Abstract
We report on the trapping of single Rb atoms in tunable arrays of optical tweezers in a cryogenic environment at $\sim 4$ K. We describe the design and construction of the experimental apparatus, based on a custom-made, UHV compatible, closed-cycle cryostat with optical access. We demonstrate the trapping of single atoms in cryogenic arrays of optical tweezers, with lifetimes in excess of $\sim6000$ s, despite the fact that the vacuum system has not been baked out. These results open the way to large arrays of single atoms with extended coherence, for applications in large-scale quantum simulation of many-body systems, and more generally in quantum science and technology.
Highlights
For most applications of quantum science and technology, whatever the experimental platform, scaling up the number of individually controlled quantum objects is a major subject of research, as this is a necessary condition for practical use [1]
We report on the trapping of single Rb atoms in tunable arrays of optical tweezers in a cryogenic environment at approximately 4 K
We demonstrate the trapping of single atoms in cryogenic arrays of optical tweezers, with lifetimes up to 6000 s, despite the fact that the vacuum system has not been baked out
Summary
For most applications of quantum science and technology, whatever the experimental platform, scaling up the number of individually controlled quantum objects is a major subject of research, as this is a necessary condition for practical use [1]. Large arrays with up to approximately 200 atoms are used for quantum simulation of spin systems [7,8] They are assembled atom by atom, using moving optical tweezers, from an initially disordered configuration. A first beneficial effect is that the residual pressure is considerably smaller than at room temperature, which reduces collisions of the trapped atoms with the residual gas. This allows us to increase the trapping lifetime of atoms in the tweezers, which is one of the limiting factors in the assembly of large arrays, as the assembly time increases with the system size.
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