Quantum Circuit Design: A Reinforcement Learning Challenge

Philipp Altmann (LMU Munich), Adelina Bärligea (TU Munich), Jonas Stein (LMU Munich), Michael Kölle (LMU Munich), Thomas Gabor (LMU Munich), Thomy Phan (University of Southern California), Claudia Linnhof-Popien (LMU Munich)

Abstract

To assess the prospects of using reinforcement learning (RL) for selecting and parameterizing quantum gates to build viable circuit architectures, we introduce the quantum circuit designer (QCD). By considering quantum control a decision-making problem, we strive to profit from advanced RL exploration mechanisms to overcome the need for granular specification and hand-crafted architectures. To evaluate current state-of-the-art RL algorithms, we define generic objectives that arise from quantum architecture search and circuit optimization. Those evaluation results reveal challenges inherent to learning optimal quantum control.