#rydbergstates

[govindhtech]

NERSC News: Partner with QuEra For 2026 Quantum Research

NERSC News

QuEra Computing was selected for the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) 2026 Research Access Program, a key quantum computing industry development. This agreement is a major step toward bringing commercial-grade neutral-atom quantum computing devices to the DOE's demanding, realistic scientific research environments.

New National Laboratories Era

Key research organizations and government laboratories are trusting next-generation quantum hardware more. After years of being considered experimental curiosity, quantum systems are now being recognized as useful tools that can solve computational problems that even the most advanced classical HPC infrastructure cannot.

The NERSC 2026 Call for Proposals requests hardware-aware, HPC-integrated processes. These procedures focus on materials science, quantum chemistry, energy system modeling, and fundamental physics to fit with DOE Office of Science strategic priorities. This appeal from NERSC allows scientific firms, national labs, and university institutions to migrate their experimental workflows to cutting-edge quantum systems.

Technology: Neutral Atom Power

This partnership relies on QuEra's quantum processing technique. QuEra uses neutral atoms instead of superconducting circuits or trapped-ion systems, which dominated early quantum discussions. Programmable forms are created by carefully controlling and organizing these atoms with laser-based optical tweezers.

Researchers can use this method to induce Rydberg states in atoms, allowing them to simulate complex quantum processes or perform specialized computational tasks.

This technique has two key benefits for the NERSC mission:

Neutral-atom platforms can simulate chemical systems and materials science concerns at unprecedented scale by arranging hundreds of atoms.

Infrastructure Compatibility: Running at ambient temperature is one of these systems' main benefits. Neutral-atom technology eliminates the need for superconducting computers' huge, energy-intensive cryogenic cooling systems, making it more appealing for HPC facilities like NERSC.

Different Scientific Needs, Two Platforms

Researchers selected for the initiative will have access to two QuEra platforms, each with a unique computational ecosystem function:

Aquila: This analog quantum simulator was designed for large-scale optimization and complex many-body physics problems.

Gemini: A gate-based quantum system executes programmable quantum circuits in this alternative algorithm creation method.

For optimal scientific output, the program uses simulation-first validation. Researchers must demonstrate that their algorithms can run on quantum devices rather than classical simulations before receiving live hardware.

Structured Discovery Path

The research programme uses a two-stage evaluation procedure to maximise QPU hours.

Stage A: Proof of Feasibility Teams selected in April 2026 will undertake a three-month preparatory phase. Aquila teams can use hardware for 12.5 QPU-hours. In this early stage, Gemini teams will focus on simulation workflows and algorithm enhancement without direct hardware interaction. Stage A's major goal is to determine if an application can generate a large quantum advantage.

Stage B: Full Hardware Deployment: Projects that pass the first stage's feasibility test will receive far more hardware in Stage B. Gemini projects receive 10 QPU-hours of live hardware time, whereas Aquila-based projects receive 25 (for a total of 37.5 hours). This systematic approach ensures that the most promising scientific studies receive the limited and crucial QPU time. According to NERSC's open laboratory mission, all research must be completed by December 2026 and published in public forums or peer-reviewed journals.

Strategic and Economic Implications

QuEra's investor and industry outlook changed with this alliance. QuEra is moving away from “exploratory trials” and toward production-grade scientific experimentation to make its gear a sophisticated tool for worldwide study. QuEra's link with NERSC, a facility known for its statistically rigorous and HPC-integrated workloads, boosts its credibility in government, academic, and industrial sectors. Credibility is expected to boost demand, alliances, and finance in the fast-growing hybrid QC HPC solutions sector.

Partnership does not start immediately. Since 2023, QuEra and NERSC have collaborated on quantum dynamics simulations and optimization, showing that these devices can handle workloads that are difficult to prove using classical methods.

The Future of Hybrid Supercomputing

The goal of NERSC 2026 goes beyond individual discoveries. It aims to speed up the design of quantum-ready algorithms that can grow as technology gets more error-tolerant. In computational science, hybrid quantum-classical workflows using quantum processors for complex simulations and classical supercomputers for data preparation are the norm. Adding quantum hardware to HPC ecosystems is a turning point.

This project also aligns with DOE's efforts to prepare the nation's infrastructure for exascale supercomputing and quantum computing's predicted convergence in ten years. The NERSC and QuEra partnership indicates that intermediate-scale systems can contribute to future scientific breakthroughs, even though a fault-tolerant, universal quantum computer may be years away.

[govindhtech]

Electromagnetically Induced Transparency & Quantum Sensing

Electromagnetically Induced Transparency EIT

College of William & Mary researchers have developed a method for mapping static electric field strength and direction, a major advance in quantum sensing. The sensitive interaction between laser polarization and highly excited Rydberg atoms has allowed the team to create a high-precision “quantum compass” for electrostatic circumstances. It provides a detailed vector electrometry roadmap under Rob Behary, William Torg, and Mykhailo Vorobiov, a skill that direct current (dc) field researchers have struggled to master.

Challenge of the “Static” Vector

For over 20 years, quantum sensing has relied on alkali metal atoms like cesium and rubidium. When stimulated to Rydberg states, where their electrons orbit far from the nucleus, these atoms become very sensitive to outside stimuli. These antennas detect electric fields well due to their high polarizability.

Most Rydberg sensors are scalar, which has impeded the field. Even though scientists can precisely measure the Stark shift, which splits and shifts atomic energy levels, they have had problems establishing the direction of an electric field. While “local oscillators” have been used to determine the direction of AC fields, static dc fields are notoriously difficult to determine.

Introducing a physical probe or local oscillator into a dc environment often redistributes the charges the researcher is trying to measure, ruining the experiment.

Utilizing EIT with Polarization

The William & Mary Electromagnetically Induced Transparency (EIT) team surmounted these obstacles. Quantum phenomena EIT occurs when a second “coupling” laser makes an opaque substance transparent. The light spectrum generates a narrow “transparency window” or resonance peak.

The researchers determined that the amplitude, or height, of the peak is a “secret code” for the field's direction, and the frequency of these EIT peaks indicates its magnitude. Stark-split resonances' response to external electric field and laser polarization orientation revealed the discovery. Quantum physics allows or forbids certain transitions between atomic sublevels depending on whether the laser light oscillates perpendicularly or parallel to the external field.

Experiment mechanics

Researchers employed a rubidium vapour cell and “ladder-type” stimulation. They employed a 480 nm coupling laser scanning the 5P 3/2 →nD 5/2 transition and a 780 nm probe laser resonating with the 5S 1/2 →5P 3/2 transition. As the static electric field intensity increased, the Rydberg nD 5/2 level split into sublevels (∣mJ​∣=1/2, 3/2, and 5/2).

The experiments indicated that polarization significantly affects coupling strength to these Zeeman sublevels. As an example:

To prevent Rydberg sublevel transitions, only Δm=0 transitions are allowed when laser polarization is parallel to the electric field. Conversely, perpendicular polarization maximizes transitions with Δm=±1. By altering laser polarization and measuring the amplitude and size of electromagnetically induced transparency EIT peaks, the researchers were able to reconstitute the electric field vector direction without perturbing the charges.

Mapping Inhomogeneous Field

Instead of testing a uniform field, the researchers used a biased wire to create a spatially inhomogeneous electric field to show their approach. This field's strength and direction vary with location.

By detecting “fluorescence dips,” tiny decreases in light emission that occur when the electromagnetically induced transparency EIT condition is fulfilled, the team was able to gather spatial information on the field geometry across a vast area. They employed a simplified semi-analytical atomic model to predict EIT signals from all angles. The experimental results fitted this model with great precision, proving that resonance amplitudes are reliable field vector markers.

Why Vector Electrometry Matters

This Vector Rydberg Sensor affects many high-tech industries:

Plasma Physics: This non-invasive “optical compass” lets you see into plasma without changing its state in electric field-driven plasma. Vacuum Electronics: Real-time electric field mapping around an electron beam may improve device stability and performance. Quantum Computing: As trapped-ion and neutral-atom processors become more common, stray "patch fields" on chip surfaces must be controlled. A sensor that can pinpoint the origin and direction of these fields could improve qubit coherence and reliability.

The Future of Quantum Sensing

The latest discovery provides a solid foundation for vector electrometry, but the experts recognize that more effort is needed to develop the technology. Even while the existing model works well for some Rydberg states, future versions must account for more sophisticated scenarios like the Zeeman effect and the Stark effect.

The team also hopes to improve the setup for direct, independent experimental verification by altering the electric field rather than merely the laser polarization. Finally, this would verify the model's accuracy in all geometries.

The capacity invisible vectors of the electrostatic cosmos are closer to ultra-precise measurement as quantum technology advances from the lab to the actual world. The simple rubidium atom has shown that even a tiny orientation change can reveal a new quantum realm.