Curator's Take
AI Commentary
This article demonstrates a cavity‑free method for linking neutral‑atom processors that can generate entanglement at megahertz rates, closing the speed gap between long‑distance links and on‑chip two‑qubit gates. By harnessing Rydberg dipole interactions to map stationary qubits onto photons, the scheme builds directly on recent advances in high‑fidelity Rydberg gates and could enable modular architectures where many small atom arrays are stitched together into a larger quantum network. If experimental challenges such as photon collection efficiency and decoherence of the intermediate Rydberg states can be managed, the approach offers a practical pathway toward scalable distributed quantum computing with neutral atoms.
— Mark Eatherly
Summary
Distributing entanglement between distant qubits is a crucial element of scalable quantum computing. Here, we describe a scalable quantum interconnect that generates remote entanglement at rates approaching those compatible with two-qubit gates of current neutral-atom quantum processors. The proposed approach exploits the strong dipole-dipole interactions between atomic Rydberg states to generate entanglement between stationary qubits and propagating photons, without the need for an optical cavity. We provide a thorough description of the optimal conditions for the developed entanglement-generation protocol for realistic experimental parameters and demonstrate that entanglement-generation rates $\gtrsim 3\times 10^5$ s$^{-1}$ can be achieved using Rydberg states of ytterbium atoms. Given the inherent scalability and design flexibility of the proposed interconnect, our results suggest a promising approach towards distributed networks based on neutral-atom quantum architectures.