Neutral Atoms Breakthrough
Neutral atoms can be used as a basis for quantum computing. To create a neutral atom system, engineers set up four laser beams around an atom ensemble to form a magneto-optical trap (MOT). This trap is used to cool the atoms to mK temperatures, creating hundreds of millions of neutral atoms in a reservoir. The Lukin Lab at Harvard has developed a neutral atom system and demonstrated numerous breakthroughs in controlling larger arrays of atoms [1]. Similarly, David Weiss and his group at Penn State have used a Stern-Gerlach-inspired neutral atom experiment [2, 3]. Additionally, the IOGS research team has achieved a neutral atom QC of more than 100 qubits [4].
Each of these technologies can be used to create different topologies optimized for specific computational problems. In addition to meeting the DiVincenzo criteria for a quantum computer (qubits that can be separated and addressed hold their state and have measurements taken), neutral atom systems also have to be scaled. Pennylane and Cirq are two coding frameworks which can be used to program a neutral atom QC [5].
[1] S. Ebadi, T. T. Wang, H. Levine, A. Keesling, G. Se- meghini, A. Omran, D. Bluvstein, R. Samajdar, H. Pichler, W. W. Ho, and et al. Quantum phases of matter on a 256-atom programmable quantum simu- lator. Nature, 595(7866):227–232, Jul 2021. arXiv: 2012.12281.
[2] Wang, Y., Zhang, X., Corcovilos, T. A., Kumar, A., & Weiss, D. S. (2015). Coherent addressing of individual neutral atoms in a 3D optical lattice. Physical Review Letters, 115(4), 043003. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.043003
[3] T.-Y. Wu, A. Kumar, F. Giraldo, and D. S. Weiss. Stern–Gerlach detection of neutral-atom qubits in a state-dependent optical lattice. Nature Physics, page 1, 2019.
[4] Pasqal. https://pasqal.io/2020/10/26/1329/.
[5] Pennylane. https://pennylane.ai/qml/demos/tutorial_pasqal.html.
Hamed Nazari
Hamed is an innovative and results-driven Chief Scientist with expertise in Quantum Science, Engineering, and AI. He has worked for leading tech companies in Silicon Valley and served as an Adjunct Professor at UC Berkeley and UCLA.