(a) Time-dependent population of the two-atom states |00〉, |10〉, |0<em>r</em>〉, |1<em>r</em>〉 and |<em>rr</em>〉 for Δ_<em>r</em>/Ω₀₁ = 50 and γ = 0

<p><strong>Figure 6.</strong> (a) Time-dependent population of the two-atom states |00〉, |10〉, |0<em>r</em>〉, |1<em>r</em>〉 and |<em>rr</em>〉 for Δ_<em>r</em>/Ω₀₁ = 50 and γ = 0. (b) Fidelity of the CNOT-like transformation <em>M</em>_cnot versus Δ_<em>r</em>/Ω₀₁ for varied spontaneous emission rate of the Rydberg state |<em>r</em>〉.</p> <p><strong>Abstract</strong></p> <p>Neutral atoms excited to Rydberg states can interact with each other via dipole–dipole interaction, which results in a physical phenomenon called the Rydberg blockade mechanism. The effect attracts much attention due to its potential applications in quantum computation and quantum simulation. Quantum teleportation has been the core protocol in quantum information science playing a key role in efficient long-distance quantum communication. Here, we first propose the implementation of a teleportation scheme with neutral atoms via Rydberg blockade, in which the entangled states of qubits can readily be prepared and the Bell state measurements just require single qubit operations without precise control of Rydberg interaction. The rapid experimental progress of coherent control of Rydberg excitation, optical trapping techniques and state-selective atomic detection promise the application of the teleportation scheme for scalable quantum computation and many-body quantum simulation using the protocol proposed by Gottesman and Chuang (1999 <em>Nature</em> <strong>402</strong> 390) with Rydberg atoms in an optical lattice.