Variational Quantum Shot-Based Simulations for Waveguide Modes

Current quantum computers (QCs) belong to the noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) class, characterized by noisy qubits, limited qubit capabilities, and limited circuit depth. These limitations have led to the development of hybrid quantum-classical algorithms that split the computational cost between classical and quantum hardware. Among the hybrid algorithms, the variational quantum eigensolver (VQE) is mentioned. The VQE is a variational quantum algorithm designed to estimate the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of a system on universal-gate quantum architectures. A canonical problem in electromagnetics is the computation of eigenmodes within waveguides. Following the finite difference method, the wave equation can be recast as an eigenvalue problem. This work exploits the quantum superposition and entanglement in quantum computing to solve the square waveguide mode problem. This algorithm is expected to demonstrate exponentially efficiency over classical computational techniques as the qubit count increases. The simulations were performed on IBM’s three-qubit quantum simulator, Qasm IBM Simulator. A shot-based simulation was performed considering computationally based measurements of the quantum hardware. The results of the probabilistic read-out, reported in terms of 2-D eigenmode field distributions, are close to ideal values with a few number of qubits, confirming the possibility to exploit the quantum advantage to formulate innovative eigensolvers.