Abstract
D1 magic wavelengths have been predicted for the alkali atoms but are not yet observed to date. We experimentally confirm a D1 magic wavelength that is predicted to lie at 615.87 nm for $^{23}$Na, which we then use to trap and image individual atoms with 80.0(6)% efficiency and without having to modulate the trapping and imaging light intensities. We further demonstrate that the mean loading efficiency remains as high as 74.2(7)% for a 1D array of eight atoms. Leveraging on the absence of trap intensity modulation and lower trap depths afforded by the D1 light, we achieve an order-of-magnitude reduction on the tweezer laser power requirements and a corresponding increase in the scalability of atom arrays. The methods reported here are applicable to all the alkalis, including those that are attractive candidates for dipolar molecule assembly, Rydberg dressing, or are fermionic in nature.
Highlights
Optical tweezer arrays with individually trapped atoms have recently emerged as a promising platform for studies of quantum many-body physics, quantum information processing, and metrology [1,2,3,4,5]
Using the magic wavelength for the D1 transition, we have developed an all-dc scheme to load and image single atoms at an enhanced probability of 80% and at reduced trap depths
We note that while the minimum loading trap depth at which the loading probability saturates is 0.7 mK, the imaging trap depth for efficient detection can be as low as 0.5 mK. Since both loading and imaging processes make use of -D1 transitions, we expect that the loading trap depth can be further optimized to lower values with a detailed understanding of the loading dynamics, thereby further enhancing the scalability of atom arrays
Summary
Optical tweezer arrays with individually trapped atoms have recently emerged as a promising platform for studies of quantum many-body physics, quantum information processing, and metrology [1,2,3,4,5]. Despite the promising applications of light alkalis, efforts to trap single atoms directly from molasses have been impeded by high heating rates from their low mass and/or antitrapping excited P3/2 state To circumvent these problems, one can use “ac tweezers,” where the trapping and D2 cooling light are modulated out of phase at a frequency much faster than the tweezer trap frequency. Ac tweezers on the D2 line typically require deeper traps to load and image single atoms These power constraints impede the scalability of atom arrays. Magic wavelengths that cancel the differential light shift of the alkali D1 transition have been predicted [37,38] but never observed These wavelengths tend to yield relatively large and positive polarizabilities, which facilitates easy trapping of alkalis. By using the all-dc approach, we generate an order of magnitude more traps for a given tweezer power, which leads to a corresponding increase in atom-array scalability
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