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arXiv:2501.06162

On-the-Spot Loading of Single-Atom Traps

Mark IJspeert, Holland, Naomi, Ben Yuen, Axel Kuhn

Published Jan 10, 2025• 0 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Reconfigurable arrays of trapped single atoms are an excellent platform for the simulation of many-body physics and the realisation of high-fidelity quantum gates. The confinement of atoms is often achieved with focussed laser beams acting as optical dipole-force traps that allow for both static and dynamic positioning of atoms. In these traps, light-assisted collisions -- enhancing the two-atom loss rate -- ensure that single atom occupation of traps can be realised. However, the time-averaged probability of trapping a single atom is limited to $0.5$ when loading directly from a surrounding cloud of laser-cooled atoms, preventing deterministic filling of large arrays. In this work, we demonstrate that increasing the depth of a static, optical dipole trap enables the transition from fast loading on a timescale of $2.1\,$s to an extended trap lifetime of $7.9\,$s. This method demonstrates an achievable filling ratio of $(79\pm2)\,\%$ without the need of rearranging atoms to fill vacant traps.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.2501.06162

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Reconfigurable arrays of trapped single atoms are an excellent platform for the simulation of many-body physics and the realisation of high-fidelity quantum gates. The confinement of atoms is often achieved with focussed laser beams acting as optical dipole-force traps that allow for both static and dynamic positioning of atoms. In these traps, light-assisted collisions -- enhancing the two-atom loss rate -- ensure that single atom occupation of traps can be realised. However, the time-averaged probability of trapping a single atom is limited to 0.50.50.5 when loading directly from a surrounding cloud of laser-cooled atoms, preventing deterministic filling of large arrays. In this work, we demonstrate that increasing the depth of a static, optical dipole trap enables the transition from fast loading on a timescale of 2.1 2.1\,2.1s to an extended trap lifetime of 7.9 7.9\,7.9s. This method demonstrates an achievable filling ratio of (79±2) %(79\pm2)\,\%(79±2)% without the need of rearranging atoms to fill vacant traps.
Single atoms trapped in tightly focused optical dipole traps provide an excellent experimental platform for quantum computing, precision measurement, and fundamental physics research. In this work, we propose and demonstrate a novel approach to enhancing the loading of single atoms by introducing a weak ancillary dipole beam. The loading rate of single atoms in a dipole trap can be significantly improved by only a few tens of microwatts of counter-propagating beam. It was also demonstrated that multiple atoms could be loaded with the assistance of a counter-propagating beam. By reducing the power requirements for trapping single atoms and enabling the trapping of multiple atoms, our method facilitates the extension of single-atom arrays and the investigation of collective light-atom interactions.
Single atoms trapped in tightly focused optical dipole traps provide an excellent experimental platform for quantum computing, precision measurement, and fundamental physics research. In this work, we propose and demonstrate an approach to enhancing the loading of single atoms by introducing a weak ancillary dipole beam. The loading rate of single atoms in a dipole trap can be significantly improved by only a few tens of microwatts of a counterpropagating beam. It was also demonstrated that multiple atoms could be loaded with the assistance of a counterpropagating beam. By reducing the power requirements for trapping single atoms and enabling the trapping of multiple atoms, our method facilitates the extension of single-atom arrays and the investigation of collective light-atom interactions.
Microscopically controlled neutral atoms in optical tweezers and lattices have led to exciting advances in the study of quantum information and quantum many-body systems. The light shifts of atomic levels from the trapping potential in these systems can result in detrimental effects such as fluctuating dipole force heating, inhomogeneous detunings, and inhibition of laser cooling, which limits the atomic species that can be manipulated. In particular, these light shifts can be large enough to prevent loading into optical tweezers directly from a magneto-optical trap. We implement a general solution to these limitations by loading, as well as cooling and imaging the atoms with temporally alternating beams, and present an analysis of the role of heating and required cooling for single atom tweezer loading. Because this technique does not depend on any specific spectral properties, it should enable the optical tweezer platform to be extended to nearly any atomic or molecular species that can be laser cooled and optically trapped.
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Assembling and maintaining large arrays of individually addressable atoms is a key requirement for continued scaling of neutral-atom-based quantum computers and simulators. In this work, we demonstrate a new paradigm for assembly of atomic arrays, based on a synergistic combination of optical tweezers and cavity-enhanced optical lattices, and the incremental filling of a target array from a repetitively filled reservoir. In this protocol, the tweezers provide microscopic rearrangement of atoms, while the cavity-enhanced lattices enable the creation of large numbers of optical traps with sufficient depth for rapid low-loss imaging of atoms. We apply this protocol to demonstrate near-deterministic filling (99% per-site occupancy) of 1225-site arrays of optical traps. Because the reservoir is repeatedly filled with fresh atoms, the array can be maintained in a filled state indefinitely. We anticipate that this protocol will be compatible with mid-circuit reloading of atoms into a quantum processor, which will be a key capability for running large-scale error-corrected quantum computations whose durations exceed the lifetime of a single atom in the system. Published by the American Physical Society 2024
We present a detailed experimental study of the physics involved in transferring atoms from a magneto-optical trap (MOT) to an optical dipole trap. The loading is a dynamical process determined by a loading rate and a density dependent loss rate. The loading rate depends on cooling and the flux of atoms into the trapping volume, and the loss rate is due to excited state collisions induced by the MOT light fields. From this study we found ways to optimize the loading of the optical dipole trap. Key ingredients for maximum loading are found to be a reduction of the hyperfine repump intensity, increased detuning of the MOT light, and a displacement of the optical dipole trap center with respect to the MOT. A factor of 2 increase in the number of loaded atoms is demonstrated by using a hyperfine repump beam with a shadow in it. In this way we load $8\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{6}{}^{85}\mathrm{Rb}$ atoms into a 1 mK deep optical dipole trap with a waist of $58 \ensuremath{\mu}\mathrm{m},$ which is 40% of the atoms initially trapped in the MOT.