Robust Quantum Learning through Hamiltonian Reservoir Computing

Abstract

Quantum learning provides a versatile paradigm for information processing by exploiting the intrinsic representational capacity of high-dimensional Hilbert spaces. Here, we investigate a Hamiltonian-encoding framework for quantum reservoir computing that simultaneously addresses three key challenges in quantum learning: trainability, hardware efficiency, and information stability. In this framework, input data are directly mapped onto a fixed Hamiltonian and transformed into expressive nonlinear features through quantum dynamical evolution. By employing the reservoir-computing paradigm, the approach naturally circumvents the barren plateau problem in quantum learning landscapes. We validate the framework across two complementary platforms: an analog superconducting array processor and a digital gate-based quantum circuit implementation. Despite their fundamentally different realizations, both platforms exhibit comparable representational power and achieve competitive learning performance, establishing a unified framework for cross-platform quantum learning. While both implementations achieve comparable performance, the analog processor may offer a more hardware-efficient realization by bypassing the temporal overhead of gate-based decomposition and thereby making more effective use of finite coherence times, albeit at the expense of universality. Furthermore, we find that finite dissipation suppresses quantum-scrambling-induced instabilities at long evolution times and can enhance learning performance, revealing a constructive role for environmental coupling in stabilizing quantum learning dynamics. Collectively, these results establish Hamiltonian-encoded reservoir computing as a compact, expressive, and hardware-efficient paradigm for quantum learning on current-generation quantum platforms.