Dual-species tweezer arrays of Na and Cs Rydberg atoms

Optical tweezer arrays of neutral atoms are a promising platform for quantum science due to their tunable interactions, precise controllability, flexible geometries and scalability. Dual-species arrays extend these capabilities by incorporating two types of atoms, enabling new applications. This two-species approach enables us to independently address two sets of qubits. This feature is particularly useful for preparing novel quantum states through measurement-based methods, and for quantum error correction, which requires readout of measurement qubits without disturbing data qubits. Here, we demonstrate two-dimensional dual-species optical tweezer arrays consisting of sodium (Na) and cesium (Cs) atoms. By selecting specific Rydberg states, we can tune the interaction strengths between Na-Na, Cs-Cs, and Na-Cs pairs, leading to two novel directions. First, we identify Rydberg states that produce strong interspecies interactions in comparison to weaker intraspecies interactions. Based on this, we can implement interspecies state transfer and species-selective readout, which are the key steps for many quantum error correction schemes. Second, beyond the extensively studied repulsive interactions in the single-species architecture, attractive interspecies interactions in the dual-species architecture expand the class of Hamiltonians that could be simulated with Rydberg atom tweezer arrays. These new directions demonstrate the potential of dual-species arrays for advancing quantum science.