Dark-state enhanced loading of an optical tweezer array

Neutral atoms and molecules trapped in optical tweezers have become a prevalent resource for quantum simulation, computation, and metrology. However, the maximum achievable system sizes of such arrays are often limited by the stochastic nature of loading into optical tweezers, with a typical loading probability of only 50%. Here we present a species-agnostic method for dark-state enhanced loading (DSEL) based on real-time feedback, long-lived shelving states, and iterated array reloading. We demonstrate this technique with a 95-tweezer array of $^{88}$Sr atoms, achieving a maximum loading probability of 84.02(4)% and a maximum array size of 91 atoms in one dimension. Our protocol is complementary to, and compatible with, existing schemes for enhanced loading based on direct control over light-assisted collisions, and we predict it can enable close-to-unity filling for arrays of atoms or molecules

Entanglement transport and a nanophotonic interface for atoms in optical tweezers

Quantum trapping and shuffling Programmable arrays of atoms or ions trapped in optical potentials have recently emerged as a leading platform for quantum simulation. Being able to interface into these arrays to access the quantum information being processed and pass it along to another module remains a challenge. Ðorđević et al . developed a hybrid quantum system that combines atoms held in optical tweezers and a nanophotonic cavity to demonstrate full quantum control, efficient quantum nondestructive readout, and entanglement of atom pairs (see the Perspective by Kaufman). By combining atomic manipulation both inside and away from the cavity field and shuffling the atom qubits into and out of the cavity mode, the authors demonstrate a viable optical interface that could be scaled to larger systems. —ISO </jats:p