Boson sampling with ultracold atoms in a programmable optical lattice

Understand

Sampling from a quantum distribution can be exponentially hard for classical computers and yet could be performed efficiently by a noisy intermediate-scale quantum device.

• A prime example of a distribution that is hard to sample is given by the output states of a linear interferometer traversed by $N$ identical boson particles.
• Here, we propose a scheme to implement such a boson sampling machine with ultracold atoms in a polarization-synthesized optical lattice.
• We experimentally demonstrate the basic building block of such a machine by revealing the Hong-Ou-Mandel interference of two bosonic atoms in a four-mode interferometer.