The ability to engineer parallel, programmable operations between desired qubits within a quantum processor is key for building scalable quantum information systems
. In most state-of-the-art ...approaches, qubits interact locally, constrained by the connectivity associated with their fixed spatial layout. Here we demonstrate a quantum processor with dynamic, non-local connectivity, in which entangled qubits are coherently transported in a highly parallel manner across two spatial dimensions, between layers of single- and two-qubit operations. Our approach makes use of neutral atom arrays trapped and transported by optical tweezers; hyperfine states are used for robust quantum information storage, and excitation into Rydberg states is used for entanglement generation
. We use this architecture to realize programmable generation of entangled graph states, such as cluster states and a seven-qubit Steane code state
. Furthermore, we shuttle entangled ancilla arrays to realize a surface code state with thirteen data and six ancillary qubits
and a toric code state on a torus with sixteen data and eight ancillary qubits
. Finally, we use this architecture to realize a hybrid analogue-digital evolution
and use it for measuring entanglement entropy in quantum simulations
, experimentally observing non-monotonic entanglement dynamics associated with quantum many-body scars
. Realizing a long-standing goal, these results provide a route towards scalable quantum processing and enable applications ranging from simulation to metrology.
Motivated by far-reaching applications ranging from quantum simulations of complex processes in physics and chemistry to quantum information processing
, a broad effort is currently underway to build ...large-scale programmable quantum systems. Such systems provide insights into strongly correlated quantum matter
, while at the same time enabling new methods for computation
and metrology
. Here we demonstrate a programmable quantum simulator based on deterministically prepared two-dimensional arrays of neutral atoms, featuring strong interactions controlled by coherent atomic excitation into Rydberg states
. Using this approach, we realize a quantum spin model with tunable interactions for system sizes ranging from 64 to 256 qubits. We benchmark the system by characterizing high-fidelity antiferromagnetically ordered states and demonstrating quantum critical dynamics consistent with an Ising quantum phase transition in (2 + 1) dimensions
. We then create and study several new quantum phases that arise from the interplay between interactions and coherent laser excitation
, experimentally map the phase diagram and investigate the role of quantum fluctuations. Offering a new lens into the study of complex quantum matter, these observations pave the way for investigations of exotic quantum phases, non-equilibrium entanglement dynamics and hardware-efficient realization of quantum algorithms.
An interacting quantum system that is subject to disorder may cease to thermalize owing to localization of its constituents, thereby marking the breakdown of thermodynamics. The key to understanding ...this phenomenon lies in the system's entanglement, which is experimentally challenging to measure. We realize such a many-body-localized system in a disordered Bose-Hubbard chain and characterize its entanglement properties through particle fluctuations and correlations. We observe that the particles become localized, suppressing transport and preventing the thermalization of subsystems. Notably, we measure the development of nonlocal correlations, whose evolution is consistent with a logarithmic growth of entanglement entropy, the hallmark of many-body localization. Our work experimentally establishes many-body localization as a qualitatively distinct phenomenon from localization in noninteracting, disordered systems.
Exotic phases of matter can emerge from strong correlations in quantum many-body systems. Quantum gas microscopy affords the opportunity to study these correlations with unprecedented detail. Here, ...we report site-resolved observations of antiferromagnetic correlations in a two-dimensional, Hubbard-regime optical lattice and demonstrate the ability to measure the spin-correlation function over any distance. We measure the in situ distributions of the particle density and magnetic correlations, extract thermodynamic quantities from comparisons to theory, and observe statistically significant correlations over three lattice sites. The temperatures that we reach approach the limits of available numerical simulations. The direct access to many-body physics at the single-particle level demonstrated by our results will further our understanding of how the interplay of motion and magnetism gives rise to new states of matter.
Quantum phase transitions (QPTs) involve transformations between different states of matter that are driven by quantum fluctuations
. These fluctuations play a dominant part in the quantum critical ...region surrounding the transition point, where the dynamics is governed by the universal properties associated with the QPT. Although time-dependent phenomena associated with classical, thermally driven phase transitions have been extensively studied in systems ranging from the early Universe to Bose-Einstein condensates
, understanding critical real-time dynamics in isolated, non-equilibrium quantum systems remains a challenge
. Here we use a Rydberg atom quantum simulator with programmable interactions to study the quantum critical dynamics associated with several distinct QPTs. By studying the growth of spatial correlations when crossing the QPT, we experimentally verify the quantum Kibble-Zurek mechanism (QKZM)
for an Ising-type QPT, explore scaling universality and observe corrections beyond QKZM predictions. This approach is subsequently used to measure the critical exponents associated with chiral clock models
, providing new insights into exotic systems that were not previously understood and opening the door to precision studies of critical phenomena, simulations of lattice gauge theories
and applications to quantum optimization
.
Exotic phenomena in systems with strongly correlated electrons emerge from the interplay between spin and motional degrees of freedom. For example, doping an antiferromagnet is expected to give rise ...to pseudogap states and high-temperature superconductors. Quantum simulation using ultracold fermions in optical lattices could help to answer open questions about the doped Hubbard Hamiltonian, and has recently been advanced by quantum gas microscopy. Here we report the realization of an antiferromagnet in a repulsively interacting Fermi gas on a two-dimensional square lattice of about 80 sites at a temperature of 0.25 times the tunnelling energy. The antiferromagnetic long-range order manifests through the divergence of the correlation length, which reaches the size of the system, the development of a peak in the spin structure factor and a staggered magnetization that is close to the ground-state value. We hole-dope the system away from half-filling, towards a regime in which complex many-body states are expected, and find that strong magnetic correlations persist at the antiferromagnetic ordering vector up to dopings of about 15 per cent. In this regime, numerical simulations are challenging and so experiments provide a valuable benchmark. Our results demonstrate that microscopy of cold atoms in optical lattices can help us to understand the low-temperature Fermi-Hubbard model.
Individual neutral atoms excited to Rydberg states are a promising platform for quantum simulation and quantum information processing. However, experimental progress to date has been limited by short ...coherence times and relatively low gate fidelities associated with such Rydberg excitations. We report progress towards high-fidelity quantum control of Rydberg-atom qubits. Enabled by a reduction in laser phase noise, our approach yields a significant improvement in coherence properties of individual qubits. We further show that this high-fidelity control extends to the multi-particle case by preparing a two-atom entangled state with a fidelity exceeding 0.97(3), and extending its lifetime with a two-atom dynamical decoupling protocol. These advances open up new prospects for scalable quantum simulation and quantum computation with neutral atoms.
Statistical mechanics relies on the maximization of entropy in a system at thermal equilibrium. However, an isolated quantum many-body system initialized in a pure state remains pure during ...Schrödinger evolution, and in this sense it has static, zero entropy. We experimentally studied the emergence of statistical mechanics in a quantum state and observed the fundamental role of quantum entanglement in facilitating this emergence. Microscopy of an evolving quantum system indicates that the full quantum state remains pure, whereas thermalization occurs on a local scale. We directly measured entanglement entropy, which assumes the role of the thermal entropy in thermalization. The entanglement creates local entropy that validates the use of statistical physics for local observables. Our measurements are consistent with the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis.
The realization of large-scale fully controllable quantum systems is an exciting frontier in modern physical science. We use atom-by-atom assembly to implement a platform for the deterministic ...preparation of regular one-dimensional arrays of individually controlled cold atoms. In our approach, a measurement and feedback procedure eliminates the entropy associated with probabilistic trap occupation and results in defect-free arrays of more than 50 atoms in less than 400 milliseconds. The technique is based on fast, real-time control of 100 optical tweezers, which we use to arrange atoms in desired geometric patterns and to maintain these configurations by replacing lost atoms with surplus atoms from a reservoir. This bottom-up approach may enable controlled engineering of scalable many-body systems for quantum information processing, quantum simulations, and precision measurements.
The interplay between magnetic fields and interacting particles can lead to exotic phases of matter that exhibit topological order and high degrees of spatial entanglement. Although these phases were ...discovered in a solid-state setting, recent innovations in systems of ultracold neutral atoms-uncharged atoms that do not naturally experience a Lorentz force-allow the synthesis of artificial magnetic, or gauge, fields. This experimental platform holds promise for exploring exotic physics in fractional quantum Hall systems, owing to the microscopic control and precision that is achievable in cold-atom systems. However, so far these experiments have mostly explored the regime of weak interactions, which precludes access to correlated many-body states. Here, through microscopic atomic control and detection, we demonstrate the controlled incorporation of strong interactions into a two-body system with a chiral band structure. We observe and explain the way in which interparticle interactions induce chirality in the propagation dynamics of particles in a ladder-like, real-space lattice governed by the interacting Harper-Hofstadter model, which describes lattice-confined, coherently mobile particles in the presence of a magnetic field. We use a bottom-up strategy to prepare interacting chiral quantum states, thus circumventing the challenges of a top-down approach that begins with a many-body system, the size of which can hinder the preparation of controlled states. Our experimental platform combines all of the necessary components for investigating highly entangled topological states, and our observations provide a benchmark for future experiments in the fractional quantum Hall regime.
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