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Hybrid laser-trapping technique lights the way for neutral atoms

An experimental platform that uses two different tools for controlling neutral atoms with laser light combines speed with scalability. The approach provides a crucial step towards realizing innovative quantum algorithms and simulations.
  1. Giulia Semeghini

    1. Giulia Semeghini is in the Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.

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Over the past four decades, researchers have explored a range of fascinating quantum phenomena by inventing creative ways to manipulate large ensembles of neutral atoms with light (see, for example, go.nature.com/3bjqvfr). Hundreds of thousands of atoms can be trapped by laser beams in arrays known as optical lattices1 and used to simulate the quantum behaviour of materials. Atoms can also be manipulated one by one, using a tool known as optical tweezers — a promising avenue to scalable quantum computing. Now, writing in Science, Young et al.2 have developed a platform that combines optical lattices with optical tweezers to access unexplored physical regimes, offering an exciting way of controlling atoms for quantum computation and simulation.

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Nature 609, 898-900 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-02953-9

References

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Competing Interests

The author declares no competing interests.

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