UC Berkeley

The development of quantum technology demands systems of many interacting quantum particles, each individually controlled. Neutral atom arrays are a leading platform in this pursuit, boasting scalable, configurable arrays of single atoms trapped in optical tweezer traps, with demonstrated mechanisms for generating local interactions. Neutral atoms coupled to an optical cavity provide complementary capabilities, enabled by cavity quantum electrodynamics: the control of single atoms with single photons, photon-mediated interactions between distant atoms, and cavity-assisted measurement.

This thesis presents a novel platform for cavity quantum electrodynamics with a neutral atom tweezer array. After motivating and describing the experimental apparatus, I present the details of a quantum sensing result, using single atoms as scanning probes to characterize optical fields of our cavity. I then discuss our study of single-atom cavity state detection, used to demonstrate a mid-circuit measurement within a coherent neutral atom array. The integration of the tweezer array and cavity QED platforms represents a small step toward quantum information processing with neutral atoms.