Accurate Quantum Logic Gates by Spin Echo in Rydberg Atoms

Scalable quantum computing is based on realizable accurate quantum gates. For neutral atoms, it is an outstanding challenge to design a high-fidelity two-qubit entangling gate without resorting to difficult techniques such as shaping laser pulses or cooling atoms to motional ground states. By using spin echo to suppress the blockade error, we propose an easily realizable controlled-phase Rydberg quantum gate of high intrinsic fidelity. In the context of spin echo, we show that the fundamental blockade error of the traditional Rydberg gate, of the order of ɛ ∼10^-3, actually results from two "clockwise" rotations of Rabi frequencies Ω_{¯ ±}=V ±√{V²+Ω²}. In our "echo" sequence, such an error can be suppressed to the order of ɛ² by adding two "anticlockwise" rotations with frequencies -Ω_{¯ ±}. With the blockade error effectively removed, the error caused by Rydberg-state decay becomes the final fundamental limit to the gate accuracy, which, in principle, can be reduced beyond the level of 10^-5. Furthermore, due to the small population involved in the "echo" process, the spin-echo gate is robust against the variation of Rydberg blockade caused by the drift of the qubits, so that it can still be much more accurate than that of a traditional Rydberg gate even for qubits cooled only to the submillikelvin regime.