arrow
Return

A cavity-array microscope for parallel single-atom interfacing

delete2026-01-28
delete0
PRE
AI
A
Adam L. Shaw
A
Anna Soper
A
Aishwarya Kumar
L
Lukas Palm
D
Da-Yeon Koh
V
Vassilios Kaxiras
L
Lavanya Taneja
M
M. Jaffé
D
David Schuster
J
Jonathan Simon *
DOI:10.1038/s41586-025-10035-9delete
deleteOriginal
deleteOriginal request for help
deleteShare
deleteSave
Abstract

Abstract

En 中文
Neutral-atom arrays and optical cavity quantum electrodynamics systems have developed in parallel as central pillars of modern experimental quantum science1–3. Although each platform has shown exceptional capabilities—such as high-fidelity quantum logic4–7 in atom arrays and strong light–matter coupling in cavities8–10—their combination holds promise for realizing fast and non-destructive atom measurement11, building large-scale quantum networks12–17 and engineering hybrid atom–photon Hamiltonians18–20. However, so far, experiments integrating the two platforms have been limited to spatially interfacing the entire atom array with one global cavity mode21–26, a configuration that constrains addressability, parallelism and scalability. Here we introduce the cavity-array microscope, an experimental platform where each individual atom is strongly coupled to its own individual cavity across a two-dimensional array of over 40 modes. Our approach requires no nanophotonic elements26,27, and instead uses a free-space cavity geometry with intra-cavity lenses28,29 to realize above-unity peak cooperativity with micrometre-scale mode waists and spacings, compatible with typical atom-array length scales while keeping atoms far from dielectric surfaces. We achieve homogeneous atom–cavity coupling and show fast, non-destructive, parallel readout on millisecond timescales, including through a fibre array as a proof of principle for networking applications30. As an outlook, we realize a next-generation iteration of the platform with over 500 cavities and a nearly 10-fold improvement in finesse. Our work unlocks the regime of many-cavity quantum electrodynamics and opens an unexplored frontier of large-scale quantum networking with atom arrays. A cavity-array microscope is realized using intra-cavity lenses to create a two-dimensional array of over 40 modes, each coupled to a single atom in free-space.
Keywords:
Atom optics
Optical manipulation and tweezers
Quantum information
Science
Humanities and Social Sciences
multidisciplinary

Journal

Nature cover
Nature
IF:
48.5
Papers:
1.8W
Citations:
96.5W

Organization

H
Harvard University
Scholars:
26.5W
Papers: 22.0W
Citations: 28.7W
S
Stony Brook University
Scholars:
303
Papers: 169
Citations: 0
U
University of Chicago
Scholars:
1.7K
Papers: 741
Citations: 6.7W
S
Stanford University
Scholars:
9.6W
Papers: 8.2W
Citations: 17.0W
M
Montana State University
Scholars:
208
Papers: 109
Citations: 7.8K
researcher View more organizations
Cited Papers

Cited Papers

Realization of Strong Coupling between Deterministic Single-Atom Arrays and a High-Finesse Miniature Optical Cavity
err2023-04-28
err0
errOAAI
errYanxin Liu; Zhihui Wang; Pengfei Yang; Qinxia Wang; Qing Fan; Shijun Guan; Gang Li; Pengfei Zhang; Tiancai Zhang
errShare
errSave
Entanglement transport and a nanophotonic interface for atoms in optical tweezers
err2021-09-24
err0
errOAAI
errTamara Ðorđević; Polnop Samutpraphoot; Paloma L. Ocola; Hannes Bernien; Brandon Grinkemeyer; Ivana Dimitrova; Vladan Vuletić; Mikhail D. Lukin
errShare
errSave
Quantum many-body phenomena in coupled cavity arrays
err2008-12-03
err428
errOAAI
errHartmann, Michael J.; Brandao, Fernando G. S. L.; Plenio, Martin B.
errShare
errSave
An integrated atom array-nanophotonic chip platform with background-free imaging
err2024-07-22
err1
errOAAI
errMenon, Shankar G.; Glachman, Noah; Pompili, Matteo; Dibos, Alan; Bernien, Hannes
errShare
errSave
Parallelized telecom quantum networking with an ytterbium-171 atom array
err2025-11-01
err0
PREAI
errLi,Lintao; Hu,Xiye; Jia,Zhubing; Huie,William; Sun,Won Kyu Calvin; Aakash,; Dong,Yuhao; Hiri-O-Tuppa,Narisak; Covey,Jacob P.
errShare
errSave
Deterministic generation of multiparticle entanglement by quantum Zeno dynamics
err2015-09-18
err0
errOAAI
errGiovanni Barontini; Leander Hohmann; Florian Haas; Jérôme Estève; Jakob Reichel
errShare
errSave
Spin-resolved single-atom imaging of Li6 in free space
err2018-06-15
err0
errOAAI
errAndrea Bergschneider; Vincent M. Klinkhamer; Jan Hendrik Becher; Ralf Klemt; Gerhard Zürn; Philipp M. Preiss; Selim Jochim
errShare
errSave
Quantum networks with neutral atom processing nodes
err2023-09-16
err25
errOAAI
errCovey, Jacob P.; Weinfurter, Harald; Bernien, Hannes
errShare
errSave
High-fidelity parallel entangling gates on a neutral-atom quantum computer
err2023-10-11
err0
errOAAI
errSimon J. Evered; Dolev Bluvstein; Marcin Kalinowski; Sepehr Ebadi; Tom Manovitz; Hengyun Zhou; Sophie H. Li; Alexandra A. Geim; Tout T. Wang; Nishad Maskara; Harry Levine; Giulia Semeghini; Markus Greiner; Vladan Vuletić; Mikhail D. Lukin
errShare
errSave
Atom-by-atom assembly of defect-free one-dimensional cold atom arrays
err2016-11-25
err0
errOAAI
errManuel Endres; Hannes Bernien; Alexander Keesling; Harry Levine; Eric R. Anschuetz; Alexandre Krajenbrink; Crystal Senko; Vladan Vuletic; Markus Greiner; Mikhail D. Lukin
errShare
errSave
researcher View more