In optimization, one of the well-known classical algorithms is power iterations. Simply stated, the algorithm recovers the dominant eigenvector of some diagonalizable matrix. Since numerous optimization problems can be formulated as an eigenvalue/eigenvector search, this algorithm features wide applicability. Operationally, power iterations consist of performing repeated matrix-to-vector multiplications (or MatVec) followed by a renormilization step in order to converge to the dominant eigenvalue/eigenvector. However, classical realizations, including novel tensor network based approaches, necessitate an exponential scaling for the algorithm's run-time. In this paper, we propose a quantum realiziation to circumvent this pitfall. Our methodology involves casting low-rank representations; Matrix Product Operators (MPO) for matrices and Matrix Product States (MPS) for vectors, into quantum circuits. Specifically, we recover a unitary approximation by variationally minimizing the Frobenius distance between a target MPO and an MPO ansatz wherein the tensor cores are constrained to unitaries. Such an unitary MPO can easily be implemented as a quantum circuit with the addition of ancillary qubits. Thereafter, with appropriate initialization and post-selection on the ancillary space, we realize a single iteration of the classical algorithm. With our proposed methodology, power iterations can be realized entirely on a quantum computer via repeated, static circuit blocks; therefore, a run-time advantage can indeed be guaranteed. Moreover, by exploiting Riemannian optimization and cross-approximation techniques, our methodology becomes instance agnostic and thus allows one to address black-box optimization within the framework of quantum computing.

15 pages, 6 figures