Continuous operation of a coherent 3,000-qubit system

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a large-scale, continuously operated neutral atom quantum system with over 3,000 qubits, achieving high reloading rates and persistent quantum state maintenance, advancing quantum computing and sensing capabilities.

Contribution

It introduces an architecture for continuous atom loading and coherent quantum information storage in large-scale neutral atom arrays, enabling sustained quantum operations.

Findings

Over 30,000 qubits initialized per second

Maintained atomic array for more than two hours

Achieved persistent refilling with quantum state preservation

Abstract

Neutral atoms are a promising platform for quantum science, enabling advances in areas ranging from quantum simulations and computation to metrology, atomic clocks and quantum networking. While atom losses typically limit these systems to a pulsed mode, continuous operation could significantly enhance cycle rates, remove bottlenecks in metrology, and enable deep-circuit quantum evolution through quantum error correction. Here we demonstrate an experimental architecture for high-rate, continuous reloading and operation of a large-scale atom array system while realizing coherent storage and manipulation of quantum information. Our approach utilizes a series of two optical lattice conveyor belts to transport atom reservoirs into the science region, where atoms are repeatedly extracted into optical tweezers without affecting the coherence of qubits stored nearby. Using a reloading rate of 300,000 atoms in tweezers per second, we create over 30,000 initialized qubits per second, which we leverage to assemble and maintain an array of over 3,000 atoms for more than two hours. Furthermore, we demonstrate persistent refilling of the array with atomic qubits in either a spin-polarized or a coherent superposition state while preserving the quantum state of stored qubits. Our results pave the way for realization of large-scale continuously operated atomic clocks, sensors, and fault-tolerant quantum computers.