In this work, we present a hybrid quantum-classical-quantum convolutional neural network (QCQ-CNN) that incorporates a quantum convolutional filter, a shallow classical CNN, and a trainable variational quantum classifier. This architecture aims to enhance the expressivity of decision boundaries in image classification tasks by introducing tunable quantum parameters into the end-to-end learning process. Through a series of small-sample experiments on MNIST, F-MNIST, and MRI tumor datasets, QCQ-CNN demonstrates competitive accuracy and convergence behavior compared to classical and hybrid baselines. We further analyze the effect of ansatz depth and find that moderate-depth quantum circuits can improve learning stability without introducing excessive complexity. Additionally, simulations incorporating depolarizing noise and finite sampling shots suggest that QCQ-CNN maintains a certain degree of robustness under realistic quantum noise conditions. While our results are currently limited to simulations with small-scale quantum circuits, the proposed approach offers a potentially promising direction for hybrid quantum learning in near-term applications.
In recent years, with rapid progress in the development of quantum technologies, quantum machine learning has attracted a lot of interest. In particular, a family of hybrid quantum-classical neural networks, consisting of classical and quantum elements, has been massively explored for the purpose of improving the performance of classical neural networks. In this paper, we propose a novel hybrid quantum-classical algorithm called quantum dilated convolutional neural networks (QDCNNs). Our method extends the concept of dilated convolution, which has been widely applied in modern deep learning algorithms, to the context of hybrid neural networks. The proposed QDCNNs are able to capture larger context during the quantum convolution process while reducing the computational cost. We perform empirical experiments on MNIST and Fashion-MNIST datasets for the task of image recognition and demonstrate that QDCNN models generally enjoy better performances in terms of both accuracy and computation efficiency compared to existing quantum convolutional neural networks (QCNNs).