Speaker
Description
Neutral atoms trapped in optical potentials have emerged as a rapidly progressing platform for quantum information processing. Alkaline-earth and alkaline-earth-like atoms are particularly attractive due to their long-lived qubit states, the theoretically well-understood hyperfine structure, and the ability to precisely control their interactions with external fields. Among these systems, $^{87}$Sr stands out for its exceptional coherence times, making it a leading candidate for qubit encoding and quantum information storage. Beyond qubits, the rich level structure of $^{87}$Sr enables the use of multi-level qudits, which offer additional computational advantages, including increased information density and reduced circuit complexity.
We propose fast and robust single qudit gates in $^{87}$Sr using optical nuclear electric resonance (ONER). ONER exploits the nuclear hyperfine interaction in an appropriate excited state, via suitably detuned, polarized and amplitude-modulated laser light, to drive nuclear spin transitions of the hyperfine ground states. By investigating the hyperfine structure of the 5s$^2$ $^1S_{0}\rightarrow{}$ 5s5p $^3P_1$ optical transition in neutral $^{87}$Sr, we identify the magnetic field strengths and laser parameters necessary to drive multiple spin transitions. Our simulations show that ONER could enable faster spin operations compared to the state-of-the-art oscillations in this 'atomic qudit'. Moreover, we show that the threshold for fault-tolerant quantum computing can be surpassed even in the presence of typical noise sources.
These results pave the way for significant advances in nuclear spin control, opening new possibilities for quantum memories and other quantum technologies.
