Interfering and entangling single neutral atoms

Cindy A. Regal, Mark O. Brown, Yiheng Lin +4 more

Dieter Meschede, Arno Rauschenbeutel

Florian Fertig, Yiru Zhou, Pooja Malik +2 more

Entanglement of distant quantum memories forms the building block of quantum networks. Neutral atoms with long coherence times are sought for candidates for quantum network links (QNLs). Our experiment with two nodes, 400 m apart, employs single optically trapped Rubidium-87 atoms as quantum memories. Via excitations, entanglement between the atom and spontaneously emitted single photons is created in both traps. Using single-mode fibers, the photons are interfered in a Bell-state measurement thereby swapping the entanglement from the two atom-photon pairs to the atoms with a projective measurement. A new collection setup [1] allows for an increased entanglement event rate of ∼1/20 Hz allowing detailed state analysis and reconstruction of the entangled state.

Zeng‐Bing Chen, Bo Zhao, Pan, J W +1 more

Deterministic entanglement of neutral cold atoms can be achieved by combining several ready available techniques like the creation/dissociation of neutral diatomic molecules, manipulating atoms with micro fabricated structures (atom chips) and detecting single atoms with almost 100% efficiency. Manipulating this entanglement with integrated/linear atom optics will open a new perspective for quantum information processing with neutral atoms.

Simon Pleasants