An overview of quantum circuit design focusing on compression and representation

Quantum image computing has attracted attention due to its vast storage capacity and faster image data processing, leveraging unique properties such as parallelism, superposition, and entanglement, surpassing classical computers. Although classical computing power has grown substantially over the last decade, its rate of improvement has slowed, struggling to meet the demands of massive datasets. Several approaches have emerged for encoding and compressing classical images on quantum processors. However, a significant limitation is the complexity of preparing the quantum state, which translates pixel coordinates into corresponding quantum circuits. Current approaches for representing large-scale images require higher quantum resources, such as qubits and connection gates, presenting significant hurdles. This article aims to overview the pixel intensity and state preparation circuits requiring fewer quantum resources and explore effective compression techniques for medium and high-resolution images. It also conducts a comprehensive study of quantum image representation and compression techniques, categorizing methods by grayscale and color image types and evaluating their strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, the efficacy of each model’s compression can guide future research toward efficient circuit designs for medium- to high-resolution images. Furthermore, it is a valuable reference for advancing quantum image processing research by providing a systematic framework for evaluating quantum image compression and representation algorithms.