I.I. Rabi Prize in Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics: Quantum science with microscopically-controlled arrays of alkaline-earth atoms

Quantum science with neutral atoms has seen great advances in the past two decades, many of which follow from the development of new techniques for manipulating and detecting atomic samples. As one example, the technique of optical tweezing trapping of neutral atom arrays has been a powerful tool for quantum simulation and quantum information, because it enables control and detection of 100s to potentially 1000s of individual atoms. Several years ago, a few groups began to explore a new type of atom - alkaline-earth(-like) atoms - for optical tweezer trapping [1-3]. While their increased complexity leads to challenges, alkaline-earth atoms offer new scientific opportunities by virtue of their rich internal degrees of freedom. I will report on how these degrees-of-freedom can cooperate with tweezer-based single-particle control to impact areas ranging from quantum information processing, to quantum metrology, and quantum simulation.

[1] M. A. Norcia, A. W. Young, A. M. Kaufman, PRX 8, 041054 (2018)

[2] A. Cooper, J. P. Covey, I. S. Madjarov, S. G. Porsev, M. S Safranova, M. Endres, PRX 8, 041055

[3] S. Saskin, J. T. Wilson, B. Grinkemeyer, J. D. Thompson, PRL 122, 143002