A quantum gas microscope - detecting single atoms in a Hubbard regime optical lattice

TL;DR

This paper introduces a quantum gas microscope capable of detecting individual atoms in a Hubbard regime optical lattice, enabling detailed studies of quantum many-body systems and advancing quantum information processing.

Contribution

It presents a high-resolution optical imaging system that detects single atoms with high fidelity in a customizable optical lattice, bridging microscopic control with macroscopic quantum systems.

Findings

Single atoms detected with near-unity fidelity.

Flexible optical lattice with arbitrary geometry.

Potential for studying strongly correlated states.

Abstract

Recent years have seen tremendous progress in creating complex atomic many-body quantum systems. One approach is to use macroscopic, effectively thermodynamic ensembles of ultracold atoms to create quantum gases and strongly correlated states of matter, and to analyze the bulk properties of the ensemble. The opposite approach is to build up microscopic quantum systems atom by atom - with complete control over all degrees of freedom. Until now, the macroscopic and microscopic strategies have been fairly disconnected. Here, we present a "quantum gas microscope" that bridges the two approaches, realizing a system where atoms of a macroscopic ensemble are detected individually and a complete set of degrees of freedom of each of them is determined through preparation and measurement. By implementing a high-resolution optical imaging system, single atoms are detected with near-unity fidelity on individual sites of a Hubbard regime optical lattice. The lattice itself is generated by projecting a holographic mask through the imaging system. It has an arbitrary geometry, chosen to support both strong tunnel coupling between lattice sites and strong on-site confinement. On one hand, this new approach can be used to directly detect strongly correlated states of matter. On the other hand, the quantum gas microscope opens the door for the addressing and read-out of large-scale quantum information systems with ultracold atoms.