Trapping of Rydberg Atoms in Tight Magnetic Microtraps

TL;DR

This paper investigates the feasibility of trapping Rydberg atoms in tight magnetic microtraps, identifying conditions for effective trapping and magic trapping states to facilitate quantum gate operations.

Contribution

It demonstrates that Rydberg atoms can be trapped in magnetic microtraps and identifies magic trapping conditions for specific rubidium states, enabling improved quantum gate implementations.

Findings

Rydberg atoms can be trapped in magnetic microtraps under certain regimes.

Magic trapping conditions exist where Rydberg and ground states share the same trapping frequencies.

Magic trapping enhances the feasibility of long-duration quantum gate operations.

Abstract

We explore the possibility to trap Rydberg atoms in tightly confining magnetic microtraps. The trapping frequencies for Rydberg atoms are expected to be influenced strongly by magnetic field gradients. We show that there are regimes where Rydberg atoms can be trapped. Moreover, we show that so-called magic trapping conditions can be found for certain states of rubidium, where both Rydberg atoms and ground state atoms have the same trapping frequencies. Magic trapping is highly beneficial for implementing quantum gate operations that require long operation times.