Integrating nanophotonics and cold atoms has drawn increasing interest in
recent years due to diverse applications in quantum information science and the
exploration of quantum many-body physics. For example, dispersion-engineered
photonic crystal waveguides (PCWs) permit not only stable trapping and probing
of ultracold neutral atoms via interactions with guided-mode light, but also
the possibility to explore the physics of strong, photon-mediated interactions
between atoms, as well as atom-mediated interactions between photons. While
diverse theoretical opportunities involving atoms and photons in 1-D and 2-D
nanophotonic lattices have been analyzed, a grand challenge remains the
experimental integration of PCWs with ultracold atoms. Here we describe an
advanced apparatus that overcomes several significant barriers to current
experimental progress with the goal of achieving strong quantum interactions of
light and matter by way of single-atom tweezer arrays strongly coupled to
photons in 1-D and 2-D PCWs. Principal technical advances relate to efficient
free-space coupling of light to and from guided modes of PCWs, silicate bonding
of silicon chips within small glass vacuum cells, and deterministic, mechanical
delivery of single-atom tweezer arrays to the near fields of photonic crystal
waveguides