Differentiable quantum architecture search

Quantum architecture search (QAS) is the process of automating architecture engineering of quantum circuits. It has been desired to construct a powerful and general QAS platform which can significantly accelerate current efforts to identify quantum advantages of error-prone and depth-limited quantum circuits in the NISQ era. Hereby, we propose a general framework of differentiable quantum architecture search (DQAS), which enables automated designs of quantum circuits in an end-to-end differentiable fashion. We present several examples of circuit design problems to demonstrate the power of DQAS. For instance, unitary operations are decomposed into quantum gates, noisy circuits are re-designed to improve accuracy, and circuit layouts for quantum approximation optimization algorithm are automatically discovered and upgraded for combinatorial optimization problems. These results not only manifest the vast potential of DQAS being an essential tool for the NISQ application developments, but also present an interesting research topic from the theoretical perspective as it draws inspirations from the newly emerging interdisciplinary paradigms of differentiable programming, probabilistic programming, and quantum programming.

Automated summary

Quantum architecture search (QAS) automates the process of engineering quantum circuits and aims to construct a powerful and general platform that can accelerate the identification of quantum advantages. In this paper, we propose a general framework of differentiable quantum architecture search (DQAS) and demonstrate its capabilities in various circuit design problems. These results highlight the potential of DQAS as a valuable tool for NISQ application developments and present an interesting research topic from a theoretical perspective.