Quantum information with Rydberg atoms

TLDR

Rydberg atoms exhibit exaggerated dipole‑dipole interactions and long lifetimes that can be coherently switched, enabling a wide range of quantum information tasks beyond two‑qubit gates. This review surveys the theoretical and experimental progress in Rydberg‑mediated quantum information processing over the past decade. The authors synthesize recent theoretical models and experimental demonstrations of Rydberg‑based quantum gates, encoding, interfaces, and many‑body simulations. Rydberg‑based systems enable long‑range two‑qubit gates, collective multiqubit encoding, robust light‑atom interfaces, and quantum many‑body simulations.

Abstract

Rydberg atoms with principal quantum number $n⪢1$ have exaggerated atomic properties including dipole-dipole interactions that scale as ${n}^{4}$ and radiative lifetimes that scale as ${n}^{3}$. It was proposed a decade ago to take advantage of these properties to implement quantum gates between neutral atom qubits. The availability of a strong long-range interaction that can be coherently turned on and off is an enabling resource for a wide range of quantum information tasks stretching far beyond the original gate proposal. Rydberg enabled capabilities include long-range two-qubit gates, collective encoding of multiqubit registers, implementation of robust light-atom quantum interfaces, and the potential for simulating quantum many-body physics. The advances of the last decade are reviewed, covering both theoretical and experimental aspects of Rydberg-mediated quantum information processing.