Atom arrays with sub-wavelength lattice constant can exhibit fascinating optical properties. For example, the combination of $V$ -type level structure and magnetic fields can yield topological band structures, making the neutral atomic excitations behave like charged particles in a magnetic field. Up to now, much of our understanding of these systems (and arrays in general) focuses on the single-excitation regime. Here, we go beyond the single-excitation level to show that such systems can give rise to few-particle Laughlin-like states. In particular, we consider small honeycomb ``flakes,'' where the harmful divergences near the light cone can be smeared out by finite-size effects. By choosing an appropriate value of magnetic field we thereby obtain an energy spectrum and eigenstates resembling those of Landau levels. The native hard-core nature of atomic excitations then gives rise to multi-excitation Laughlin-like states. This phenomenon occurs not only in samples of tens of sites, but also in a minimal nanoring system of only six sites. Next, considering two-particle Laughlin-like states, we show that they can be driven by uniform light, and that correlations of the output light contain identifying fingerprints of these states. We believe that these results are a step towards new paradigms of engineering and understanding strongly-correlated many-body states in atom-light interfaces.Atom arrays with sub-wavelength lattice constant can exhibit fascinating optical properties. For example, the combination of $V$-type level structure and magnetic fields can yield topological band structures, making the neutral atomic excitations behave like charged particles in a magnetic field. Up to now, much of our understanding of these systems (and arrays in general) focuses on the single-excitation regime. Here, we go beyond the single-excitation level to show that such systems can give rise to few-particle Laughlin-like states. In particular, we consider small honeycomb ``flakes,'' where the harmful divergences near the light cone can be smeared out by finite-size effects. By choosing an appropriate value of magnetic field we thereby obtain an energy spectrum and eigenstates resembling those of Landau levels. The native hard-core nature of atomic excitations then gives rise to multi-excitation Laughlin-like states. This phenomenon occurs not only in samples of tens of sites, but also in a minimal nanoring system of only six sites. Next, considering two-particle Laughlin-like states, we show that they can be driven by uniform light, and that correlations of the output light contain identifying fingerprints of these states. We believe that these results are a step towards new paradigms of engineering and understanding strongly-correlated many-body states in atom-light interfaces.

arXiv:2504.17014Apr 23, 20250 citations

Continuous operation of large-scale atom arrays in optical lattices

Flavien Gyger, Maximilian Ammenwerth, Renhao Tao +4 more

Scaling the size of assembled neutral-atom arrays trapped in optical lattices or optical tweezers is an enabling step for a number of applications ranging from quantum simulations to quantum metrology. However, preparation times increase with system size and constitute a severe bottleneck in the bottom-up assembly of large ordered arrays from stochastically loaded optical traps. Here we demonstrate a method to circumvent this bottleneck by recycling atoms from one experimental run to the next, while continuously reloading and adding atoms to the array. Using this approach, we achieve densely packed arrays with more than 1000 atoms stored in an optical lattice, continuously refilled with a 3.5 s cycle time and about 130 atoms reloaded during each cycle. Furthermore, we show that we can continuously maintain such large arrays by simply reloading atoms that are lost from one cycle to the next. Our approach paves the way towards quantum science with large ordered atomic arrays containing thousands of atoms in continuous operation. Published by the American Physical Society 2024Scaling the size of assembled neutral-atom arrays trapped in optical lattices or optical tweezers is an enabling step for a number of applications ranging from quantum simulations to quantum metrology. However, preparation times increase with system size and constitute a severe bottleneck in the bottom-up assembly of large ordered arrays from stochastically loaded optical traps. Here we demonstrate a method to circumvent this bottleneck by recycling atoms from one experimental run to the next, while continuously reloading and adding atoms to the array. Using this approach, we achieve densely packed arrays with more than 1000 atoms stored in an optical lattice, continuously refilled with a 3.5 s cycle time and about 130 atoms reloaded during each cycle. Furthermore, we show that we can continuously maintain such large arrays by simply reloading atoms that are lost from one cycle to the next. Our approach paves the way towards quantum science with large ordered atomic arrays containing thousands of atoms in continuous operation. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

arXiv:2402.04994Physical Review ResearchJul 25, 202475 citations

Imaging single atoms in a three-dimensional array

Karl D. Nelson, Xiao Li, David S. Weiss

Nature PhysicsJun 17, 2007335 citations

Preparation of hundreds of microscopic atomic ensembles in optical tweezer arrays

Yibo Wang, Sayali Shevate, T. M. Wintermantel +3 more

Abstract We present programmable two-dimensional arrays of microscopic atomic ensembles consisting of more than 400 sites with nearly uniform filling and small atom number fluctuations. Our approach involves direct projection of light patterns from a digital micromirror device with high spatial resolution onto an optical pancake trap acting as a reservoir. This makes it possible to load large arrays of tweezers in a single step with high occupation numbers and low power requirements per tweezer. Each atomic ensemble is confined to ~1 μm3 with a controllable occupation from 20 to 200 atoms and with (sub)-Poissonian atom number fluctuations. Thus, they are ideally suited for quantum simulation and for realizing large arrays of collectively encoded Rydberg-atom qubits for quantum information processing.Abstract We present programmable two-dimensional arrays of microscopic atomic ensembles consisting of more than 400 sites with nearly uniform filling and small atom number fluctuations. Our approach involves direct projection of light patterns from a digital micromirror device with high spatial resolution onto an optical pancake trap acting as a reservoir. This makes it possible to load large arrays of tweezers in a single step with high occupation numbers and low power requirements per tweezer. Each atomic ensemble is confined to ~1 μm3 with a controllable occupation from 20 to 200 atoms and with (sub)-Poissonian atom number fluctuations. Thus, they are ideally suited for quantum simulation and for realizing large arrays of collectively encoded Rydberg-atom qubits for quantum information processing.

arXiv:1912.04200npj Quantum InformationJun 17, 202079 citations

Making atoms march in step

John Maddox

NatureJun 1, 19910 citations

Atom arrays with sub-wavelength lattice constant can exhibit fascinating optical properties. For example, the combination of

V

-type level structure and magnetic fields can yield topological band structures, making the neutral atomic excitations behave like charged particles in a magnetic field. Up to now, much of our understanding of these systems (and arrays in general) focuses on the single-excitation regime. Here, we go beyond the single-excitation level to show that such systems can give rise to few-particle Laughlin-like states. In particular, we consider small honeycomb ``flakes,'' where the harmful divergences near the light cone can be smeared out by finite-size effects. By choosing an appropriate value of magnetic field we thereby obtain an energy spectrum and eigenstates resembling those of Landau levels. The native hard-core nature of atomic excitations then gives rise to multi-excitation Laughlin-like states. This phenomenon occurs not only in samples of tens of sites, but also in a minimal nanoring system of only six sites. Next, considering two-particle Laughlin-like states, we show that they can be driven by uniform light, and that correlations of the output light contain identifying fingerprints of these states. We believe that these results are a step towards new paradigms of engineering and understanding strongly-correlated many-body states in atom-light interfaces.