Towards a continuously operating Yb quantum processor*

Recently, neutral atom quantum processors have demonstrated significant advances in optical control, two-qubit gate fidelities, and the implementation of increasingly sophisticated quantum circuits. Moving forward, there exist many challenges, including the speed of operations such as state detection, continuous operation, and the suppression and removal of loss errors, as well as unique challenges associated with the choice of atomic species.

Among atomic species, the ytterbium-171 (Yb) atom is an attractive basis for a quantum processor due to its robust nuclear qubit and long-lived metastable states, amenability to high-fidelity fast imaging, and favorable laser cooling properties. Recently, groups have demonstrated mid-circuit operations via the clock transition, high-fidelity two-qubit Rydberg gate operations, and entangling operations on an error-detected quantum memory.

We are building a second-generation Yb tweezer array with the goal of implementing scalable, high-fidelity digital quantum circuits. Our apparatus combines a titanium XHV chamber, in-vacuum electrode rods for precise field control, and continuous reloading from a moving lattice, with the aim of realizing a continuously operating processor that can load over 10k atoms every 5 ms.