State-selective electromagnetically induced transparency for quantum error correction in neutral atom quantum computers

We propose a way to measure the qubit state of an arbitrary subensemble of atoms in an array without significantly disturbing the quantum information in the unmeasured atoms. The idea is to first site-selectively transfer atoms out of the qubit basis so that one of the two states at a time is put into an auxiliary state. Electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) light will then protect most states while detection light is scattered from atoms in the auxiliary state, which is made immune to the EIT protection by angular momentum selection rules and carefully chosen light polarization. The two states will be measured in turn, after which it is possible to recool and return the atoms to a qubit state. These measurements can be the basis of quantum error correction.