Gate-based readout and cooling of neutral atoms
Neutral atom arrays have seen tremendous progress in quantum simulation, quantum metrology, and fault-tolerant quantum computing. However, hardware constraints such as atom loss and heating remain significant challenges. In this work, we introduce a comprehensive ancilla-based toolbox for optical tweezer experiments that utilizes high-fidelity Rydberg entangling gates and ancilla atoms to mitigate these physical limitations. First, we demonstrate repeated ancilla-based atom readout, achieving improved detection fidelity over multiple rounds with minimal perturbation to data atoms. Second, leveraging the quantized motional states in tweezer-trapped strontium atoms, we transduce quantum information from the electronic to the motional manifold. This enables us to perform mid-circuit ancilla-based atom loss detection in a coherence-preserving fashion. Finally, we demonstrate algorithmic cooling, a circuit-based sequence that deterministically cools data atoms by transferring their motional entropy to the electronic states of ancilla atoms. We observe a marked reduction in the atomic temperature of data atoms. These tools offer a pathway to continuous operation in tweezer clocks and complement recent developments in continuous reloading experiments.
Authors
- Kon H. Leung (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9436-5312)
- Richard Bing-Shiun Tsai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8675-8677)
- Lewis R. B. Picard (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2062-8685)
- Manuel Endres (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4461-224X)
- Xiangkai Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4329-9845)
- Yuan Le
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical Review Letters
- Published
- 2026-11-09
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/8ncv-2mcx
- Citations
- 6
- Primary Topic
- Cold Atom Physics and Bose-Einstein Condensates
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 7.28
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- U.S. Department of Energy
- California Institute of Technology
- Weston Havens Foundation
- Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative
- Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, California Institute of Technology
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Army Research Office