Alkaline-Earth-Metal Atoms as Few-Qubit Quantum Registers

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new method for quantum computing using alkaline-earth atoms in optical lattices, enabling scalable, high-precision quantum registers with individual qubit control and inter-register coupling.

Contribution

It presents a novel approach to encode, manipulate, and connect few-qubit registers using electronic and nuclear states of alkaline-earth atoms, advancing scalable quantum information processing.

Findings

Individual qubits can be manipulated with sub-wavelength optical resolution.

Few-qubit registers can be coupled via conditional tunneling in optical superlattices.

Potential applications include quantum computation and precision measurements.

Abstract

We propose and analyze a novel approach to quantum information processing, in which multiple qubits can be encoded and manipulated using electronic and nuclear degrees of freedom associated with individual alkaline-earth atoms trapped in an optical lattice. Specifically, we describe how the qubits within each register can be individually manipulated and measured with sub-wavelength optical resolution. We also show how such few-qubit registers can be coupled to each other in optical superlattices via conditional tunneling to form a scalable quantum network. Finally, potential applications to quantum computation and precision measurements are discussed.