CAREER:Quantum Many-Body Control with Alkaline-Earth Atom-Arrays

创造和控制大规模、连贯的量子多体系统的能力对基础科学的技术和进步都具有广泛的影响。它使纠缠的产生和操作成为可能，这构成了量子计算机的实验基础。这对于量子模拟是必要的，在量子模拟中，高度受控的实验实现阐明了凝聚态物理、量子化学或高能物理中的悬而未决的问题。它是实现量子增强计量方案的重要组成部分，是未来原子钟和传感器设备的核心。在这里，该项目将实施这样的高度受控的大规模量子多体系统，该系统由超冷的碱土锶原子阵列组成，这些原子用光学镊子逐个原子地组装和操纵，并通过超精密的时钟状态操纵进行控制。该平台在量子科学的所有三个主要方向都可以立即使用：量子计算、量子模拟和量子增强计量学。这项研究的更广泛影响源于量子技术可以对社会产生的变革性影响。然而，量子物理并不是基础教育的一部分。因此，这项教育和推广计划的一个主要目标是让更多的受众更容易接触到量子物理。这项研究计划通过将量子气体显微镜、逐个原子的组装和光学晶格钟的元素结合到一个具有独特功能的新颖实验平台中，直接应对“实验量子多体挑战”。这种特征的结合将使一系列新的发展成为可能，包括基于单原子控制的新型原子钟，基于里德堡相互作用的量子增强计量学和量子模拟方案，或者哈伯德和轨道交换模型的自下而上组装。最后，通过实现可扩展的逐个原子组装，该平台可以现实地实现数百个原子的无缺陷阵列。其目的是将大型系统规模、对单个粒子的精确控制以及对相互作用机制的一致控制结合在一起。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The ability to create and control large-scale, coherent quantum many-body systems has wide-ranging implications for both technology and progress in fundamental sciences. It enables the generation and manipulation of entanglement, which forms the experimental foundation for quantum computers. It is necessary for quantum simulation, where highly-controlled experimental implementations shed light on outstanding questions in condensed matter physics, quantum chemistry, or high-energy physics. And it is an important building-block for realizing quantum-enhanced metrology schemes at the heart of future atomic clocks and sensor devices. Here, this project will implement such highly-controlled, large-scale quantum many-body systems with arrays of ultracold, alkaline-earth strontium atoms that are assembled and manipulated in an atom-by-atom fashion with optical tweezers and controlled via ultra-precise clock state manipulation. This platform has immediate usability in all three major directions of quantum science: quantum computing, quantum simulation and quantum-enhanced metrology. The broader impact of this research stems from the transformative effect that quantum technologies can have on society. Yet, quantum physics is not a part of basic education. Therefore, a primary goal of the educational and outreach program is to make quantum physics more accessible for a broader audience.This research program directly addresses the 'experimental quantum many-body challenge' by combining elements of quantum gas microscopes, atom-by-atom assembly, and optical lattice clocks into a novel experimental platform with unique capabilities. This combination of features will enable a host of new developments, including novel atomic clocks based on single-atom control, quantum-enhanced metrology and quantum simulation schemes based on Rydberg interactions, or the bottom-up assembly of Hubbard and orbital-exchange models. Finally, this platform can realistically reach defect-free arrays of hundreds of atoms by implementing scalable atom-by-atom assembly. The aim is to combine large system sizes, precision control over individual particles, and coherent control over interaction mechanisms.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.