We prepare high-filling two-component arrays of up to fifty fermionic atoms in optical tweezers, with the atoms in the ground motional state of each tweezer. Using a stroboscopic technique, we configure the arrays in various two-dimensional geometries with negligible Floquet heating. Full spin- and density-resolved readout of individual sites allows us to post-select near-zero entropy initial states for fermionic quantum simulation. We prepare a correlated state in a two-by-two tunnel-coupled Hubbard plaquette, demonstrating all the building blocks for realizing a programmable fermionic quantum simulator.
Quantum walks provide a framework for understanding and designing quantum algorithms that is both intuitive and universal. To leverage the computational power of these walks, it is important to be able to programmably modify the graph a walker traverses while maintaining coherence. Here, we do this by combining the fast, programmable control provided by optical tweezer arrays with the scalable, homogeneous environment of an optical lattice. Using this new combination of tools we study continuous-time quantum walks of single atoms on a 2D square lattice, and perform proof-of-principle demonstra…
Programmable Cavity Squeezing for Distributed Sensing in a Tweezer Array
Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (INO-CNR)（意大利国家光学研究所）；European Laboratory for Nonlinear Spectroscopy (LENS)（欧洲非线性光谱学实验室）；University of Firenze（佛罗伦萨大学）
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 $\sim 1\,μ$m$^3$ with a controllable occupation from 20 to 200 atoms and…
Programmable cavity QED with a fiber-integrated atomic array
Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA)（奥地利科学技术研究院）；Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology, Atominstitut, TU Wien（维也纳量子科学与技术中心，原子物理研究所，维也纳工业大学）
Quantum science with arrays of metastable helium-3 atoms
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign（伊利诺伊大学厄巴纳-香槟分校）；HRL Laboratories（HRL实验室）；Rice University（莱斯大学）；Purdue University（普渡大学）；University of Chicago（芝加哥大学）
Université de Tours（图尔大学）；Université d’Orléans（奥尔良大学）；CNRS, IDP, UMR 7013（法国国家科学研究中心，图像与数据处理实验室，联合研究单位7013）；Nordita, Stockholm University（北欧理论天体物理学研究所，斯德哥尔摩大学）；Wilczek Quantum Center, Shanghai Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Science and Technology of China（吴健雄量子中心，上海高等研究院，中国科学院大学）
We report on the implementation of an optical tweezer system for controlled transport of ultracold atoms along a narrow, static confinement channel. The tweezer system is based on high-efficiency acousto-optical deflectors and offers two-dimensional control over beam position. This opens up the possibility for tracking the transport channel when shuttling atomic clouds along the guide, forestalling atom spilling. Multiple clouds can be tracked independently by time-shared tweezer beams addressing individual sites in the channel. The deflectors are controlled using a multichannel direct digital…
An array of ultracold neutral atoms held in optical micro-traps is a promising platform for quantum computation. One of the major bottlenecks of this platform is the weak coupling strength between adjacent atoms, which limits the speed of two-qubit gates. Here, we present a method to perform a fast universal square-root-SWAP gate with fermionic atoms. The basic idea of the gate is to release the atoms into a harmonic potential positioned in between the two atoms. By properly tailoring the interaction parameter, the collision process between the atoms generates entanglement and yields the desir…
Atomic systems, ranging from trapped ions to ultracold and Rydberg atoms, offer unprecedented control over both internal and external degrees of freedom at the single-particle level. They are considered among the foremost candidates for realizing quantum simulation and computation platforms that can outperform classical computers at specific tasks. In this work, we describe a realistic experimental toolbox for quantum information processing with neutral alkaline-earth-like atoms in optical tweezer arrays. In particular, we propose a comprehensive and scalable architecture based on a programmab…
We use the resonant dipole-dipole interaction between Rydberg atoms and a periodic external microwave field to engineer XXZ spin Hamiltonians with tunable anisotropies. The atoms are placed in 1D and 2D arrays of optical tweezers, allowing us to study iconic situations in spin physics, such as the implementation of the Heisenberg model in square arrays, and the study of spin transport in 1D. We first benchmark the Hamiltonian engineering for two atoms, and then demonstrate the freezing of the magnetization on an initially magnetized 2D array. Finally, we explore the dynamics of 1D domain wall …
Quantum annealing aims at solving optimization problems efficiently by preparing the ground state of an Ising spin-Hamiltonian quantum mechanically. A prerequisite of building a quantum annealer is the implementation of programmable long-range two-, three- or multi-spin Ising interactions. We discuss an architecture, where the required spin interactions are implemented via two-port, or in general multi-port quantum Ising wires connecting the spins of interest. This quantum annealing architecture of spins connected by Ising quantum wires can be realized by exploiting the three dimensional (3D) …
High-fidelity entanglement of polar molecules by dynamic geometric control
Harvard University（哈佛大学）；Harvard-MIT Center for Ultracold Atoms（哈佛-麻省理工学院超冷原子中心）；Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院）；Tsinghua University（清华大学）；Imperial College London（伦敦帝国理工学院）；Korea University（韩国大学）；University of Southern California（南加州大学）
Quantum simulation using synthetic systems is a promising route to solve outstanding quantum many-body problems in regimes where other approaches, including numerical ones, fail. Many platforms are being developed towards this goal, in particular based on trapped ions, superconducting circuits, neutral atoms or molecules. All of which face two key challenges: (i) scaling up the ensemble size, whilst retaining high quality control over the parameters and (ii) certifying the outputs for these large systems. Here, we use programmable arrays of individual atoms trapped in optical tweezers, with in…
The generation of long-lived entanglement on an optical clock transition is a key requirement to unlocking the promise of quantum metrology. Arrays of neutral atoms constitute a capable quantum platform for accessing such physics, where Rydberg-based interactions may generate entanglement between individually controlled and resolved atoms. To this end, we leverage the programmable state preparation afforded by optical tweezers along with the efficient strong confinement of a 3d optical lattice to prepare an ensemble of strontium atom pairs in their motional ground state. We engineer global sin…
Many-body interference between indistinguishable particles can give rise to strong correlations rooted in quantum statistics. We study such Hanbury Brown-Twiss-type correlations for number states of ultracold massive fermions. Using deterministically prepared $^6$Li atoms in optical tweezers, we measure momentum correlations using a single-atom sensitive time-of-flight imaging scheme. The experiment combines on-demand state preparation of highly indistinguishable particles with high-fidelity detection, giving access to two- and three-body correlations in fields of fixed fermionic particle numb…
The ability to engineer parallel, programmable operations between desired qubits within a quantum processor is central for building scalable quantum information systems. In most state-of-the-art approaches, qubits interact locally, constrained by the connectivity associated with their fixed spatial layout. Here, we demonstrate a quantum processor with dynamic, nonlocal connectivity, in which entangled qubits are coherently transported in a highly parallel manner across two spatial dimensions, in between layers of single- and two-qubit operations. Our approach makes use of neutral atom arrays t…
Fast scramblers are dynamical quantum systems that produce many-body entanglement on a timescale that grows logarithmically with the system size $N$. We propose and investigate a family of deterministic, fast scrambling quantum circuits realizable in near-term experiments with arrays of neutral atoms. We show that three experimental tools -- nearest-neighbour Rydberg interactions, global single-qubit rotations, and shuffling operations facilitated by an auxiliary tweezer array -- are sufficient to generate nonlocal interaction graphs capable of scrambling quantum information using only $O(\log…
We investigate the subradiance properties of $n\geq 2$ multilevel fermionic atoms loaded into the lowest motional level of a single trap (e.g.~a single optical lattice site or an optical tweezer). As pointed out in our previous work [arXiv:1907.05541], perfectly dark subradiant states emerge from the interplay between fermionic statistics and dipolar interactions. While in [arXiv:1907.05541] we focused on the $n=2$ case, here we provide an in-depth analysis of the single-site dark states for generic filling $n$, and show a tight connection between generic dark states and total angular momentum…
We propose a protocol for generating generalized GHZ states using ultracold fermions in 3D optical lattices or optical tweezer arrays. The protocol uses the interplay between laser driving, onsite interactions and external trapping confinement to enforce energetic spin- and position-dependent constraints on the atomic motion. These constraints allow us to transform a local superposition into a GHZ state through a stepwise protocol that flips one site at a time. The protocol requires no site-resolved drives or spin-dependent potentials, exhibits robustness to slow global laser phase drift, and …
"Bottom-up" approaches to the many-body physics of fermions have demonstrated recently precise number and site-resolved preparations with tunability of interparticle interactions in single-well, SW, and double-well, DW, nano-scale confinements created by manipulating ultracold fermionic atoms with optical tweezers. These experiments emulate an analogue-simulator mapping onto the requisite microscopic hamiltonian, approaching realization of Feynman's vision of quantum simulators that "will do exactly the same as nature". Here we report on exact benchmark configuration-interaction computational …
Fermions are the building blocks of matter, forming atoms and nuclei, complex materials and neutron stars. Our understanding of many-fermion systems is however limited, as classical computers are often insufficient to handle the intricate interplay of the Pauli principle with strong interactions. Quantum simulators based on ultracold fermionic atoms instead directly realize paradigmatic Fermi systems, albeit in "analog" fashion, without coherent control of individual fermions. Digital qubit-based quantum computation of fermion models, on the other hand, faces significant challenges in implemen…
In quantum fluids, the quantisation of circulation forbids the diffusion of a vortex swirling flow seen in classical viscous fluids. Yet, a quantum vortex accelerating in a superfluid may lose its energy into acoustic radiation, in a similar way an electric charge decelerates upon emitting photons. The dissipation of vortex energy underlies central problems in quantum hydrodynamics, such as the decay of quantum turbulence, highly relevant to systems as varied as neutron stars, superfluid helium and atomic condensates. A deep understanding of the elementary mechanisms behind irreversible vortex…
Ever since the first observation of Bose-Einstein condensation in the nineties, ultracold quantum gases have been the subject of intense research, providing a unique tool to understand the behavior of matter governed by the laws of quantum mechanics. Ultracold bosonic atoms loaded in an optical lattice are usually described by the Bose-Hubbard model or a variant of it. In addition to the common insulating and superfluid phases, other phases (like density waves and supersolids) may show up in the presence of a short-range interparticle repulsion and also depending on the geometry of the lattice…
Wave-function microscopy: Derivation and anatomy of exact algebraic spinful wave functions and full Wigner-molecular spectra of a few highly correlated rapidly rotating ultracold fermionic atoms
We report on experiments investigating the collisional properties of atoms at ultralow collision energies using an all-optical atom collider. By using a pair of optical tweezers, we can manipulate two ultracold atom clouds and collide them together at energies up to three orders of magnitude larger than their thermal energy. Our experiments measure the scattering of $\rm ^{87}Rb$, $\rm ^{40}K$, and $\rm ^{40}K$-$\rm ^{87}Rb$ collisions. The versatility of our collider allows us to probe both shape resonances and Feshbach resonances in any partial wave. As examples, we present experiments demon…
Quantum simulation of material-specific Hubbard models with alkaline-earth atoms
Department of Physics, Harvard University（哈佛大学物理系）；Research Laboratory of Electronics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院电子研究实验室）；Institute of Advanced Intelligence and Computing (IAIC), Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)（先进智能与计算研究所（IAIC），科学技术研究局（A*STAR））
Quantum anomaly manifests itself in the deviation of breathing mode frequency from the scale invariant value of $2ω$ in two-dimensional harmonically trapped Fermi gases, where $ω$ is the trapping frequency. Its recent experimental observation with cold-atoms reveals an unexpected role played by the effective range of interactions, which requires quantitative theoretical understanding. Here we provide accurate, benchmark results on quantum anomaly from a few-body perspective. We consider the breathing mode of a few trapped interacting fermions in two dimensions up to six particles and present t…
Recent ab initio lattice studies have found that the interactions between alpha particles (4He nuclei) are sensitive to seemingly minor details of the nucleon-nucleon force such as interaction locality. In order to uncover the essential physics of this puzzling phenomenon without unnecessary complications, we study a simple model involving two-component fermions in one spatial dimension. We probe the interaction between two bound dimers for several different particle-particle interactions and measure an effective potential between the dimers using external point potentials which act as numeric…
