11,000 Atoms Trapped in Metasurface-Generated Tweezer Array Advances Quantum Computing Scalability
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[Submitted on 1 Jun 2026]
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Summary
Researchers have successfully trapped 11,000 individual atoms in a tweezer array using a single metasurface, marking the first time qubit resources have reached the tens-of-thousands scale in any quantum computing platform. The metasurface, approximately 2 cm in diameter, generates the entire tweezer array without requiring microscope objectives, maximizing laser-power efficiency. Its large aperture provides a working distance of about 1.5 cm, allowing placement outside the vacuum cell and avoiding in-vacuum complications. The randomly loaded atom array was characterized using statistical theory of percolation phase transitions. This work represents an important step toward a quantum computer at the 10,000-qubit scale.
Key quotes
· 5 pulledThe scalability of physical qubit numbers is a central challenge toward a universal fault-tolerant quantum computer.
Here, we robustly trap 11,000 individual atoms in a tweezer array, thereby enabling the available qubit resource to reach the tens-of-thousands scale for the first time among all quantum computation platforms.
This advance is enabled by a single metasurface, approximately 2 cm in diameter, that generates the entire tweezer array without the need for microscope objectives, thereby maximizing laser-power efficiency.
The large aperture ensures a working distance of about 1.5 cm, allowing the metasurface to be placed outside the vacuum cell and avoiding the technical complications of in-vacuum operation.
This work takes an important first step toward a quantum computer at the 10,000-qubit scale.
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