A prototype interface between neutral-atom quantum processors and superconducting circuits

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Major advances have occurred in the development of new approaches to quantum computing over the last 5 years. Perhaps the most significant of these is an approach that uses individual atoms as qubits, that can be positioned in arbitrary three-dimensional geometries using tightly-focussed laser beams known as optical tweezers. Interactions between these qubits can be turned on and off at will, by exciting them in a controlled way with additional lasers to quantum states very close to their ionisation limits. These states are known as Rydberg states and their extreme properties, and the strong interactions between atoms excited to them, have been key to the rapid recent advances in the development of this type of neutral-atom quantum processor. Neutral-atom quantum processors have been implemented with in up to 200 qubits to solve problems of interest to condensed matter physicists and materials scientists, and possibilities exist to move beyond this limit to perform more complex quantum computations. However, there is also a strong motivation to develop techniques to network spatially separated neutral-atom processors, or to link them to other quantum computing platforms. Through this project, we will develop and demonstrate a prototype quantum interface of this kind. This will be achieved by implementing a quantum link between small numbers of helium atoms in optical tweezers, and superconducting electrical circuits through the controlled transfer of individual microwave photons from one to the other. The experimental tools developed and refined through this work, will provide a path toward the realisation of every larger and more complex quantum processors, with different components optimised for distinct computational tasks.