Quantum cryogenic cooling traps strontium atoms for 2+ hours

Researchers at the Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München have demonstrated vacuum-limited trapping of single strontium atoms in an optical tweezer array for over two hours. This achievement overcomes a longstanding trade-off between atom storage time and optical access in neutral-atom quantum processors, a technology that can scale toward systems exceeding ten thousand qubits. The work preserves full optical access, enabling complex manipulation of the atoms without the need for elaborate cryogenic enclosures. This architecture offers a viable path toward building larger, more powerful quantum computers using neutral atoms. A cryogenic neutral-atom platform with full optical access and 2-hour trap lifetime allows for the realization of a new class of quantum computing algorithms and quantum simulation experiments. Current neutral-atom platforms generally have to find a compromise between the optical accessibility and the storage time of atoms in optical potentials, limiting the available qubit numbers. The cooling process for this new platform reaches…