The lithium atoms on the other hand can be described by the states on two independent sites \(\left|\psi_p\right\rangle\) and \(|\psi_v\rangle\). For each site we can observe that number of atoms that sit on it. The observable outcomes are then \(n_{p/v} = 0, \dots, n\) where \(n\sim 10^4\) is the number of lithium atoms.
In this formulation and analogous to other circuit-based quantum computing devices, the NaLi experiment then consists of three main stages:
- The atoms are prepared in some initial state...
- controlled through a set of operations/gates...
- and then measured to evaluate the operators \(L_z\) and \(N_{p,v}\)
Without having to dig through all the physical details to understand the publication \cite{Mil2020}, the figures in it intuitively open themselves up to readers with varying backgrounds when plotting the corresponding circuits next to them as shown in Fig. \ref{428832}.