Floquet engineering of Rydberg interactions

Single Rydberg atoms trapped in a programmable array of optical tweezers are an emerging platform to simulate spin Hamiltonians and implement quantum gates. Much of the programmability so far comes from the precise positioning of atoms. Here we enhance the versatility of the platform through Floquet driving, which allows us to realize Rydberg blockade, facilitation, and population trapping under unusual conditions. We describe the experimental setup used to realize Floquet driving, along with a detailed characterization of various experimental parameters that enable us to independently model the observed dynamical behavior of the atoms under Floquet driving. We show that Floquet driving is a simple and robust technique that allows us to access new regimes of Rydberg interactions, which will in turn pave the path for versatile quantum gate schemes, an improved range of entanglement, and quantum state engineering.