16 Jul New trapped-atom qubit technology translates to industry-ready quantum computing product
Engineers and physicists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have developed a simplified but ingenious method for trapping atoms of different species to make quantum bits or qubits—the powerful alternatives to digital bits that give quantum computing its vast computational capability.
Capturing two types of neutral atoms next to each other, the method creates interleaved grids of cesium and rubidium atoms that can be used as qubits in quantum computing and quantum sensing. The setup is much simpler and cost-effective than previous efforts to isolate and form interleaved grids of atoms and is already being used in early-stage quantum devices.
“Other groups have trapped two types of neutral atoms, but their setups are pretty sophisticated, use multiple lasers, and are expensive,” says Mikhail Kats, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at UW-Madison who co-led the work. “We have demonstrated that you can do this kind of trapping with a single laser and single micro-fabricated mask.”
Electrical and computer engineering PhD student Chengyu Fang, advised by Kats, was first author of the paper, which appears in the July 16, 2025, issue of the journal Science Advances. The work was done in collaboration with the research group of co-leader Mark Saffman, a physics professor and director of the Wisconsin Quantum Institute at UW-Madison.