High-resolution Spectroscopy and Single-photon Rydberg Excitation of Reconfigurable Ytterbium Atom Tweezer Arrays Utilizing a Metastable State

We present an experimental system for Rydberg tweezer arrays with ytterbium (Yb) atoms featuring internal state manipulation between the ground S-1(0) and metastable P-3(2) states, and single-photon excitation from the P-3(2) to Rydberg states. In the experiments, single Yb atoms are trapped in two-dimensional arrays of optical tweezers and are detected by fluorescence imaging with the intercombination S-1(0) <-> P-3(1) transition, and the defect-free single atom arrays are prepared by the rearrangement with the feedback. We successfully perform high-resolution S-1(0) <-> P-3(2) state spectroscopy for the single atoms, demonstrating the utility of this ultranarrow transition. We further perform single-photon excitation from the(3)P(2) to Rydberg states for the single atoms, which is a key for efficient Rydberg excitation. We also perform a systematic measurement of a complex energy structure of a series of D states including newly observed D-3(3) states. The developed system shows the feasibility of future experiments towards quantum simulations and computations using single Yb atoms.

Automated summary

This article introduces an experimental system constructed with ytterbium atoms, demonstrating single-photon excitation and high-resolution spectroscopic study, showing the potential for quantum simulation and computation experiments.