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From two-atom interference to BEC: Scaling atom arrays in optical tweezers (Conference Presentation)

Tobias Thiele, Cindy A. Regal

Published Mar 10, 2020• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

In this talk, I will discuss our pathway toward quantum simulations and computation with neutral atoms in arrays of optical tweezers cooled to their motional ground state. Initially, I will talk about two-atom interference experiments, e.g. the atomic analog to the Hong-Ou-Mandel effect, and how we create spin entangled states. I will then talk about how we scale our system to accommodate 80 single atoms, loaded into 100 traps while maintaining full single-atom control. For this efficient loading process, we control atomic collisions in the tweezers using grey molasses. When combined with ground-state cooling and atom-rearranging, this should allow us to form a micro-BEC with controlled atom number and entropy.

DOI
10.1117/12.2550552

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In this talk, I will discuss our pathway toward quantum simulations and computation with neutral atoms in arrays of optical tweezers cooled to their motional ground state. Initially, I will talk about two-atom interference experiments, e.g. the atomic analog to the Hong-Ou-Mandel effect, and how we create spin entangled states. I will then talk about how we scale our system to accommodate 80 single atoms, loaded into 100 traps while maintaining full single-atom control. For this efficient loading process, we control atomic collisions in the tweezers using grey molasses. When combined with ground-state cooling and atom-rearranging, this should allow us to form a micro-BEC with controlled atom number and entropy.
In this thesis, I describe the development of and scientific results from a new platform for creating ultracold atoms via single-atom control. We employ Raman-sideband cooling to isolated bosonic 87Rb atoms confined within sub-micron optical tweezers, yielding single particle three- dimensional ground-state fractions of 90%. We create multiple, independent, mobile optical tweezers, which simultaneously allows multi-particle studies with single-atom microscopy and highly tunable length-scales. We employ this toolset in both of the main experiments discussed in this thesis. In one experiment, we observe Hong-Ou-Mandel interference of two bosonic atoms, each of which is independently prepared in spatially separated optical tweezers. The interference we observe is a direct consequence of the purity of the single particle quantum states produced, and the indistinguishability of the atoms. In a second experiment, we introduce a spin-degree of freedom and exploit spin-exchange dynamics, driven by the quantum-statistics of the particles, to create a spin-entangled pair of spatially separated atoms.
We show that with a purely blue-detuned cooling mechanism we can densely load single neutral atoms into large arrays of shallow optical tweezers. With this ability, more efficient assembly of larger ordered arrays will be possible - hence expanding the number of particles available for bottom-up quantum simulation and computation with atoms. Using Lambda-enhanced grey molasses on the D1 line of 87Rb, we achieve loading into a single 0.63 mK trap with 89% probability, and we further extend this loading to 100 atoms at 80% probability. The loading behavior agrees with a model of consecutive light-assisted collisions in repulsive molecular states. With simple rearrangement that only moves rows and columns of a 2D array, we demonstrate one example of the power of enhanced loading in large arrays.
Optical tweezer arrays of neutral atoms have been demonstrated in recent years to be a useful platform for quantum simulation, computation, and metrology. Realizing the full potential of these applications requires increasing qubit numbers while simultaneously maintaining high-fidelity control, which has proved a major challenge across quantum platforms. To date, quantum science experiments have typically been operated with at most hundreds of qubits. In this thesis, we review the relevant physics of the optical tweezer array architecture and present the technical advances involved in scaling the platform to 6,100 atomic qubits. In tandem with scalability, we demonstrate robust vacuum design, state-of-the-art coherence times, and high single-qubit gate fidelities. To capitalize on the intrinsic connectivity of the architecture at large scale, we investigate long-distance coherent atom transport and briefly describe progress towards two-qubit gate implementation. Finally, we discuss the prospects for scaling the optical tweezer array platform further by an order of magnitude.
Neutral atoms trapped by laser light are among the most promising candidates for storing and processing information in a quantum computer or simulator. The application certainly calls for a scalable and flexible scheme for addressing and manipulating the atoms. We have now made this a reality by implementing a fast and versatile method to dynamically control the position of neutral atoms trapped in optical tweezers. The tweezers result from a spatial light modulator (SLM) controlling and shaping a large number of optical dipole-force traps. Trapped atoms adapt to any change in the potential landscape, such that one can rearrange and randomly access individual sites within atom-trap arrays.