Towards Programmable Strontium Atom Arrays

We report on progress towards the realization of programmable strontium atom arrays. We present the design of our apparatus, including a novel 2D magneto-optical trap for strontium and our approach to generating versatile atomic arrays. Our system is designed as an optical tweezer platform, in which atoms can be trapped at close proximity to each other. We will utilize holographic metasurfaces, in tandem with magic trapping light in the green, that enables the positioning of atoms at sub-micron distances in nearly arbitrary trapping geometries. At close spacings, the dissipation dynamics of atoms is predicted to be significantly altered by collective atom-photon interactions. We plan to exploit such collective effects to create highly entangled many-body quantum states that display subradiance, boosting the atomic coherence time beyond their natural lifetime. In addition to fundamental quantum optics experiments, our platform will lend itself for applications in quantum simulation and quantum computing.