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arXiv:2112.06732 · Physical Review X

Ytterbium Nuclear-Spin Qubits in an Optical Tweezer Array

Alec Jenkins, Joanna W. Lis, Aruku Senoo, William F. McGrew, Adam M. Kaufman

Published May 3, 2022• 146 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We report on the realization of a fast, scalable, and high-fidelity qubit architecture, based on 171 Yb atoms in an optical tweezer array.We demonstrate several attractive properties of this atom for its use as a building block of a quantum information processing platform.Its nuclear spin of 1=2 serves as a long-lived and coherent two-level system, while its rich, alkaline-earth-like electronic structure allows for low-entropy preparation, fast qubit control, and high-fidelity readout.We present a near-deterministic loading protocol, which allows us to fill a 10 × 10 tweezer array with 92.73(8)% efficiency and a single tweezer with 96.0(1.4)%efficiency.In the future, this loading protocol will enable efficient and uniform loading of target arrays with high probability, an essential step in quantum simulation and information applications.Employing a robust optical approach, we perform submicrosecond qubit rotations and characterize their fidelity through randomized benchmarking, yielding 5.2ð5Þ × 10 -3 error per Clifford gate.For quantum memory applications, we measure the coherence of our qubits with T Ã 2 ¼ 3.7ð4Þ s and T 2 ¼ 7.9ð4Þ s, many orders of magnitude longer than our qubit rotation pulses.We measure spin depolarization times on the order of tens of seconds and find that this can be increased to the 100 s scale through the application of a several-gauss magnetic field.Finally, we use 3D Raman-sideband cooling to bring the atoms near their motional ground state, which will be central to future implementations of two-qubit gates that benefit from low motional entropy.

DOI
10.1103/physrevx.12.021027

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We report on the realization of a fast, scalable, and high-fidelity qubit architecture, based on 171 Yb atoms in an optical tweezer array.We demonstrate several attractive properties of this atom for its use as a building block of a quantum information processing platform.Its nuclear spin of 1=2 serves as a long-lived and coherent two-level system, while its rich, alkaline-earth-like electronic structure allows for low-entropy preparation, fast qubit control, and high-fidelity readout.We present a near-deterministic loading protocol, which allows us to fill a 10 × 10 tweezer array with 92.73(8)% efficiency and a single tweezer with 96.0(1.4)%efficiency.In the future, this loading protocol will enable efficient and uniform loading of target arrays with high probability, an essential step in quantum simulation and information applications.Employing a robust optical approach, we perform submicrosecond qubit rotations and characterize their fidelity through randomized benchmarking, yielding 5.2ð5Þ × 10 -3 error per Clifford gate.For quantum memory applications, we measure the coherence of our qubits with T Ã 2 ¼ 3.7ð4Þ s and T 2 ¼ 7.9ð4Þ s, many orders of magnitude longer than our qubit rotation pulses.We measure spin depolarization times on the order of tens of seconds and find that this can be increased to the 100 s scale through the application of a several-gauss magnetic field.Finally, we use 3D Raman-sideband cooling to bring the atoms near their motional ground state, which will be central to future implementations of two-qubit gates that benefit from low motional entropy.
Neutral atom arrays are a rapidly developing platform for quantum science.Recently, alkaline earth atoms (AEAs) have attracted interest because their unique level structure provides several opportunities for improved performance.In this work, we present the first demonstration of a universal set of quantum gate operations on a nuclear spin qubit in an AEA, using 171 Yb.We implement narrow-line cooling and imaging using a newly discovered magic trapping wavelength at λ ¼ 486.78 nm.We also demonstrate nuclear spin initialization, readout, and single-qubit gates and observe long coherence times [T 1 ≈ 20 s and24ð5Þ s] and a single-qubit operation fidelity F 1Q ¼ 0.99959ð6Þ.We also demonstrate two-qubit entangling gates using the Rydberg blockade, as well as coherent control of these gate operations using light shifts on the Yb þ ion core transition at 369 nm.These results are a significant step toward highly coherent quantum gates in AEA tweezer arrays.
Neutral atom arrays have emerged as a powerful platform for quantum computation, simulation, and metrology.Among them, alkaline-earth-like atoms exhibit distinct advantages, including long coherence time, high-fidelity Rydberg gates, and erasure correction for efficient quantum error correction. However, their scalability has lagged behind that of the alkali atoms. Here, we report 2400 ytterbium-174 atoms trapped in an optical tweezer array with enhanced loading efficiency of 83.5(1)\% via blue-detuned light-assisted collisions. We develop a quantitative model of the collision dynamics and find good agreement between the calculated inelastic collision rates and the experimentally measured loading efficiencies.Notably, the loading efficiency is largely maintained for array sizes ranging from dozens to thousands, exhibiting excellent scalability. We further demonstrate that the enhancement exists robustly across a range of interatomic potentials, suggesting its utility for other atomic species. To establish the capability of the 174^{174}174Yb arrays toward universal quantum computation, we propose to encode the qubit in the ground-clock state manifold and estimate a 99.9\% two-qubit gate fidelity with experimentally feasible parameters. Our work advances the prospects for realizing large-scale quantum computers using alkaline-earth-like atoms.
Abstract Atomic systems, ranging from trapped ions to ultracold and Rydberg atoms, offer unprecedented control over both internal and external degrees of freedom at the single‐particle level. They are considered among the foremost candidates for realizing quantum simulation and computation platforms that can outperform classical computers at specific tasks. In this work, a realistic experimental toolbox for quantum information processing with neutral alkaline‐earth‐like atoms in optical tweezer arrays is described. In particular, a comprehensive and scalable architecture based on a programmable array of alkaline‐earth‐like atoms is proposed, exploiting their electronic clock states as a precise and robust auxiliary degree of freedom, and thus allowing for efficient all‐optical one‐ and two‐qubit operations between nuclear spin qubits. The proposed platform promises excellent performance thanks to high‐fidelity register initialization, rapid spin‐exchange gates, and error detection in read‐out. As a benchmark and application example, the expected fidelity of an increasing number of subsequent SWAP gates for optimal parameters is computed, which can be used to distribute entanglement between remote atoms within the array.
While data qubits with a long coherence time are essential for the storage of quantum information, ancilla qubits are pivotal in quantum error correction (QEC) for fault-tolerant quantum computing. The recent development of optical tweezer arrays, such as the preparation of large-scale qubit arrays and high-fidelity gate operations, offers the potential for realizing QEC protocols, and one of the important next challenges is to control and detect ancilla qubits while minimizing atom loss and crosstalk. Here, we present the realization of a hybrid system consisting of a dual-isotope ytterbium (Yb) atom array, in which we can utilize a nuclear spin qubit of fermionic Yb 171 as a data qubit and an optical clock qubit of bosonic Yb 174 as an ancilla qubit with a capacity of nondestructive qubit readout. We evaluate the crosstalk between qubits regarding the impact on the coherence of the nuclear spin qubits from the imaging light for Yb 174 . For the Hahn-echo sequence with a 399 nm probe and 556 nm cooling beams for Yb 174 , we observe 99.1(1.8)% coherence retained under 20 ms exposure, yielding a discrimination fidelity of 0.9992 and a survival probability of 0.988. The Ramsey sequence with a 556 nm probe beam shows negligible influence on the coherence, suggesting the potential future improvement of low crosstalk measurements. This result highlights the potential of the hybrid-Yb atom array for midcircuit measurements for ancilla-qubit-based QEC protocols. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
Neutral atoms trapped in arrays of optical tweezers are a versatile platform for multiple research efforts in quantum information science. In particular, alkaline-earth atoms like Yb offer many advantages including ultralong coherence nuclear spin states for quantum information storage and high-fidelity qubit operations, optical transitions to Rydberg states for generating strong, long-range interactions between atoms, and narrow optical transitions for efficient cooling and metrology. Additionally, optical transitions from the long-lived 3P0 nuclear spin state have frequencies in the telecommunications band making integration with fiber networks and silicon nanophotonics an attractive avenue of exploration for hybrid quantum systems and quantum communication. Finally, these optical tweezer platforms are well suited for investigating the cooperative response of an array of atoms, where the proximity of neighboring atoms fundamentally alters the systems optical response which has implications for quantum information storage. Here I will present efforts to investigate these research avenues using alkaline-earth atoms in optical tweezers.
While data qubits with a long coherence time are essential for the storage of quantum information, ancilla qubits are pivotal in quantum error correction (QEC) for fault-tolerant quantum computing. The recent development of optical tweezer arrays, such as the preparation of large-scale qubit arrays and high-fidelity gate operations, offers the potential for realizing QEC protocols, and one of the important next challenges is to control and detect ancilla qubits while minimizing atom loss and crosstalk. Here, we present the realization of a hybrid system consisting of a dual-isotope ytterbium (Yb) atom array, in which we can utilize a nuclear spin qubit of fermionic 171Yb{}^{171}\mathrm{Yb}171Yb as a data qubit and an optical clock qubit of bosonic 174Yb{}^{174}\mathrm{Yb}174Yb as an ancilla qubit with a capacity of non-destructive qubit readout. We evaluate the crosstalk between qubits regarding the impact on the coherence of the nuclear spin qubits from the imaging light for 174Yb{}^{174}\mathrm{Yb}174Yb. The Hahn-echo sequence with a 399 nm probe and 556 nm cooling beams for 174Yb{}^{174}\mathrm{Yb}174Yb, we observe 99.1(1.8) % coherence retained under 20 ms exposure, yielding an imaging fidelity of 0.9992 and a survival probability of 0.988. The Ramsey sequence with a 556 nm probe beam shows negligible influence on the coherence, suggesting the potential future improvement of low cross-talk measurements. This result highlights the potential of the hybrid-Yb atom array for ancilla-qubit-based QEC protocols.