Quantum Applications with Rydberg Atom Arrays

Rydberg atoms arrays have emerged as a promising platform for assembling quantum matter in a bottom-up approach. This platform combines deterministically prepared, reconfigurable arrays of individually trapped cold atoms with strong, coherent interactions enabled by excitation to atomic Rydberg states and in situ state readout. It enables a scalable realization of quantum spin models with system sizes beyond what can be simulated on classical computers. The main goal of this project is to harness many-body properties of Rydberg atoms for applications in next-generation quantum technology. The first goal is to explore the possibility to harness a novel, robust dynamical quantum many-body phenomenon as a tool to generate useful entangled states in systems with limited control. Specifically, we will study the entanglement properties of quantum many-body scars, a natural phenomenon first discovered in Rydberg atoms arrays, regarding their utility for measurement-based quantum computation, quantum error correction and quantum metrology. Our second goal is to study and develop novel approaches for implementing information processing protocols with Rydberg atom arrays, based on an intimate connection to maximum independent set problems. This includes the exploration of analog quantum annealing algorithms, the development of noise-resilient gate sets for circuit-based approaches, and preparation and manipulation of topologically protected qubits. The third objective is to develop novel tools to characterize quantum many-body states of Rydberg atom arrays and access fundamental properties, such as entanglement measures.