Field-sensitive addressing and control of field-insensitive neutral-atom qubits

Understand

The establishment of a scalable scheme for quantum computing with addressable and long-lived qubits would be a scientific watershed, harnessing the laws of quantum physics to solve classically intractable problems.

• The design of many proposed quantum computational platforms is driven by competing needs: isolating the quantum system from the environment to prevent decoherence, and easily and accurately controlling the system with external fields.
• For example, neutral-atom optical-lattice architectures provide environmental isolation through the use of states that are robust against fluctuating external fields, yet external fields are essential for qubit addressing.
• Here we demonstrate the selection of individual qubits with external fields, despite the fact that the qubits are in field-insensitive superpositions.