Exploring quantum computing frontier using programmable atom arrays and optical controls

A broad effort is currently underway to develop quantum computers that can outperform classical counterparts for certain computational or simulation tasks. Suppressing errors is one of the central challenges for useful quantum computing, requiring quantum error correction for large-scale processing. However, the overhead in the realization of error-corrected "logical" qubits, where information is encoded across many physical qubits for redundancy, poses significant challenges to large-scale logical quantum computing. In this talk, we will discuss the recent advances involving programmable, coherent manipulation of quantum systems based on neutral atom arrays excited into Rydberg states, allowing the control over several hundred qubits in two dimensions. Optical control techniques are central to this approach. In particular, we use this platform to explore quantum algorithms with encoded logical qubits and quantum error correction techniques. Using this logical processor with various types of error-correcting codes, we demonstrate that we can improve logical two-qubit gates by increasing code size, outperform physical qubit fidelities, create logical GHZ states, and perform computationally complex scrambling circuits using 48 logical qubits and hundreds of logical gates. These results herald the advent of early error-corrected quantum computation, enabling new applications and inspiring a shift in addressing both the challenges and opportunities that lay ahead.