Pupillo group
University of Strasbourg (ISIS), Strasbourg, France
- Tracked papers
- 8 (2022–2026)
Topics
The most frequent field-map topics among the PI' tracked papers.
Recent papers
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Fault-tolerant quantum computation with static atomic buses
Abstract
Efficient quantum error correction and fault-tolerant quantum computing require scalable, high-fidelity long-range connectivity. In neutral-atom quantum computers, this is commonly achieved through atom transport, but shuttling introduces latency and motional heating that worsen with system size. Here, we introduce a neutral-atom architecture based on static atomic buses, in which auxiliary mediator atoms enable long-range entangling operations without qubit transport. The architecture naturally supports long-range stabilizer measurements in high-rate LDPC codes and transversal logical gates between neighboring surface-code patches, enabling a modular framework for efficient logical memories, Clifford computation, and magic-state distillation. To realize these capabilities, we co-design optimal-control protocols for bus-mediated controlled-Z gates that incorporate both microscopic neutral-atom dynamics and architectural constraints. We obtain smooth bus-mediated gates with fidelities approaching 99.9% and durations of a few hundred nanoseconds by combining time-optimal control with interaction-flatness and robustness constraints. Large-scale simulations of quantum error correction and logical entangling operations between neighboring surface-code patches predict more than an order-of-magnitude improvement in logical error rates compared with atom-shuttling architectures under realistic noise. The architecture achieves logical gate times of approximately 100 us and quantum-error-correction cycle times of about 1 ms for code distances d<12. These results establish static atomic buses as a practical alternative to atom shuttling for scalable fault-tolerant neutral-atom quantum computing.
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Pontryagin Maximum Principle for Rydberg-blockaded state-to-state transfers: A semi-analytic approach
Abstract
We study time-optimal state-to-state control for two- and multi-qubit operations motivated by neutral-atom quantum processors within the Rydberg blockade regime. Block-diagonalization of the Hamiltonian simplifies the dynamics and enables the application of a semi-analytic approach to the Pontryagin Maximum Principle to derive optimal laser controls. We provide a general formalism for $N$ qubits. For $N=2$ qubits, we classify normal and abnormal extremals, showcasing examples where abnormal solutions are either absent or suboptimal. For normal extremals, we establish a correspondence between the laser detuning from atomic transitions and the motion of a classical particle in a quartic potential, yielding a reduced, semi-analytic formulation of the control problem. Combining PMP-based insights with numerical optimization, our approach bridges analytic and computational methods for high-fidelity, time-optimal control.
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Fast Quantum Gates for Neutral Atoms Separated by a Few Tens of Micrometers
Abstract
We present a theoretical scheme for a family of fast and high-fidelity two-qubit iSWAP gates between neutral atoms separated by more than 20 um, enabled by resonant dipole-dipole spin-exchange interactions between Rydberg states. The protocol harnesses coherent excitation-exchange-deexcitation dynamics between the qubit and the Rydberg states within a single and smooth laser pulse, in the presence of strong dipole-dipole interactions. We utilize optimal control methods to achieve theoretical gate fidelities and durations comparable to blockade-based gates in the presence of relevant noise, while extending the effective interaction range by an order of magnitude. This enables entanglement well beyond the blockade radius, offering a route toward fast, high-connectivity quantum processors.
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Low-depth quantum error correction via three-qubit gates in Rydberg atom arrays
Abstract
Quantum error correction (QEC) requires the execution of deep quantum circuits with large numbers of physical qubits to protect information against errors. Designing protocols that can reduce gate and space-time overheads of QEC is therefore crucial to enable more efficient QEC in near-term experiments. Multiqubit gates offer a natural path towards fast and low-depth stabilizer measurement circuits. However, they typically introduce high-weight correlated errors that can degrade the circuit-level distance, leading to slower scalings of the logical error probabilities. In this work, we show how to realize fast and efficient surface code stabilizer readout using only two singly-controlled $Z$ gates acting simultaneously on two target qubits, i.e. two $CZ_2$ gates -- instead of four $CZ$. We show that this scheme is fault-tolerant, and provide a blueprint for implementation in Rydberg atom arrays. We derive the time-optimal pulses implementing the gates and perform extensive QEC numerical simulations with Rydberg decay errors. Compared to the standard protocol using four $CZ$ gates, our scheme is faster, uses fewer gates and crucially maintains fault tolerance with comparable logical error probabilities. Fault-tolerant generalizations of this scheme to biased and erasure-dominant noise models, as well as to other QEC codes, such as quantum Low-Density Parity-Check codes, are also discussed.
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The iSWAP gate with polar molecules: Robustness criteria for entangling operations
Abstract
Ultracold polar molecules in optical lattices or tweezer arrays offer a promising platform for quantum information processing and simulation, thanks to their rich internal structure and long-range dipolar interactions. Recent experimental advances now allow precise control over individual molecules, enabling two-qubit gates based on the iSWAP gate. A key challenge is however the sensitivity to variations of the dipole-dipole interaction strength - stemming from motion of the molecules and uncertainty on the precise positioning of external confining potentials - that limits current gate fidelities. To address this, we develop a quantum optimal control framework, based on a perturbative approach, to design gates that are robust with respect to quasi-static deviations of Hamiltonian parameters, and provide criteria to evaluate a priori whether a gate can be made robust for a given control Hamiltonian. By applying these criteria to exchange-coupled qubits, as polar molecules, we demonstrate that robustness cannot be achieved with global controls only, but can be attained by breaking the exchange symmetry through local controls, such as a local detuning. We determine the robust time-optimal solution for realizing an iSWAP gate, show that the control pulses can be designed to be smooth functions, and achieve theoretical gate fidelities compatible with error correction under realistic parameters. Additionally, we show that certain entangled state preparations, such as Bell states, can be made robust even with global controls only. We demonstrate that, under the adiabatic approximation - where molecular motion occurs on timescales faster than that of the exchange interaction - the noise arising from thermal motion can be effectively treated as quasi-static variations of Hamiltonian parameters. This allows us to extend our treatment to the concrete experimental case of polar molecules.
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Entanglement-enhanced quantum sensing via optimal global control with neutral atoms in a cavity
Abstract
We present a deterministic protocol for the preparation of entangled states in the symmetric Dicke subspace of $N$ spins coupled to a common cavity mode that prepares entangled states useful for quantum sensing, achieving a precision significantly better than the standard quantum limit in the presence of photon cavity loss, spontaneous emission and dephasing. The protocol combines a new geometric phase gate which can be utilized for exact unitary synthesis on the Dicke subspace, an analytic solution of the noisy quantum channel dynamics and optimal control methods. This work opens the way to entanglement-enhanced sensing with cold trapped atoms in cavities and is extendable to other spin systems coupled to a bosonic mode.
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Surface Code Stabilizer Measurements for Rydberg Atoms
Abstract
We consider stabilizer measurements for surface codes with neutral atoms and identify gate protocols that minimize logical error rates in the presence of a fundamental error source -- spontaneous emission from Rydberg states. We demonstrate that logical error rates are minimized by protocols that prevent the propagation of Rydberg leakage errors and not by protocols that minimize the physical two-qubit error rate. We provide laser-pulse-level gate protocols to counter these errors. These protocols significantly reduce the logical error rate for implementations of surface codes involving one or two species of atoms. Our work demonstrates the importance of optimizing quantum gates for logical errors in addition to gate fidelities and opens the way to the efficient realization of surface codes with neutral atoms.
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Time-Optimal Two- and Three-Qubit Gates for Rydberg Atoms
Abstract
We identify time-optimal laser pulses to implement the controlled-Z gate and its three qubit generalization, the C$_2$Z gate, for Rydberg atoms in the blockade regime. Pulses are optimized using a combination of numerical and semi-analytical quantum optimal control techniques that result in smooth Ansätze with just a few variational parameters. For the CZ gate, the time-optimal implementation corresponds to a global laser pulse that does not require single site addressability of the atoms, simplifying experimental implementation of the gate. We employ quantum optimal control techniques to mitigate errors arising due to the finite lifetime of Rydberg states and finite blockade strengths, while several other types of errors affecting the gates are directly mitigated by the short gate duration. For the considered error sources, we achieve theoretical gate fidelities compatible with error correction using reasonable experimental parameters for CZ and C$_2$Z gates.