Atom Computing Sets Industry Milestone Achieving 1,000-Plus Qubits

Saturday - October 28 2023, 06:54 UTC - 1 year ago

Atom Computing has achieved the milestone of having more than 1,000 qubits in a universal gate-based system that is planned for release next year, an important first step for creating fault-tolerant quantum computers. Atom Computing utilizes nuclear spin qubits in arrays of optically-trapped neutral atoms, and have raised $91 million in funding. The fault-tolerant quantum computer will need hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of physical qubits as well as other technological capabilities.

This is the first time a company has crossed the 1,000-qubit threshold for a universal gate-based system, planned for release next year. It marks an industry milestone toward fault-tolerant quantum computers capable of solving large-scale problems. The new 1,225-qubit quantum computer uses ytterbium-171 atoms to create its qubits.

We demonstrate high-fidelity repetitive measurements of nuclear spin qubits in an array of neutral ytterbium-171 (171Yb) atoms. We show that the qubit state can be measured with a spin-flip probability of 0.004 for a single tweezer and 0.012 averaged over the array. This is accomplished by high cyclicity of one of the nuclear spin qubit states with an optically excited state under a magnetic field of B=58 G, resulting in a spin-flip probability of approximately 10^−5 per scattered photon during fluorescence readout. The performance improves further. The state discrimination fidelity is 0.993 with a state-averaged readout survival of 0.994, limited by off-resonant scattering to dark states. We combine our measurement technique with high-contrast rotations of the nuclear spin qubit via an ac magnetic field to explore two paradigmatic scenarios, including the noncommutativity of measurements in orthogonal bases, and the quantum Zeno mechanism in which measurements "freeze" coherent evolution. Finally, they employ real-time feedforward to repetitively and deterministically prepare the qubit. These capabilities constitute an important step towards adaptive quantum circuits with atom arrays.

Atom Computing has raised $91 million over six funding rounds. Their latest funding round was a Grant – II on February 1, 2023. CEO Rob Hays said rapid scaling is a key benefit of Atom Computing’s unique atomic array technology. "This order-of-magnitude leap – from 100 to 1,000-plus qubits within a generation – shows our atomic array systems are quickly gaining ground on more mature qubit modalities," Hays said. "Scaling to large numbers of qubits is critical for fault-tolerant quantum computing, which is why it has been our focus from the beginning. We are working closely with partners to explore near-term applications that can take advantage of these larger scale systems." .

Atom Computing is building quantum computers using nuclear spin qubits formed from arrays of optically-trapped neutral atoms. They cool, trap, and control qubits wirelessly using lasers. They have a prototype platform, Phoenix, harnesses the power of 100 qubits to explore innovative quantum algorithm development. they are now working with 1180 to 1225 qubits in their atomic array. Paul Smith-Goodson, vice president and a principal analyst at Moor Insights & Strategy, said the 1,000-plus qubit milestone makes Atom Computing a serious contender in the race to build a fault-tolerant system.

Fault-tolerant quantum computers that can overcome errors during computations and deliver accurate results will require hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of physical qubits along with other key capabilities, including: * Long coherence times. The company has achieved record coherence times by demonstrating its qubits * Higher-fidelity control in all single-qubit and multi-qubit operations. * Scalability.