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Multi-qubit Rydberg gates between distant atoms

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Researchers from Greece and Armenia developed a novel protocol for multi-qubit gates using neutral atoms in Rydberg states, published in January 2026. The method leverages global laser pulses to excite atoms arranged in star-graph configurations. The protocol exploits Rydberg blockade interactions to suppress simultaneous excitations, creating parity-dependent geometric phases. Dynamical phases cancel out, enabling high-fidelity CₖZ or CₖNOT gates for k+1 atoms without complex pulse sequences. Atoms encode qubits in hyperfine ground states, with Rydberg excitations generating strong interactions at micrometer distances. This reduces circuit complexity by implementing multi-qubit operations in a single step. The team extends the approach to distant qubits using a quantum bus—a chain of intermediary atoms—enabling long-range entanglement without physical movement. This advancement could significantly improve error rates and circuit depth in Rydberg-based quantum computers, addressing key scalability challenges in quantum algorithm implementation.

Multi-qubit Rydberg gates between distant atoms

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AbstractWe propose an efficient protocol to realize multi-qubit gates in arrays of neutral atoms. The atoms encode qubits in the long-lived hyperfine sublevels of the ground electronic state. To realize the gate, we apply a global laser pulse to transfer the atoms to a Rydberg state with strong blockade interaction that suppresses simultaneous excitation of neighboring atoms arranged in a star-graph configuration. The number of Rydberg excitations, and thereby the parity of the resulting state, depends on the multiqubit input state. Upon changing the sign of the interaction and de-exciting the atoms with an identical laser pulse, the system acquires a geometric phase that depends only on the parity of the excited state, while the dynamical phase is completely canceled. Using single qubit rotations, this transformation can be converted to the C$_k$Z or C$_k$NOT quantum gate for $k+1$ atoms. We also present extensions of the scheme to implement quantum gates between distant atomic qubits connected by a quantum bus consisting of a chain of atoms.Featured image: Illustration of a two-dimensional array of atoms irradiated by lasers (shaded blue) to implement the C$_k$Z quantum gates between neighboring atomic qubits in star-graph configurations, or between distant atomic qubits connected by auxiliary atoms. Red circle around a Rydberg excited atom corresponds to blockade range. Inset shows the level scheme of atoms involving the qubit encoding ground state subleveles and the strongly interacting Rydberg state.Popular summaryOne of the leading platforms for the physical implementation of quantum computers and simulators is based on arrays of neutral atoms trapped in optical tweezers. In this system, atoms encode qubits or spins in their internal electronic states. The atoms can be excited by lasers to Rydberg states — electronic states with large principal quantum numbers. Rydberg states possess unique properties, including long lifetimes and very large dipole moments, resulting in strong interactions between atoms separated by several micrometers. This enables the realization of high-fidelity quantum gates between atomic qubits. Any unitary transformation or quantum algorithm can be decomposed into a sequence of two-qubit quantum gates and single-qubit rotations. Consequently, the implementation of multiqubit transformations requires several applications of one- and two-qubit gates. Although the number of such gates scales only polynomially with the complexity of the transformation, in practical implementations of quantum algorithms and error correction, even this polynomial scaling can be prohibitively costly. Hence, realizing multiqubit quantum gates and extending their range to entangle distant qubits without physically moving them during computation, would be of great practical value. We propose an efficient protocol to realize multiqubit gates in arrays of neutral atoms. The atoms participating in the gate are arranged in a star-graph configuration and are collectively transferred by global laser pulses to a Rydberg state and back to a lower electronic state corresponding to one of the qubit states. This process results in a geometric phase that depends on the initial configuration of the qubit states, which is thus equivalent to a multiqubit quantum gate. We also propose an extension of this scheme to realize quantum gates between distant atomic qubits by coupling them through a quantum bus consisting of a chain of atoms. Thus, our multiqubit gates can reduce the total error while increasing the effective circuit depth and connectivity in Rydberg-atom quantum computers.► BibTeX data@article{Delakouras2026multiqubitrydberg, doi = {10.22331/q-2026-01-28-1990}, url = {https://doi.org/10.22331/q-2026-01-28-1990}, title = {Multi-qubit {R}ydberg gates between distant atoms}, author = {Delakouras, Antonis and Doultsinos, Georgios and Petrosyan, David}, journal = {{Quantum}}, issn = {2521-327X}, publisher = {{Verein zur F{\"{o}}rderung des Open Access Publizierens in den Quantenwissenschaften}}, volume = {10}, pages = {1990}, month = jan, year = {2026} }► References [1] Daniel Barredo, Sylvain De Léséleuc, Vincent Lienhard, Thierry Lahaye, and Antoine Browaeys. ``An atom-by-atom assembler of defect-free arbitrary two-dimensional atomic arrays''. 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B 38, S295 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-4075/38/2/021Cited byCould not fetch Crossref cited-by data during last attempt 2026-01-28 10:34:28: Could not fetch cited-by data for 10.22331/q-2026-01-28-1990 from Crossref. This is normal if the DOI was registered recently. Could not fetch ADS cited-by data during last attempt 2026-01-28 10:34:29: No response from ADS or unable to decode the received json data when getting the list of citing works.This Paper is published in Quantum under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license. Copyright remains with the original copyright holders such as the authors or their institutions. AbstractWe propose an efficient protocol to realize multi-qubit gates in arrays of neutral atoms. The atoms encode qubits in the long-lived hyperfine sublevels of the ground electronic state. To realize the gate, we apply a global laser pulse to transfer the atoms to a Rydberg state with strong blockade interaction that suppresses simultaneous excitation of neighboring atoms arranged in a star-graph configuration. The number of Rydberg excitations, and thereby the parity of the resulting state, depends on the multiqubit input state. Upon changing the sign of the interaction and de-exciting the atoms with an identical laser pulse, the system acquires a geometric phase that depends only on the parity of the excited state, while the dynamical phase is completely canceled. Using single qubit rotations, this transformation can be converted to the C$_k$Z or C$_k$NOT quantum gate for $k+1$ atoms. We also present extensions of the scheme to implement quantum gates between distant atomic qubits connected by a quantum bus consisting of a chain of atoms.Featured image: Illustration of a two-dimensional array of atoms irradiated by lasers (shaded blue) to implement the C$_k$Z quantum gates between neighboring atomic qubits in star-graph configurations, or between distant atomic qubits connected by auxiliary atoms. Red circle around a Rydberg excited atom corresponds to blockade range. Inset shows the level scheme of atoms involving the qubit encoding ground state subleveles and the strongly interacting Rydberg state.Popular summaryOne of the leading platforms for the physical implementation of quantum computers and simulators is based on arrays of neutral atoms trapped in optical tweezers. In this system, atoms encode qubits or spins in their internal electronic states. The atoms can be excited by lasers to Rydberg states — electronic states with large principal quantum numbers. Rydberg states possess unique properties, including long lifetimes and very large dipole moments, resulting in strong interactions between atoms separated by several micrometers. This enables the realization of high-fidelity quantum gates between atomic qubits. Any unitary transformation or quantum algorithm can be decomposed into a sequence of two-qubit quantum gates and single-qubit rotations. Consequently, the implementation of multiqubit transformations requires several applications of one- and two-qubit gates. Although the number of such gates scales only polynomially with the complexity of the transformation, in practical implementations of quantum algorithms and error correction, even this polynomial scaling can be prohibitively costly. Hence, realizing multiqubit quantum gates and extending their range to entangle distant qubits without physically moving them during computation, would be of great practical value. We propose an efficient protocol to realize multiqubit gates in arrays of neutral atoms. The atoms participating in the gate are arranged in a star-graph configuration and are collectively transferred by global laser pulses to a Rydberg state and back to a lower electronic state corresponding to one of the qubit states. This process results in a geometric phase that depends on the initial configuration of the qubit states, which is thus equivalent to a multiqubit quantum gate. We also propose an extension of this scheme to realize quantum gates between distant atomic qubits by coupling them through a quantum bus consisting of a chain of atoms. Thus, our multiqubit gates can reduce the total error while increasing the effective circuit depth and connectivity in Rydberg-atom quantum computers.► BibTeX data@article{Delakouras2026multiqubitrydberg, doi = {10.22331/q-2026-01-28-1990}, url = {https://doi.org/10.22331/q-2026-01-28-1990}, title = {Multi-qubit {R}ydberg gates between distant atoms}, author = {Delakouras, Antonis and Doultsinos, Georgios and Petrosyan, David}, journal = {{Quantum}}, issn = {2521-327X}, publisher = {{Verein zur F{\"{o}}rderung des Open Access Publizierens in den Quantenwissenschaften}}, volume = {10}, pages = {1990}, month = jan, year = {2026} }► References [1] Daniel Barredo, Sylvain De Léséleuc, Vincent Lienhard, Thierry Lahaye, and Antoine Browaeys. ``An atom-by-atom assembler of defect-free arbitrary two-dimensional atomic arrays''. 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Multi-qubit Rydberg gates between distant atoms

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