Neural network enhanced cross entropy benchmark for monitored circuits

Abstract We explore the interplay of quantum computing and machine learning to advance experimental protocols for observing measurement-induced phase transitions (MIPTs) in quantum devices. In particular, we focus on trapped ion monitored circuits and apply the cross entropy benchmark recently introduced by Li et al (2023 Phys. Rev. Lett. 130 220404), which can mitigate the post-selection problem. By doing so, we reduce the number of projective measurements—the sample complexity—required per random circuit realization, which is a critical limiting resource in real devices. Since these projective measurement outcomes form a classical probability distribution, they are suitable for learning with a standard machine learning generative model. In this paper, we use a recurrent neural network to learn a representation of the measurement record for a native trapped-ion MIPT, and show that using this generative model can substantially reduce the number of measurements required to accurately estimate the cross entropy. This illustrates the potential of combining quantum computing and machine learning to overcome practical challenges in realizing quantum experiments.