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Synthetic three-dimensional atomic structures assembled atom by atom

Nature volume 561, pages 79–82 (2018)Cite this article

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Abstract

A great challenge in current quantum science and technology research is to realize artificial systems of a large number of individually controlled quantum bits for applications in quantum computing and quantum simulation. Many experimental platforms are being explored, including solid-state systems, such as superconducting circuits1 or quantum dots2, and atomic, molecular and optical systems, such as photons, trapped ions or neutral atoms3,4,5,6,7. The latter offer inherently identical qubits that are well decoupled from the environment and could provide synthetic structures scalable to hundreds of qubits or more8. Quantum-gas microscopes9 allow the realization of two-dimensional regular lattices of hundreds of atoms, and large, fully loaded arrays of about 50 microtraps (or ‘optical tweezers’) with individual control are already available in one10 and two11 dimensions. Ultimately, however, accessing the third dimension while keeping single-atom control will be required, both for scaling to large numbers and for extending the range of models amenable to quantum simulation. Here we report the assembly of defect-free, arbitrarily shaped three-dimensional arrays, containing up to 72 single atoms. We use holographic methods and fast, programmable moving tweezers to arrange—atom by atom and plane by plane—initially disordered arrays into target structures of almost any geometry. These results present the prospect of quantum simulation with tens of qubits arbitrarily arranged in space and show that realizing systems of hundreds of individually controlled qubits is within reach using current technology.

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Fig. 1: Experimental setup and trap images.
Fig. 2: Single-atom fluorescence in 3D arrays.
Fig. 3: Fully loaded 3D arrays of single atoms.
Fig. 4: Spin-exchange dynamics between two Rydberg atoms in different z layers.

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Acknowledgements

We thank A. Läuchli for discussions. This work benefited from financial support by the EU (H2020 FET-PROACT Project RySQ), by the ‘PALM’ Labex (projects QUANTICA and XYLOS) and by the Région Île-de-France in the framework of DIM Nano-K.

Reviewer information

Nature thanks W. Bakr, N. Lundblad and the other anonymous reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Daniel Barredo, Vincent Lienhard, Sylvain de Léséleuc

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratoire Charles Fabry, Institut d’Optique Graduate School, CNRS, Université Paris-Saclay, Palaiseau, France

    Daniel Barredo, Vincent Lienhard, Sylvain de Léséleuc, Thierry Lahaye & Antoine Browaeys

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  1. Daniel Barredo
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  3. Sylvain de Léséleuc
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  4. Thierry Lahaye
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Contributions

D.B., V.L. and S.d.L. performed the experiments. T.L. and A.B. supervised the work. All authors made critical contributions to the work, discussed the results and contributed to the writing of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Daniel Barredo.

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Barredo, D., Lienhard, V., de Léséleuc, S. et al. Synthetic three-dimensional atomic structures assembled atom by atom. Nature 561, 79–82 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-018-0450-2

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