# Neural Architecture Search for Quantum Autoencoders

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.19246 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.19246/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 37 of its 71 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 24 Nov 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 37)

- [The power of quantum neural networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.00027/) (2020)
- [Generalization in quantum machine learning from few training data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.05292/) (2021)
- [Variational Quantum Circuits for Deep Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1907.00397/) (2019)
- [Quantum Long Short-Term Memory](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.01783/) (2020)
- [Transfer learning in hybrid classical-quantum neural networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.08278/) (2019)
- [Spurious Local Minima are Common in Two-Layer ReLU Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1712.08968/) (2017)
- [Quantum machine learning: a classical perspective](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1707.08561/) (2017)
- [Parametrized quantum policies for reinforcement learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.05577/) (2021)
- [Quantum Convolutional Neural Networks for High Energy Physics Data Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.12177/) (2020)
- [The Dawn of Quantum Natural Language Processing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.06510/) (2021)
- [Quantum Architecture Search via Deep Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.07715/) (2021)
- [An end-to-end trainable hybrid classical-quantum classifier](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.02416/) (2021)
- [Variational Quantum Reinforcement Learning via Evolutionary Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.00540/) (2021)
- [When BERT Meets Quantum Temporal Convolution Learning for Text Classification in Heterogeneous Computing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.03550/) (2022)
- [Coordinate Descent Converges Faster with the Gauss-Southwell Rule Than Random Selection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1506.00552/) (2015)
- [Quantum Architecture Search: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.06210/) (2024)
- [QTN-VQC: An End-to-End Learning framework for Quantum Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.03861/) (2021)
- [Machine learning and deep learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.05314/) (2021)
- [PQLM -- Multilingual Decentralized Portable Quantum Language Model for Privacy Protection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.03221/) (2022)
- [Quantum Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning via Variational Quantum Circuit Design](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.10443/) (2022)
- [Quantum deep recurrent reinforcement learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.14876/) (2022)
- [Learning to Program Variational Quantum Circuits with Fast Weights](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.17760/) (2024)
- [Applying QNLP to sentiment analysis in finance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2307.11788/) (2023)
- [Quantum Architecture Search via Continual Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.05779/) (2021)
- [Advances in Quantum Deep Learning: An Overview](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.04316/) (2020)
- [Machine Learning for Practical Quantum Error Mitigation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.17368/) (2023)
- [Federated Quantum Long Short-term Memory (FedQLSTM)](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.14309/) (2023)
- [Learning to Measure Quantum Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.05663/) (2025)
- [Differentiable Quantum Architecture Search in Asynchronous Quantum Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2407.18202/) (2024)
- [Differentiable Quantum Architecture Search for Quantum Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.10392/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Hybrid Quantum-Classical Neural Architecture Search](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.18345/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

In recent years, machine learning and deep learning have driven advances in domains such as image classification, speech recognition, and anomaly detection by leveraging multi-layer neural networks to model complex data. Simultaneously, quantum computing (QC) promises to address classically intractable problems via quantum parallelism, motivating research in quantum machine learning (QML). Among QML techniques, quantum autoencoders show promise for compressing high-dimensional quantum and classical data. However, designing effective quantum circuit architectures for quantum autoencoders remains challenging due to the complexity of selecting gates, arranging circuit layers, and tuning parameters. This paper proposes a neural architecture search (NAS) framework that automates the design of quantum autoencoders using a genetic algorithm (GA). By systematically evolving variational quantum circuit (VQC) configurations, our method seeks to identify high-performing hybrid quantum-classical autoencoders for data reconstruction without becoming trapped in local minima. We demonstrate effectiveness on image datasets, highlighting the potential of quantum autoencoders for efficient feature extraction within a noise-prone, near-term quantum era. Our approach lays a foundation for broader application of genetic algorithms to quantum architecture search, aiming for a robust, automated method that can adapt to varied data and hardware constraints.