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APS Division of Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics Meeting Abstracts

Generating cat states with fermionic atoms in a driven optical lattice

Mikhail Mamaev, Ana María Rey

Published Dec 12, 2019• 0 citations
OpenAlex

Abstract

We propose a protocol for generating Schrodinger cat states of the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) variety using ultracold fermions in 3D optical lattices or optical tweezer arrays. The protocol uses the interplay between laser driving, onsite interactions and external trapping confinement to enforce energetic spin- and position-dependent constraints on the atomic motion. These constraints allow us to transform a local superposition into a cat state through a stepwise protocol that flips one site at a time. The protocol requires no site-resolved drives or spin-dependent potentials, exhibits robustness to slow global laser phase drift, and naturally makes use of the harmonic trap that would normally cause difficulties for entanglement-generating protocols in optical lattices. We also discuss an improved protocol that can compensate for holes in the loadout at the cost of increased generation time. The cat state can immediately be used for quantum enhanced metrology in 3D optical lattice atomic clocks, opening a window to push the sensitivity of state-of-the-art sensors beyond the standard quantum limit.

Related papers

Generating Multipartite Spin States with Fermionic Atoms in a Driven Optical Lattice

Mikhail Mamaev, Ana María Rey

We propose a protocol for generating generalized Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states using ultracold fermions in 3D optical lattices or optical tweezer arrays. The protocol uses the interplay between laser driving, on site interactions and external trapping confinement to enforce energetic spin- and position-dependent constraints on the atomic motion. These constraints allow us to transform a local superposition into a GHZ state through a stepwise protocol that flips one site at a time. The protocol requires no site-resolved drives or spin-dependent potentials, exhibits robustness to slow global laser phase drift, and naturally makes use of the harmonic trap that would normally cause difficulties for entanglement-generating protocols in optical lattices. We also discuss an improved protocol that can compensate for holes in the loadout at the cost of increased generation time. The state can immediately be used for quantum-enhanced metrology in 3D optical lattice clocks, opening a window to push the sensitivity of state-of-the-art sensors beyond the standard quantum limit.

arXiv:1912.05713•Physical Review Letters•Jun 16, 2020•3 citations

Motional Kerr-Cat States of an Atom in an Optical Tweezer

Steven K. Pampel, Gur Lubin, Dawson P. Hewatt +6 more

Schrödinger cat states - quantum superpositions of classically or macroscopically distinct states - constitute a powerful resource for quantum computing, enhanced metrology, and probing coherence on large scales. Encoding such states in the phase space of an oscillator requires a nonlinearity, typically inherited from an auxiliary degree of freedom such as atomic spin or a Josephson junction. Neutral atoms trapped in reconfigurable optical tweezer arrays - a leading platform for quantum science and computing - provide an intrinsic nonlinearity via the motion of a single atom in a tightly focused trap. However, this self-Kerr mechanism has not previously been exploited for cat-state generation, and remains largely unexplored as a resource for motional-state control. Here we realize Schrödinger cat states in the quantized motion of a single neutral atom trapped in an optical tweezer. By modulating the depth and position, we demonstrate parity control of both Kerr-cat and Fock states alongside tunable nonlinearity, establishing a spin- and species-independent framework for controlling motion. We further show that the cat-state encoding is intrinsically robust against trap-frequency fluctuations that otherwise limit the fidelity of direct Fock-state transitions. These results establish Kerr-based control of neutral-atom motion as a new paradigm for cat-state and bosonic-state engineering in optical tweezers, providing a route toward quantum-error-correcting codes such as grid states, and toward quantum-enhanced sensing with arrays of non-Gaussian states.

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Engineering spin squeezing in a 3D optical lattice with interacting spin-orbit-coupled fermions

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The authors propose a protocol that uses both inter-atomic interactions and laser-induced momentum kicks, normally two undesirable decoherence mechanisms in current 3D optical lattice clocks, to engineer metrologically useful entangled states. Their proposal opens a path to push state-of-the-art quantum sensors at absolute limits of both precision and accuracy.

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Cluster State Generation with Spin-Orbit Coupled Fermionic Atoms in Optical Lattices

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Measurement-based quantum computation, an alternative paradigm for quantum information processing, uses simple measurements on qubits prepared in cluster states, a class of multiparty entangled states with useful properties. Here we propose and analyze a scheme that takes advantage of the interplay between spin-orbit coupling and superexchange interactions, in the presence of a coherent drive, to deterministically generate macroscopic arrays of cluster states in fermionic alkaline earth atoms trapped in three dimensional (3D) optical lattices. The scheme dynamically generates cluster states without the need of engineered transport, and is robust in the presence of holes, a typical imperfection in cold atom Mott insulators. The protocol is of particular relevance for the new generation of 3D optical lattice clocks with coherence times >10 s, 2 orders of magnitude larger than the cluster state generation time. We propose the use of collective measurements and time reversal of the Hamiltonian to benchmark the underlying Ising model dynamics and the generated many-body correlations.

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Protocols of coherent motion control for an interaction-driven Rydberg gate

Valentin Magro, Wojciech Adamczyk, Sylvain de Léséleuc

Generating entanglement between two Rydberg atoms is at the core of neutral-atom quantum computers. Current two-qubit gates operate in the Rydberg-blockade regime, in which the full strength of the van der Waals interaction between the two Rydberg atoms is not directly exploited, to avoid sensitivity to the position noise of the tweezer-trapped atoms, at the cost of a longer time spent in the Rydberg state. Here, we propose a set of techniques based on coherent control of the atomic motion obtained by combining optical tweezers and a two-dimensional optical lattice, and a sequence of multiple on/off pulses. The protocols keep the two-qubit gate error contribution from position noise below $10^{-4}$, heat the atom by less than~$Δn = 0.01$, while being robust to alignment errors of the potential up to $50$~nm and thermal excitation up to $\bar{n} = 3$. This toolbox opens the path for new two-qubit Rydberg gates directly, or partially, driven by the interaction, in which the atoms spend only $\sim 10$~ns in the Rydberg state, minimizing the increasingly dominant error source originating from its finite lifetime.

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Generation and manipulation of Schrödinger cat states in Rydberg atom arrays

Ahmed Omran, Harry Levine, Alexander Keesling +16 more

Quantum entanglement involving coherent superpositions of macroscopically distinct states is among the most striking features of quantum theory, but its realization is challenging because such states are extremely fragile. Using a programmable quantum simulator based on neutral atom arrays with interactions mediated by Rydberg states, we demonstrate the creation of "Schrödinger cat" states of the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) type with up to 20 qubits. Our approach is based on engineering the energy spectrum and using optimal control of the many-body system. We further demonstrate entanglement manipulation by using GHZ states to distribute entanglement to distant sites in the array, establishing important ingredients for quantum information processing and quantum metrology.

arXiv:1905.05721•Science•Aug 8, 2019•632 citations
We propose a protocol for generating Schrodinger cat states of the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) variety using ultracold fermions in 3D optical lattices or optical tweezer arrays. The protocol uses the interplay between laser driving, onsite interactions and external trapping confinement to enforce energetic spin- and position-dependent constraints on the atomic motion. These constraints allow us to transform a local superposition into a cat state through a stepwise protocol that flips one site at a time. The protocol requires no site-resolved drives or spin-dependent potentials, exhibits robustness to slow global laser phase drift, and naturally makes use of the harmonic trap that would normally cause difficulties for entanglement-generating protocols in optical lattices. We also discuss an improved protocol that can compensate for holes in the loadout at the cost of increased generation time. The cat state can immediately be used for quantum enhanced metrology in 3D optical lattice atomic clocks, opening a window to push the sensitivity of state-of-the-art sensors beyond the standard quantum limit.
We propose a protocol for generating generalized Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) states using ultracold fermions in 3D optical lattices or optical tweezer arrays. The protocol uses the interplay between laser driving, on site interactions and external trapping confinement to enforce energetic spin- and position-dependent constraints on the atomic motion. These constraints allow us to transform a local superposition into a GHZ state through a stepwise protocol that flips one site at a time. The protocol requires no site-resolved drives or spin-dependent potentials, exhibits robustness to slow global laser phase drift, and naturally makes use of the harmonic trap that would normally cause difficulties for entanglement-generating protocols in optical lattices. We also discuss an improved protocol that can compensate for holes in the loadout at the cost of increased generation time. The state can immediately be used for quantum-enhanced metrology in 3D optical lattice clocks, opening a window to push the sensitivity of state-of-the-art sensors beyond the standard quantum limit.
Schrödinger cat states - quantum superpositions of classically or macroscopically distinct states - constitute a powerful resource for quantum computing, enhanced metrology, and probing coherence on large scales. Encoding such states in the phase space of an oscillator requires a nonlinearity, typically inherited from an auxiliary degree of freedom such as atomic spin or a Josephson junction. Neutral atoms trapped in reconfigurable optical tweezer arrays - a leading platform for quantum science and computing - provide an intrinsic nonlinearity via the motion of a single atom in a tightly focused trap. However, this self-Kerr mechanism has not previously been exploited for cat-state generation, and remains largely unexplored as a resource for motional-state control. Here we realize Schrödinger cat states in the quantized motion of a single neutral atom trapped in an optical tweezer. By modulating the depth and position, we demonstrate parity control of both Kerr-cat and Fock states alongside tunable nonlinearity, establishing a spin- and species-independent framework for controlling motion. We further show that the cat-state encoding is intrinsically robust against trap-frequency fluctuations that otherwise limit the fidelity of direct Fock-state transitions. These results establish Kerr-based control of neutral-atom motion as a new paradigm for cat-state and bosonic-state engineering in optical tweezers, providing a route toward quantum-error-correcting codes such as grid states, and toward quantum-enhanced sensing with arrays of non-Gaussian states.
Measurement-based quantum computation, an alternative paradigm for quantum information processing, uses simple measurements on qubits prepared in cluster states, a class of multiparty entangled states with useful properties. Here we propose and analyze a scheme that takes advantage of the interplay between spin-orbit coupling and superexchange interactions, in the presence of a coherent drive, to deterministically generate macroscopic arrays of cluster states in fermionic alkaline earth atoms trapped in three dimensional (3D) optical lattices. The scheme dynamically generates cluster states without the need of engineered transport, and is robust in the presence of holes, a typical imperfection in cold atom Mott insulators. The protocol is of particular relevance for the new generation of 3D optical lattice clocks with coherence times >10 s, 2 orders of magnitude larger than the cluster state generation time. We propose the use of collective measurements and time reversal of the Hamiltonian to benchmark the underlying Ising model dynamics and the generated many-body correlations.
Generating entanglement between two Rydberg atoms is at the core of neutral-atom quantum computers. Current two-qubit gates operate in the Rydberg-blockade regime, in which the full strength of the van der Waals interaction between the two Rydberg atoms is not directly exploited, to avoid sensitivity to the position noise of the tweezer-trapped atoms, at the cost of a longer time spent in the Rydberg state. Here, we propose a set of techniques based on coherent control of the atomic motion obtained by combining optical tweezers and a two-dimensional optical lattice, and a sequence of multiple on/off pulses. The protocols keep the two-qubit gate error contribution from position noise below 10−410^{-4}10−4, heat the atom by less than~Δn=0.01Δn = 0.01Δn=0.01, while being robust to alignment errors of the potential up to 505050~nm and thermal excitation up to nˉ=3\bar{n} = 3nˉ=3. This toolbox opens the path for new two-qubit Rydberg gates directly, or partially, driven by the interaction, in which the atoms spend only ∼10\sim 10∼10~ns in the Rydberg state, minimizing the increasingly dominant error source originating from its finite lifetime.
Quantum entanglement involving coherent superpositions of macroscopically distinct states is among the most striking features of quantum theory, but its realization is challenging because such states are extremely fragile. Using a programmable quantum simulator based on neutral atom arrays with interactions mediated by Rydberg states, we demonstrate the creation of "Schrödinger cat" states of the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) type with up to 20 qubits. Our approach is based on engineering the energy spectrum and using optimal control of the many-body system. We further demonstrate entanglement manipulation by using GHZ states to distribute entanglement to distant sites in the array, establishing important ingredients for quantum information processing and quantum metrology.