Toward Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computing with Ytterbium Neutral-Atom Arrays
Achieving fault tolerance through quantum error correction (QEC) is essential for implementing large-scale quantum algorithms with practical advantage, but the large QEC overhead remains a major challenge in experimental implementations. Two complementary routes to reducing this overhead are to lower physical error rates and to reshape the remaining errors into forms that are easier to correct. My research explores both directions in neutral-atom systems. In this talk, I will introduce a new neutral-atom qubit based on the nuclear spin of a long-lived metastable state in ytterbium-171, enabling high-fidelity single- and two-qubit gates. A key feature of this platform is that a substantial fraction of physical operation errors can be detected mid-circuit and converted into erasure errors. Unlike Pauli-type errors, erasures come with a known location, which makes them far easier for QEC protocols to handle. Building on this capability, I will present our experimental demonstrations of error-correcting codes and logical-qubit operations in an erasure-biased noise regime. Using mid-circuit erasure information, we also demonstrate adaptive circuit execution. Finally, I will conclude with a perspective on the roadmap toward fault-tolerant quantum computing in neutral-atom platforms.