By splitting one laser into 12,000 tweezers, they arranged 6,100 atoms in a grid.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the screen, we can actually see each qubit<\/a> as a pinpoint of light,\u201d said graduate student Hannah Manetsch. \u201cIt\u2019s a striking image of quantum<\/a> hardware at a large scale.\u201d<\/p>\n A key advance was maintaining quality while adding scale. The qubits stayed in superposition for about 13 seconds, nearly 10 times longer than earlier attempts with similar systems. <\/p>\n The team also manipulated individual qubits with 99.98 percent accuracy.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u201cLarge scale, with more atoms, is often thought to come at the expense of accuracy,\u201d said graduate student Gyohei Nomura. \u201cBut our results show that we can do both. Qubits aren\u2019t useful without quality. Now we have quantity and quality.\u201d<\/p>\n Toward error correction and entanglement<\/p>\n The researchers also showed they could move atoms hundreds of micrometers across the array while preserving superposition. <\/p>\n Neutral-atom qubits have this advantage over hard-wired systems like superconducting circuits. <\/p>\n Moving qubits more freely will help future machines correct errors efficiently.<\/p>\n Manetsch described the challenge. \u201cTrying to hold an atom while moving is like trying to not let the glass of water tip over. Trying to also keep the atom in a state of superposition is like being careful to not run so fast that water splashes over.\u201d<\/p>\n The next frontier is large-scale error correction, which requires thousands of physical qubits.<\/p>\n Graduate student Elie Bataille said, \u201cQuantum computers will have to encode information in a way that\u2019s tolerant to errors, so we can actually do calculations of value.\u201d <\/p>\n He added that unlike in classical computers, qubits cannot simply be copied. Error correction instead depends on subtler methods.<\/p>\n The group now aims to entangle the qubits. Entanglement links particles so that they act as one system.<\/p>\n This is what enables full-scale quantum computation. It is also central to simulating natural phenomena, from exotic phases of matter to the quantum fields shaping space-time.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is an exciting moment for neutral-atom quantum computing,\u201d said professor Manuel Endres, the project\u2019s lead investigator. \u201cWe can now see a pathway to large error-corrected quantum computers. The building blocks are in place.\u201d<\/p>\n As Manetsch noted, the promise goes beyond building machines. \u201cIt\u2019s exciting that we are creating machines to help us learn about the universe in ways that only quantum mechanics can teach us.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Low-Res_Endres_Manuel-6100-Qubits-1590x1170pixels.webp.jpeg\" "\\"World\u2019s"){kind=tracking}
<\/a>6,100 cesium atoms trapped by optical tweezers, forming a circle about one millimeter wide.
Credit \u2013 Caltech\/Endres Lab<\/p>\n