Woojun Lee

In situ single-atom array synthesis using dynamic holographic optical tweezers

Establishing a reliable method to form scalable neutral-atom platforms is an essential cornerstone for quantum computation, quantum simulation and quantum many-body physics. Here we demonstrate a real-time transport of single atoms using holographic microtraps controlled by a liquid-crystal spatial light modulator. For this, an analytical design approach to flicker-free microtrap movement is devised and cold rubidium atoms are simultaneously rearranged with 2N motional degrees of freedom, representing unprecedented space controllability. We also accomplish an in situ feedback control for single-atom rearrangements with the high success rate of 99% for up to 10 μm translation. We hope this proof-of-principle demonstration of high-fidelity atom-array preparations will be useful for deterministic loading of N single atoms, especially on arbitrary lattice locations, and also for real-time qubit shuttling in high-dimensional quantum computing architectures.

Three-dimensional rearrangement of single atoms using actively controlled optical microtraps.

We propose and demonstrate three-dimensional rearrangements of single atoms. In experiments performed with single 87Rb atoms in optical microtraps actively controlled by a spatial light modulator, we demonstrate various dynamic rearrangements of up to N = 9 atoms including rotation, 2D vacancy filling, guiding, compactification, and 3D shuffling. With the capability of a phase-only Fourier mask to generate arbitrary shapes of the holographic microtraps, it was possible to place single atoms at arbitrary geometries of a few μm size and even continuously reconfigure them by conveying each atom. For this purpose, we loaded a series of computer-generated phase masks in the full frame rate of 60 Hz of the spatial light modulator, so the animation of phase mask transformed the holographic microtraps in real time, driving each atom along the assigned trajectory. Possible applications of this method of transformation of single atoms include preparation of scalable quantum platforms for quantum computation, quantum simulation, and quantum many-body physics.

Coherent control of resonant two-photon transitions by counterpropagating ultrashort pulse pairs

We describe optimized coherent control methods for two-photon transitions in atoms of a ladder-type three-state energy configuration. Our approach is based on the spatial coherent control scheme, which uses counterpropagating ultrashort laser pulses to produce complex excitation patterns in an extended space. Because coherent control requires constructive interference of constituent transition pathways, applying it to an atomic transitionwithaspecificenergyconfigurationrequiresspeciallydesignedlaserpulses.Weshowinanexperimental demonstration that two-photon transition with an intermediate resonant energy state can be coherently controlled andretrievedfromtheresonance-inducedbackground,whenphaseflippingofthelaserspectrumneartheresonant intermediate transition is used. A simple reason for this behavior is the fact that the transition amplitude function (added to give an overall two-photon transition) changes its sign at the intermediate resonant frequency and, thus, by proper spectral-phase programing, the excitation patterns (or the position-dependent interference of the transition given as a consequence of the spatial coherent control) can be well isolated in space along the focal region of the counterpropagating pulses.

Defect-free atomic array formation using the Hungarian matching algorithm

Deterministic loading of single atoms onto arbitrary two-dimensional lattice points has recently been demonstrated, where by dynamically controlling the optical-dipole potential, atoms from a probabilistically loaded lattice were relocated to target lattice points to form a zero-entropy atomic lattice. In this atom rearrangement, how to pair atoms with the target sites is a combinatorial optimization problem: brute-force methods search all possible combinations so the process is slow, while heuristic methods are time-efficient but optimal solutions are not guaranteed. Here, we use the Hungarian matching algorithm as a fast and rigorous alternative to this problem of defect-free atomic lattice formation. Our approach utilizes an optimization cost function that restricts collision-free guiding paths so that atom loss due to collision is minimized during rearrangement. Experiments were performed with cold rubidium atoms that were trapped and guided with holographically controlled optical-dipole traps. The result of atom relocation from a partially filled 7-by-7 lattice to a 3-by-3 target lattice strongly agrees with the theoretical analysis: using the Hungarian algorithm minimizes the collisional and trespassing paths and results in improved performance, with over 50\% higher success probability than the heuristic shortest-move method.

Optical tweezer manipulation for atom tetris

Atoms can be individually captured and guided by light through optical dipole-trapping. However, applying this to many atoms simultaneously has been difficult due to the low inertia of atoms. Recently dynamically-controlled laser beams achieved such demonstrations, enabling a bottom-up approach to form arbitrary atom lattices, deterministic atom loading, atom-sorting, and even single-atom-level machinery. Here we report the latest improvements of the single-atom-level dynamic holographic optical tweezers. With the hardware and software upgrades to be explained in the text, the overall performance has improved to form arbitrary 2D lattices of a size about N=20, with success probability exceeding 50%.

Three-dimensional dynamic reconfiguration of single-atom arrays using liquid-crystal spatial light modulator

We demonstrate trapping and dynamic reconfiguration of rubidium single-atom arrays in 3D holographic potential traps formed by a phase-only spatial light modulator (SLM). Atom loss caused by the limited response time of SLM liquid crystals is resolved by a simple, alternative way of phase-patterning.

Spectro-spatial coherent control of ultrafast laser interaction with atomic vapor

Spectro-spatial coherent control methods are reported demonstrating optimized resonant two-photon transitions of rubidium atomic vapor by counter-propagating ultrashort pulse pairs. By properly programming the spectral sign changes across resonance frequencies, unlike non-resonant two-photon transitions, the resonant two-photon transitions probabilities could be enhanced, experiment finds.