A 600-site cavity array: expanding the neutral atom array toolbox

Neutral atom arrays have emerged as a promising platform for quantum information processing with the realization of high two-qubit gate fidelities and system sizes nearing 10,000 atoms. Scaling to the yet-larger systems believed to be necessary for useful, fault-tolerant applications, however, appears challenging in a single apparatus. In this poster, we will outline the development of a next-generation neutral atom array system consisting of an array of hundreds of optical cavities. This so-called "cavity array" functions similarly to a tweezer array in spirit, but with every atom strongly coupled to its own cavity with greater-than-unity cooperativity. We will both present the promise of the platform – which includes power enhancement, faster readout speeds, and multiplexed cavity networking – and also elucidate the primary technical limitations on scaling and performance. In short, the advent of cavity arrays promises to enable a new class of experiments in the regime of "many-cavity QED," where many single atoms interact and entangle with many single photons.