Neutral atoms
and trapped ions

Neutral atoms and trapped ions use laser cooling to cool down the atoms or ions, which in turn slows down their motion. Optical tweezers are used to trap neutral atoms while traps such as Penning traps or Paul traps utilize electric fields to create potentials that confine ions. A large number of beam spots can be generated by combining the spatial light phase modulator (LCOS-SLM) with an appropriate phase pattern and optical system. Trapping neutral atoms at those spot positions allows neutral atoms to be arranged in any array configuration. Neutral atoms and trapped ions can be configured in a "superposition state," which means that their state is encoded using both the “0” state and “1” state also known as a qubit. Trapped ions’ and neutral atoms’ positions are monitored using a high-sensitivity camera. Observing the fluorescence, or lack thereof, for trapped ions and neutral atoms indicates the state of the qubit. Photon counting detectors such as PMTs are typically used for reading out the qubit state of trapped ions while EM-CCD cameras are used for reading out the qubit state of neutral atoms. Quantum mechanical behavior can be manipulated to realize applications such as quantum computing and quantum simulations.

Neutral atoms and Ion trap

Neutral atoms

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