Caltech Builds World’s Largest Neutral-Atom Quantum Computer

Caltech physicists have created the largest neutral atom quantum computer ever, trapping 6,100 cesium atoms as kitz in one array. Results published in Nature On Thursday, it represents a significant increase over the previous array, which only contained hundreds of qubits.

Researchers have expanded the system from hundreds of Qubits typical in previous experiments to over 6,000, while maintaining stability and accuracy at the level required for a real machine.

The team said they achieved a coherence time of about 13 seconds, 10 times longer than previous experiments, while performing single-kit operations with 99.98% accuracy.

A qubit, or quantum bit, is the basic unit of information in a quantum computer. Unlike the classic bits, this could be either 0 or 1, but qubit could be present Overlay Allows many calculations to be performed in parallel at one time in both states. The challenge is to stabilize its delicate state long enough to perform the calculation.

Its stability is called “consistency” and is constantly threatened by noise, heat, or stray electromagnetic fields. The longer the qubits are, the more complex and reliable the operations that the quantum processor can perform before the error creeps up.

“This is an exciting moment for neutral atom quantum computing,” Manuel Endless, professor of physics and principal investigator of the project. “Now we can see the path to a massive error-corrected quantum computer. We have the building blocks in place.”

However, according to Elie Bataille, a graduate student at Caltech who worked on the project, time is just one factor in the quantum process.

“All you need is a very long time of consistency compared to the duration of your operation,” Bataille said. Decryption. “If the operation is 1 microsecond and there is a 1 second consistency time, that means you can do about 1 million operations.”

Scaling without sacrificing fidelity

Researchers used “optical tweezers,” a highly focused beam of light to grab and place individual atoms. By splitting a single laser into 12,000 of these small light traps, they were able to hold 6,100 atoms stable within the vacuum chamber.

“Using a laser at the right wavelength makes light attractive to the atoms and create traps,” Bataille said.. “If we limit the beam of light to very small dots, we can attract and trap many atoms for micrometers.”

The team showed that atoms can be moved within an array without breaking the fragile quantum state known as superposition. The ability to stabilise and shift Qubits makes it easy to fix future quantum computer errors.

Neutral atom quantum systems are gaining attention as a viable competitor for superconducting circuits and confined ion platforms. One unique advantage is the physical reconfigurability. Atoms can be rearranged during calculations using mobile optical traps. This gives dynamic connectivity that makes the rigid hardware topology difficult to match. So far, Caltech’s 6,100 Qubit milestone has made a huge stride as most neutral atom arrays only contain hundreds of qubits.

Global Race

The results arrive as businesses and labs around the world scale up quantum machines. IBM has pledged a 100,000 qubit superconducting computer by 2033, but companies like IONQ and Quera are developing the ION-TRAP and NEUTRALATOM approach. Colorado-based Quantinuum aims to provide fully fault-resistant quantum computers by 2029.

The next milestone is demonstrating error corrections on scale. This requires encoding logical qubits from thousands of physical qubits. It is important for quantum computers to solve chemistry, materials and subsequent practical problems.

“Traditional computers will cause one error for 10-17 operations,” Bataille said. “Quantum computers aren’t exactly near that. We don’t expect to reach that level with just hardware.”

The Caltech team plans to link qubits via Entanglement, the steps required to perform full-scale quantum calculations.

Caltech’s 6,100 Qubit arrays do not yet offer practical quantum computers by combining the scale, accuracy and coherence of one system, but they set new benchmarks and enhance the case of neutral atoms as the main platform for quantum computing.