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Erasure conversion for fault-tolerant quantum computing in alkaline earth Rydberg atom arrays

1 min read

Proposes using metastable states of alkaline-earth atoms (⁸⁸Sr, ¹⁷¹Yb) to convert the dominant error source in neutral-atom quantum computing (atom loss and Rydberg decay) into detectable erasure errors. Shows this erasure conversion can dramatically reduce the overhead for fault-tolerant quantum error correction.

Key Results

  • Dominant errors (atom loss, Rydberg decay) converted to erasures with >97% efficiency
  • Erasure detection via fluorescence on cycling transition (atoms in computational subspace are dark)
  • Surface code threshold increases from ~1% (Pauli) to ~4% (erasure-dominated)
  • Compatible with existing tweezer array hardware (⁸⁸Sr, ¹⁷¹Yb platforms)

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