Fault-tolerant quantum computation with a neutral atom processor

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates fault-tolerant quantum computation on a 256-qubit neutral atom processor, encoding logical qubits, detecting and correcting errors, and implementing algorithms with improved error rates, paving the way for quantum advantage.

Contribution

It introduces a scalable neutral atom quantum processor capable of fault-tolerant operations, error detection, and correction on logical qubits, with successful implementation of complex algorithms.

Findings

Entangled 24 logical qubits with error correction

Corrected for an average of 1.8 lost atoms per logical qubit

Achieved better-than-physical error rates in algorithms

Abstract

Quantum computing experiments are transitioning from running on physical qubits to using encoded, logical qubits. Fault-tolerant computation can identify and correct errors, and has the potential to enable the dramatically reduced logical error rates required for valuable algorithms. However, it requires flexible control of high-fidelity operations performed on large numbers of qubits. We demonstrate fault-tolerant quantum computation on a quantum processor with 256 qubits, each an individual neutral Ytterbium atom. The operations are designed so that key error sources convert to atom loss, which can be detected by imaging. Full connectivity is enabled by atom movement. We demonstrate the entanglement of 24 logical qubits encoded into 48 atoms, at once catching errors and correcting for, on average 1.8, lost atoms. We also implement the Bernstein-Vazirani algorithm with up to 28 logical qubits encoded into 112 atoms, showing better-than-physical error rates. In both cases, "erasure conversion," changing errors into a form that can be detected independently from qubit state, improves circuit performance. These results begin to clear a path for achieving scientific quantum advantage with a programmable neutral atom quantum processor.