Exploring New Scientific Frontiers with Programmable Atom Arrays

We will discuss the recent advances involving programmable, coherent manipulation of quantum many-body systems using atom arrays excited into Rydberg states. Specifically, we will describe our recent technical upgrades that now allow the control over 200 atoms in two-dimensional arrays. Recent results involving the realization of exotic phases of matter, study of quantum phase transitions and exploration of their non-equilibrium dynamics will be presented. In particular, we will report on realization and probing of quantum spin liquid states - the exotic states of matter have thus far evaded direct experimental detection. Finally, testing of quantum optimization algorithms, realization of novel architectures and implications for simulating complex lattice gauge theories using such systems will be discussed.