Arrays of strontium Rydberg atoms show promise for use in quantum computers

A team of researchers at California Institute of Technology has found that arrays of strontium Rydberg atoms show promise for use in a quantum computer. In their paper published in the journal Nature Physics, the researchers describe their study of quantum entangled alkaline-earth Rydberg atoms arranged in arrays and what they learned about them. In the same issue, Wenhui Li, with…

First successful laser trapping of circular Rydberg atoms

Rydberg atoms, which are atoms in a highly excited state, have several unique and advantageous properties, including a particularly long lifetime and large sensitivities to external fields. These properties make them valuable for a variety of applications, for instance for the development of quantum technologies. …

Exciting apparatus helps atoms see the light

Researchers in the Light-Matter Interactions for Quantum Technologies Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) have generated Rydberg atoms—unusually large excited atoms—near nanometer-thin optical fibers. Their findings, published recently in Physical Review Research, mark progress toward a new platform for quantum information processing, which has the potential to revolutionize material and drug discoveries and provide more…

3-D trapping of Rydberg atoms in holographic optical bottle beam traps

Researchers at CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay in France have recently demonstrated the 3-D trapping of atoms in a Rydberg state inside holographic optical bottle beam traps. Their demonstration, outlined in a paper published in Physical Review Letters, could have important implications for the future realization of quantum simulations. …