Electrons Coherently Couple to Quantum Computer

Freely propagating electrons may serve as quantum probes that can become coherently correlated with other quantum systems, offering access to advanced metrological resources. The researchers propose a setup that coherently couples free electrons in an electron microscope to a trapped-ion quantum processor, enabling non-destructive, quantum-coherent detection and the accumulation of information across multiple electrons. The analysis shows that single electrons can induce resolvable qubit excitations, establishing a platform for practical applications such as quantum-enhanced, dose-efficient electron microscopy. The team’s analysis revealed that the passage of even a single electron induced measurable excitation in the trapped-ion qubits, a critical step toward practical quantum-enhanced microscopy. This combination is unusual, as TEMs are traditionally employed for high-resolution materials imaging, not quantum information processing. This approach allows…