Manuel Endres

We propose and analyze a sample-efficient protocol to estimate the fidelity between an experimentally prepared state and an ideal target state, applicable to a wide class of analog quantum simulators without advanced sophisticated spatiotemporal control. Our approach utilizes newly discovered universal fluctuations emerging from generic Hamiltonian dynamics, and it does not require any fine-tuned control over state preparation, quantum evolution, or readout capability. It only needs a small number of experimental measurements, achieving near optimal sample complexity: in ideal cases, a percent-level precision is obtained with $\sim 10^3$ measurements independent of system size. Furthermore, the accuracy of our fidelity estimation improves with increasing system size. We numerically demonstrate our protocol for a variety of quantum simulator platforms such as itinerant particles on optical lattices, trapped ions, and Rydberg atoms. We discuss further applications of our method for advanced tasks such as multi-parameter estimation of quantum states and processes.

Currently, the most accurate and stable clocks use optical interrogation of either a single ion or an ensemble of neutral atoms confined in an optical lattice. Here, we demonstrate a new optical clock system based on an array of individually trapped neutral atoms with single-atom readout, merging many of the benefits of ion and lattice clocks as well as creating a bridge to recently developed techniques in quantum simulation and computing with neutral atoms. We evaluate single-site resolved frequency shifts and short-term stability via self-comparison. Atom-by-atom feedback control enables direct experimental estimation of laser noise contributions. Results agree well with an ab initio Monte Carlo simulation that incorporates finite temperature, projective read-out, laser noise, and feedback dynamics. Our approach, based on a tweezer array, also suppresses interaction shifts while retaining a short dead time, all in a comparatively simple experimental setup suited for transportable operation. These results establish the foundations for a third optical clock platform and provide a novel starting point for entanglement-enhanced metrology, quantum clock networks, and applications in quantum computing and communication with individual neutral atoms that require optical clock state control.