Microwave signal processing using an analog quantum reservoir computer

Abstract: Quantum reservoir computing (QRC) has been proposed as a paradigm for performing machine learning with quantum processors where the training is efficient in the number of required runs of the quantum processor and takes place in the classical domain, avoiding the issue of barren plateaus in parameterized-circuit quantum neural networks. It is natural to consider using a quantum processor based on superconducting circuits to classify microwave signals that are analog -- continuous in time. However, while theoretical proposals of analog QRC exist, to date QRC has been implemented using circuit-model quantum systems -- imposing a discretization of the incoming signal in time, with each time point input by executing a gate operation. In this paper we show how a quantum superconducting circuit comprising an oscillator coupled to a qubit can be used as an analog quantum reservoir for a variety of classification tasks, achieving high accuracy on all of them. Our quantum system was operated without artificially discretizing the input data, directly taking in microwave signals. Our work does not attempt to address the question of whether QRCs could provide a quantum computational advantage in classifying pre-recorded classical signals. However, beyond illustrating that sophisticated tasks can be performed with a modest-size quantum system and inexpensive training, our work opens up the possibility of achieving a different kind of advantage than a purely computational advantage: superconducting circuits can act as extremely sensitive detectors of microwave photons; our work demonstrates processing of ultra-low-power microwave signals in our superconducting circuit, and by combining sensitive detection with QRC processing within the same system, one could achieve a quantum sensing-computational advantage, i.e., an advantage in the overall analysis of microwave signals comprising just a few photons.