Exploring many-body dynamics on a 51-atom quantum simulator

The realization of large-scale controlled quantum systems is an exciting frontier in modern physical science. In this talk, I will introduce a new platform based on cold atoms in arrays of optical tweezers. We use atom-by-atom assembly to deterministically prepare arrays of individually controlled cold atoms. A measurement and feedback procedure eliminates the entropy associated with the probabilistic trap loading and results in defect-free arrays of over 60 atoms [1]. Strong controllable interactions between these atoms are introduced by exciting them to Rydberg states. The resulting Ising-type interactions lead to entanglement and non-trivial spatial correlations across the array. In particular, we explore adiabatic transitions into crystalline states and study quantum dynamics of this strongly correlated system in the vicinity of a phase transition [2]. Prospects for studying entanglement dynamics in many-body systems and the implementation of quantum algorithms will be discussed.
[1] M. Endres et al., Science 354, 1024 (2016)
[2] H. Bernien et al., arXiv:1707.04344 (2017)