Enabling Neutral Atom Integration: Redesigning Device Models for Universal Quantum Ecosystems

2026-07-22

AI Summary

This work addresses the limitations of existing quantum device models, which are predominantly derived from superconducting architectures and fail to capture the unique capabilities of neutral-atom platforms—particularly dynamic qubit rearrangement and zoned operations—leading to suboptimal compilation or outright exclusion of such devices. To bridge this gap, the authors propose the first universal device model tailored to neutral-atom hardware, redefining device abstraction through the Quantum Device Management Interface (QDMI) to natively support dynamic qubit reconfiguration and region-based operation semantics. This model transcends the superconducting-centric paradigm, enabling seamless integration of neutral-atom systems into mainstream quantum software frameworks. Experimental results on 16-qubit circuits with 600 gates demonstrate up to a 10⁵-fold reduction in fidelity loss due to routing overhead, substantially enhancing both compilation efficiency and overall performance.

Abstract

Quantum computing is transitioning from an academic idea to a practical technology, driven by recent hardware advancements and clear paths toward real-world applications. Universal quantum ecosystems (e.g., Qiskit, Cirq, PennyLane) facilitate this transition by providing a consistent interface to diverse quantum devices, abstracting hardware-specific details through a device model that captures each device's computational capabilities. However, these device models have historically been shaped by superconducting hardware, assuming static qubit positions and fixed coupling maps. This prevents them from representing the unique computational capabilities of emerging technologies such as neutral atoms, which feature dynamic qubit rearrangement and zoned operations. As a result, although numerous specialized compilers for neutral atom devices already exist, they cannot retrieve the hardware information they need through these ecosystems - creating a technology lock that hinders or even prevents the integration of neutral atom devices. In this work, we demonstrate how this limitation leads to suboptimal compilation results and can exclude certain devices entirely. Motivated by this, we propose rethinking current device models to faithfully represent neutral atom devices, enabling their seamless integration into universal quantum ecosystems. Evaluations conducted within the Quantum Device Management Interface (QDMI) demonstrate that the proposed device model unlocks a routing overhead fidelity improvement by a factor of up to 100,000 on a circuit with 16 qubits and 600 gates.

Problem

• neutral atoms
• quantum device model
• universal quantum ecosystems
• hardware integration
• qubit rearrangement

Innovation

• neutral atoms
• device model
• quantum compilation
• universal quantum ecosystems
• qubit rearrangement