arXiv subjects

Justin D. Piel

Publications and source records attributed to Justin D. Piel.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Quantum science with arrays of metastable helium-3 atoms

The motion of atoms in programmable optical tweezer arrays offers many new opportunities for neutral atom quantum science. These include inter- and intra-site atom motion for resource-efficient implementations of fermionic and bosonic modes, respectively, as well as tweezer transport for efficient compilation of arbitrary circuits. However, the exploitation of atomic motion for all three purposes and others is limited by the inertia of the atoms. We present a comprehensive architectural blueprint for the use of fermionic metastable helium-3 ($^3$He$^*$) atoms -- the lightest trappable atomic species -- in programmable optical tweezer arrays. This includes a concrete analysis of atomic structure considerations as well as Rydberg-mediated interactions. We show that inter-tweezer hopping of $^3$He$^*$ atoms can be $\gtrsim3\times$ faster than previous demonstrations with lithium-6. We also demonstrate a new toolbox for encoding and manipulating qubits directly in the tweezer trap potential, uniquely enabled by the light mass of $^3$He$^*$. Finally, we provide several examples of new opportunities for fermionic quantum simulation and computation that leverage the transport and inter-tweezer hopping of $^3$He$^*$ atom arrays. These tools present new methods to improve the resource efficiency of neutral atom quantum science that may also enable quantum simulations of lattice gauge theories and quantum chemistry outside the Born-Oppenheimer approximation

quant-ph↗

arXiv2026

An alternative representation of multichannel Rydberg spectra: a modified K-matrix and Lu-Fano plot, applied to manganese spectroscopy

The well-known graphical representation called the Lu-Fano plot was originally developed for multi-channel Rydberg spectroscopy, especially in quantum defect theory. The present study shows some of the limitations of this traditional Lu-Fano plot that are desirable to improve on, when there are closely split ionization thresholds as in many current generation quantum information applications involving hyperfine-split thresholds, or when there are more than two ionization threshold energies. The modified representation introduced here is especially simplifying in the situation where one is exploring the bound states lying very far below those closely split thresholds. Moreover, it overcomes one limitation, namely that in contrast to the traditional Lu-Fano plot, the modified representation developed here can be utilized for problems where there more than two ionization thresholds. An example application to Rydberg series of the manganese atom illuminates its use in a practical problem.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2025

Barium Autoionization for Efficient Ion Trap Loading

We report a theoretical and experimental investigation of autoionizing resonances from the $5d6p\,{}^3\mathrm{D}_1^o$ manifold in neutral barium for efficient loading of ion traps. Our calculations predict large resonant cross sections for many narrow autoionizing resonances, but we find experimentally that for most of these, Doppler broadening during trap loading depresses the effective cross sections that can be achieved in practice. We identify and demonstrate a strong, broad transition at $531\,\mathrm{nm}$, and show that it furnishes an order-of-magnitude increase in trap loading efficiency compared to other demonstrated resonances.

physics.atom-ph↗

arXiv2025

Broadband femtosecond lasers enable efficient two-photon excitation of the ultranarrow linewidth singlet 1s2s state in helium

We propose a broadband, femtosecond two-photon excitation scheme for efficient population transfer to the ultra-narrow linewidth $1s2s\ ^1S_0$ metastable state in helium. Using $120$ nm vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) femtosecond laser pulses, we theoretically demonstrate that a direct two-photon excitation process can achieve a population transfer efficiency of $25-30\%$, even when photoionization losses are included. The use of broadband pulses enables multiple excitation pathways to populate the excited state, in addition to compensating for significant AC Stark shifts occurring within the pulse duration. Furthermore, we introduce a two-color two-photon extreme ultraviolet-near infrared (XUV-IR) excitation scheme that will further reduce ionization losses and can achieve significantly higher transfer efficiencies of $\sim 70\%$. These results demonstrate that high excitation probability of ultra-narrow linewidth ($\sim 50$ Hz) excited states can be achieved with experimentally accessible femtosecond laser sources with a few THz bandwidth.

physics.atom-ph↗