FOR 635:  Quantum Control and Simulation with Distributed Neutral Atom Systems

• Subject Area: Physics
• Term: from 2006 to 2012
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 14148824

The process of taming and engineering the quantum world has been highly successful for single quantum objects, or simple pair systems. Outstanding results have recently been obtained with ion traps, including the demonstration of quantum gates and quantum teleportation. However, the great promise of quantum coherent manipulation lies in systems composed of several or even many subsystems. Thus the scalability of the physical systems is now becoming a central issue. The systems of interest have to satisfy two partly conflicting conditions: Firstly, in order to achieve scalability they must be distributed, i.e., composed of many subsystems, which can be manipulated independently, usually by virtue of spatial separation. Secondly, quantum coherence has to be maintained for the whole system. No system is currently available that fully meets both requirements. In the framework of the Research Unit, we study systems of cold neutral atoms, which are one of the most promising candidates to approach this exciting goal in a coordinated effort of five research groups from Bonn, Braunschweig, Garching and Mainz. Experimental work will be carried out with a medium scale 1D lattice of atoms which can be individually controlled, with a large scale 2D and 3D lattice where massive entanglement has already been demonstrated, and with correlated atom-photon states to connect subsystems of the neutral atom ensembles. Theoretical work will focus on the development of measures for large-scale entanglement as well as the realisations of simple quantum simulators closely following the original proposals by Richard P. Feynman. The joint experimental and theoretical efforts in this network offer an ideal basis for testing concepts of large-scale entanglement and gaining insight into the question of how growing complexity affects quantum correlations of the multi-particle system.

• DFG Programme: Research Units

Projects

• Central project (Applicant Meschede, Dieter )
• Interfacing Neutral Atoms and Photons (Applicant Rempe, Gerhard )
• Multiparticle Entanglement with Neutral Atoms in Optical Lattices (Applicant Bloch, Immanuel )
• Quantum Cellular Automata (Applicant Werner, Reinhard F. )
• Quantum Gates and Small Cluster States with Trapped Neutral Atoms (Applicant Meschede, Dieter )
• Quantum Simulations with Quantum Optical Systems (Applicant Cirac, Juan Ignacio )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Dieter Meschede