Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE
Application of Rydberg atoms to quantum computing
Denis B. Tretyakov, Ilya I. Beterov, Vasily M. Entin, I. I. Ryabtsev
Abstract
Experimental aspects of an application of Rydberg atoms to quantum computing are studied. A single neutral atom trapped in an antinode of the optical lattice can represent a quantum bit. Laser excitation of two atoms in neighboring antinodes allows for obtaining of quantum entanglement of the atoms via dipole-dipole interaction which is strong for high Rydberg states. A two-qubit operation could be realized in this way. The optimal values of a principal quantum number, an interatomic distance, time of a single two-qubit operation and other parameters have been estimated. The estimates were done for 23Na and 87Rb atoms. Also experimental results of microwave spectroscopy of a few sodium Rydberg atoms at the one-photon 37S1/2 -> 37P1/2 and two-photon 37S1/2 -> 38S1/2 transitions are presented. Microwave spectroscopy can be used to detect dipole-dipole interaction between a few Rydberg atoms. The calculations showing an influence of dipole-dipole interaction on two-atom spectra are also presented. A noticeable broadening of the five-atom spectrum was observed in the experiment due to the dipole-dipole interaction.