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Vapor-cavity-QED system for quantum computation and communication

Sharoon Austin1,2,*, Dhruv Devulapalli1,2, Khoi Hoang1,3, Feng Zhou1,3, Kartik Srinivasan1,3, and Alexey V. Gorshkov1,2

  • *Contact author: sharoona@umd.edu
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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 023082 – Published 28 April, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/fbz4-s3by

Abstract

In this work, we propose performing key operations in quantum computation and communication using room-temperature atoms moving across a grid of high-quality-factor, small-mode-volume cavities. These cavities enable high-cooperativity interactions with single atoms to be achieved with a characteristic timescale much shorter than the atomic transit time, allowing multiple coherent operations to take place. We study scenarios where we can drive a Raman transition to generate photons with specific temporal shapes and to absorb, and hence detect, single photons. The strong atom-cavity interaction can also be used to implement the atom-photon controlled-phase gate, which can then be used to construct photon-photon gates, create photonic cluster states, and perform nondemolition detection of single photons. We provide numerics validating our methods and discuss the implications of our results for several applications.

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Phys. Rev. Research 8, 023082– Published 28 April, 2026
  • Received 17 October 2025
  • Accepted 20 March 2026
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