A single neutral atom is one of the most promising candidates to encode a quantum bit (qubit). In a real experiment, a single neutral atom is always confined in a micro-sized far off-resonant optical trap (FORT). There are generally two types of traps: red-detuned trap and blue-detuned trap. We experimentally compare the qubits encoded in “clock states” of single cesium atoms confined separately in either 1064-nm red-detuned (bright) trap or 780-nm blue-detuned (dark) trap: both traps have almost the same trap depth. A longer lifetime of 117 s and a longer coherence time of about 10 ms are achieved in the dark trap. This provides a direct proof of the superiority of the dark trap over the bright trap. The measures to further improve the coherence are discussed.
We present a universal logical gate set for finite-energy Gottesman-Kitaev-Preskill (GKP) qubits encoded in the harmonic motional states of trapped neutral atoms. Internal electronic states serve as ancilla for implementing state-dependent conditional displacements in phase space, enabling arbitrary single-qubit phase gates. A Transient Rydberg excitation-mediated atomic dipole-dipole interaction enables a controlled-Z gate without invoking the blockade mechanism. The gates operate under magic-trapping conditions, allowing continuous trapping throughout the gate sequence, thereby preserving the motional encoding without intermediate measurement or feedforward. We assess the experimental feasibility of the proposed protocols using neutral
88Sr atoms and obtain average gate fidelities of
0.986 for single-qubit phase gates and
0.985 for the controlled-Z gate at a finite squeezing parameter of
Δ=0.25 (12 dB of squeezing), increasing to
0.997 and
0.995 respectively as
Δ reaches
0.1. These results provide a route toward universal, measurement-free logical control of motional GKP qubits in neutral-atom architectures.
We present a strategic plan for neutral atom quantum computation, bringing together hardware development and theory advancements to achieve the goal of practical quantum advantage. The concept of practical quantum advantage is defined, along with how to verify claims of advantage, and approaches to designing quantum algorithms that deliver practical advantage. Future directions for neutral atom quantum processor hardware are described: scaling-up system size, Qubit encodings and atomic platforms, going further below threshold with neutral-atom logical-qubit performance, continuous reloading of qubits, and fast readout. We also explore opportunities for scalable integrated photonic control technologies. Alongside hardware advancements, new developments in quantum error correction and compilation of quantum circuits are proposed. Finally, we examine the opportunity of networking multiple neutral atom quantum processors together to perform distributed quantum computing and overcome possible limitations of a single system.