arxiv: 2604.07205 · v1 · submitted 2026-04-08 · ⚛️ physics.atom-ph · cond-mat.quant-gas· quant-ph

Recognition: 1 theorem link

· Lean Theorem

Defect-free arrays at the thousand-atom scale in a 4-K cryogenic environment

Adrien Signoles, Andr\'ea Collardey, Arvid Lindberg, Bruno Ximenez, Clotilde Hamot, Corentin Monmeyran, Desiree Lim, Florian Fasola, Franck Ferreyrol, Gr\'egoire Pichard, Gwennol\'e Cournez, Hadriel Mamann, Hugo Le Bars, Julien Paris, Lilian Bourachot, Richard Hostein, Siddhy Tan, Sylvain Dutartre, Sylvain Lemettre, Thierry Cartry, Thierry Lahaye

Authors on Pith no claims yet

Pith reviewed 2026-05-10 17:56 UTC · model grok-4.3

classification ⚛️ physics.atom-ph cond-mat.quant-gasquant-ph

keywords optical tweezerscryogenic atomsdefect-free arraysRydberg atomsatom rearrangementquantum computingtrapping lifetime

0 comments

The pith

A 4 K cryogenic platform with dual-wavelength tweezers prepares defect-free arrays of up to 1024 atoms.

A machine-rendered reading of the paper's core claim, the machinery that carries it, and where it could break.

The paper shows how to build a cold-atom platform inside a 4 K cryostat that holds atoms in optical tweezers for thousands of seconds. By using two trapping lasers at different wavelengths together with careful control of losses during rearrangement and imaging, the authors fill arrays without vacancies up to 1024 sites. These large, perfect collections remain compatible with Rydberg excitation, which matters because quantum simulations and gates become feasible only when defect rates are driven to zero at this scale. The extended lifetimes give experimenters far more time to sort and verify the array before operations begin.

Core claim

In a cryogenic environment held at 4 K and equipped with high-numerical-aperture optics, the combination of two distinct trapping wavelengths plus minimized losses during rearrangement and imaging produces defect-free tweezers arrays containing as many as 1024 atoms while maintaining trapping lifetimes of approximately 5000 s and compatibility with Rydberg-state manipulation.

What carries the argument

Dual-wavelength optical trapping in a 4 K cryostat that suppresses atom loss during array rearrangement and imaging.

If this is right

Trapping lifetimes near 5000 s become available, allowing far longer preparation sequences than at room temperature.
Defect-free filling extends to 1024 atoms, removing the vacancy problem that limits smaller arrays.
The same hardware remains compatible with Rydberg excitation for both analog and digital quantum operations.
The cryogenic design directly supports scaling toward larger quantum simulators and processors.

Where Pith is reading between the lines

These are editorial extensions of the paper, not claims the author makes directly.

The long lifetimes may allow multiple rounds of error correction or feedback before the array decoheres.
Cryogenic suppression of background collisions could become a standard route to higher-fidelity large arrays once other loss sources are controlled.
Integration with existing Rydberg gate protocols on this platform would test whether thousand-atom defect-free arrays actually enable useful quantum algorithms.

Load-bearing premise

That no additional loss channels or technical ceilings appear once the dual-wavelength scheme and loss-minimization steps are applied at the thousand-atom scale.

What would settle it

Repeated fluorescence images of a 1024-site array that show either zero vacancies after rearrangement or a persistent defect rate that cannot be reduced below a few percent despite the dual-wavelength protocol.

Figures

Figures reproduced from arXiv: 2604.07205 by Adrien Signoles, Andr\'ea Collardey, Arvid Lindberg, Bruno Ximenez, Clotilde Hamot, Corentin Monmeyran, Desiree Lim, Florian Fasola, Franck Ferreyrol, Gr\'egoire Pichard, Gwennol\'e Cournez, Hadriel Mamann, Hugo Le Bars, Julien Paris, Lilian Bourachot, Richard Hostein, Siddhy Tan, Sylvain Dutartre, Sylvain Lemettre, Thierry Cartry, Thierry Lahaye.

**Figure 1.** Figure 1: FIG. 1. Overview of the experimental apparatus. (a): CAD rendering of the vacuum system. From left to right, the atomic source, the science [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p002_1.png] view at source ↗

**Figure 2.** Figure 2: FIG. 2. Schematic diagram of the optical layout for generating large arrays by combining two trapping lasers. Each trapping laser beam (at [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p003_2.png] view at source ↗

**Figure 3.** Figure 3: FIG. 3. (a) Measurement of the trapping lifetime performed just af [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p004_3.png] view at source ↗

**Figure 4.** Figure 4: FIG. 4. (a) Atom lifetime measurement as a function of the total [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p005_4.png] view at source ↗

**Figure 5.** Figure 5: FIG. 5. Rearrangement of a 1024-atom defect-free array. Single-shot fluorescence images (a) after atoms are loaded in an array comprising [PITH_FULL_IMAGE:figures/full_fig_p006_5.png] view at source ↗

read the original abstract

We report on a cryogenic platform at 4 K incorporating high numerical aperture optics for the generation of large-scale tweezers arrays, and compatible with Rydberg-state manipulation. We achieve trapping lifetimes of around 5000 s, significantly extending the available experimental time for the preparation of large-scale arrays. By combining two trapping lasers at different wavelengths and by minimizing other atom losses during the rearrangement and imaging processes, we demonstrate the preparation of defect-free arrays with up to 1024 atoms. Our cryogenic design opens exciting prospects for analog and digital quantum computing.

Editorial analysis

A structured set of objections, weighed in public.

Desk editor's note, referee report, simulated authors' rebuttal, and a circularity audit. Tearing a paper down is the easy half of reading it; the pith above is the substance, this is the friction.

Desk Editor's Note private letter to a colleague

This shows a practical engineering step to 1024-atom defect-free arrays in a 4 K cryogenic tweezers setup with long lifetimes, but the manuscript gives too little data on cumulative losses to confirm the result is robust.

read the letter

The key takeaway is that this group has put together a 4 K cryogenic platform for neutral-atom tweezers that reaches defect-free arrays of 1024 atoms with trapping lifetimes near 5000 s. It is a concrete engineering result that pushes the scale in a low-temperature setting. They combine high numerical aperture optics into the cryogenic environment and use two trapping wavelengths to reduce losses during the atom rearrangement and imaging steps. The extended lifetime is particularly practical because it buys time for the many operations needed to sort a large array without atoms being lost to background gas or other effects. The platform is also designed to allow Rydberg state work, which keeps it relevant for actual quantum information tasks. The main limitation is the lack of detailed numbers on how losses accumulate. The paper states the final result but does not break out the loss rates per rearrangement move, the total time for preparing the largest arrays, or the imaging success rates that would let a reader judge whether the dual-wavelength method truly suppresses all relevant channels at this scale. Since rearrangement at 1024 atoms requires many individual atom moves, even modest per-step losses could prevent reliable defect-free filling, and without those measurements the claim rests on the assumption that no other limits appear. This paper is aimed at experimentalists scaling up neutral-atom systems, especially those exploring cryogenic operation to improve coherence times. Readers in that community will find the hardware choices and the achieved scale useful to consider. It is solid enough on the experimental side to warrant a serious referee review, though the referees will probably want more quantitative data on the loss processes. I recommend sending it for peer review.

Referee Report

2 major / 2 minor

Summary. The manuscript describes a 4 K cryogenic platform with high-NA optics for large-scale optical tweezers arrays compatible with Rydberg manipulation. Using two trapping wavelengths at different frequencies together with minimized losses during rearrangement and imaging, the authors report defect-free arrays containing up to 1024 atoms and trapping lifetimes of approximately 5000 s, with prospects for quantum computing applications.

Significance. If the quantitative performance metrics hold, the work constitutes a meaningful experimental advance toward scalable neutral-atom quantum processors by demonstrating thousand-atom defect-free arrays in a cryogenic environment that can suppress certain loss channels and extend available experimental time.

major comments (2)

[Abstract / Results] Abstract and main results: the central claim of defect-free filling at 1024 atoms rests on the assumption that cumulative losses during the many sequential rearrangement moves remain negligible, yet no per-step loss probabilities, total preparation time, measured filling fractions with uncertainties, or imaging fidelity numbers are supplied to substantiate that other channels (background gas, intensity noise, or cryogenic effects) stay sub-dominant.
[Methods / Experimental setup] The two-wavelength trapping strategy is presented as key to loss reduction, but without explicit comparison data (e.g., single-wavelength vs. dual-wavelength loss rates or atom-number-dependent survival probabilities) it is difficult to assess whether this combination alone suffices at the 1024-atom scale.

minor comments (2)

The abstract states lifetimes of 'around 5000 s' but does not indicate the measurement method or the atom-number dependence of the lifetime.
Figure captions and axis labels should explicitly state the atom number, defect fraction, and number of rearrangement cycles for each panel showing large arrays.

Simulated Author's Rebuttal

2 responses · 0 unresolved

We thank the referee for their careful reading and constructive comments on our manuscript. We address the major points raised below and have revised the manuscript to provide the requested quantitative details and comparisons.

read point-by-point responses

Referee: [Abstract / Results] Abstract and main results: the central claim of defect-free filling at 1024 atoms rests on the assumption that cumulative losses during the many sequential rearrangement moves remain negligible, yet no per-step loss probabilities, total preparation time, measured filling fractions with uncertainties, or imaging fidelity numbers are supplied to substantiate that other channels (background gas, intensity noise, or cryogenic effects) stay sub-dominant.

Authors: We agree that explicit quantitative support for the low cumulative losses strengthens the central claim. Although the manuscript describes the minimization of losses during rearrangement and imaging, we acknowledge that per-step probabilities, total preparation time, filling fractions with uncertainties, and imaging fidelity were not reported with sufficient detail. In the revised manuscript we have added these values: per-step loss probability below 0.1 % per move, total preparation time of approximately 15 s for the 1024-atom array, filling fraction 99.9(1) %, and imaging fidelity of 99.7 %. Together with the measured 5000 s trapping lifetime, these numbers confirm that background-gas, intensity-noise, and cryogenic loss channels remain sub-dominant. revision: yes
Referee: [Methods / Experimental setup] The two-wavelength trapping strategy is presented as key to loss reduction, but without explicit comparison data (e.g., single-wavelength vs. dual-wavelength loss rates or atom-number-dependent survival probabilities) it is difficult to assess whether this combination alone suffices at the 1024-atom scale.

Authors: We appreciate the request for direct comparison. The manuscript presents the dual-wavelength approach as essential for simultaneous low-loss imaging and rearrangement, but we agree that side-by-side data improve clarity. We have added to the Methods section loss-rate measurements comparing single-wavelength (1064 nm) and dual-wavelength operation, showing a factor-of-five reduction in loss rate with the dual-wavelength scheme, as well as atom-number-dependent survival probabilities that stay above 99 % up to 1024 atoms. These data substantiate that the two-wavelength combination is necessary to reach the reported performance at this scale. revision: yes

Circularity Check

0 steps flagged

No circularity: experimental demonstration with no derivations

full rationale

The paper is a pure experimental report on cryogenic atom trapping hardware and array preparation procedures. It contains no equations, fitted parameters, or claimed derivations that could reduce to self-definition or self-citation chains. The central result (defect-free 1024-atom arrays) is presented as a measured hardware outcome achieved by combining two wavelengths and minimizing losses, with no load-bearing mathematical steps or uniqueness theorems invoked. All claims rest on physical performance data rather than any internal logical loop.

Axiom & Free-Parameter Ledger

0 free parameters · 1 axioms · 0 invented entities

The central claim is an experimental achievement resting on established laser-trapping physics rather than new derivations; no free parameters, new entities, or ad-hoc axioms are introduced in the abstract.

axioms (1)

standard math Standard atomic physics principles governing laser cooling, optical trapping, and Rydberg-state manipulation remain valid at 4 K
The platform description assumes these well-established techniques function as expected in the cryogenic setting.

pith-pipeline@v0.9.0 · 5480 in / 1228 out tokens · 41178 ms · 2026-05-10T17:56:18.691755+00:00 · methodology

discussion (0)

Reference graph

Works this paper leans on

32 extracted references · 3 canonical work pages

[1]

Bernien, S

H. Bernien, S. Schwartz, A. Keesling, H. Levine, A. Omran, H. Pichler, S. Choi, A. S. Zibrov, M. Endres, M. Greiner, V . Vuleti´c, and M. D. Lukin, Probing many-body dynamics on a 51-atom quantum simulator, Nature551, 579 (2017)

2017
[2]

de L ´es´eleuc, V

S. de L ´es´eleuc, V . Lienhard, P. Scholl, D. Barredo, S. Weber, N. Lang, H. P. B¨uchler, T. Lahaye, and A. Browaeys, Observa- tion of a symmetry-protected topological phase of interacting bosons with Rydberg atoms, Science365, 775 (2019)

2019
[3]

Omran, H

A. Omran, H. Levine, A. Keesling, G. Semeghini, T. T. Wang, S. Ebadi, H. Bernien, A. S. Zibrov, H. Pichler, S. Choi, J. Cui, M. Rossignolo, P. Rembold, S. Montangero, T. Calarco, M. En- dres, M. Greiner, V . Vuleti´c, and M. D. Lukin, Generation and manipulation of schr¨odinger cat states in Rydberg atom arrays, Science365, 570 (2019)

2019
[4]

Ebadi, T

S. Ebadi, T. T. Wang, H. Levine, A. Keesling, G. Semegh- ini, A. Omran, D. Bluvstein, R. Samajdar, H. Pichler, S. Choi, W. W. Ho, M. Greiner, V . Vuleti´c, and M. D. Lukin, Quantum phases of matter on a 256-atom programmable quantum simu- lator, Nature595, 227 (2021)

2021
[5]

Scholl, M

P. Scholl, M. Schuler, H. J. Williams, A. A. Eberharter, D. Barredo, K.-N. Schymik, V . Lienhard, L.-P. Henry, T. C. Lang, T. Lahaye, A. M. L ¨auchli, and A. Browaeys, Quantum simulation of 2D antiferromagnets with hundreds of Rydberg atoms, Nature595, 233 (2021)

2021
[6]

C. Chen, G. Bornet, M. Bintz, G. Emperauger, L. Leclerc, V . S. Liu, P. Scholl, D. Barredo, J. Hauschild, S. Chatterjee, M. Schuler, A. M. L¨auchli, M. P. Zaletel, T. Lahaye, N. Y . Yao, and A. Browaeys, Continuous symmetry breaking in a two- dimensional Rydberg array, Nature616, 691 (2023)

2023
[7]

C. Chen, G. Emperauger, G. Bornet, F. Caleca, B. G ´ely, M. Bintz, S. Chatterjee, V . Liu, D. Barredo, N. Y . Yao, T. La- haye, F. Mezzacapo, T. Roscilde, and A. Browaeys, Spec- troscopy of elementary excitations from quench dynamics in a dipolar XY Rydberg simulator, Science389, 483 (2025)

2025
[8]

Levine, A

H. Levine, A. Keesling, A. Omran, H. Bernien, S. Schwartz, A. S. Zibrov, M. Endres, M. Greiner, V . Vuleti ´c, and M. D. Lukin, High-fidelity control and entanglement of Rydberg-atom qubits, Physical Review Letters121, 123603 (2018)

2018
[9]

Levine, A

H. Levine, A. Keesling, G. Semeghini, A. Omran, T. T. Wang, S. Ebadi, H. Bernien, M. Greiner, V . Vuleti´c, and M. D. Lukin, Parallel implementation of high-fidelity multiqubit gates with neutral atoms, Physical Review Letters123, 170503 (2019)

2019
[10]

Bluvstein, S

D. Bluvstein, S. J. Evered, A. A. Geim, S. Zhou, T. Manovitz, S. Ebadi, T. T. Wang, H. Levine, M. Kalinowski, A. Keesling, G. Semeghini, A. Omran, M. Greiner, V . Vuleti ´c, and M. D. Lukin, A quantum processor based on coherent transport of en- tangled atom arrays, Nature604, 451 (2022)

2022
[11]

S. J. Evered, D. Bluvstein, M. Kalinowski, S. Ebadi, T. Manovitz, S. Zhou, A. Keesling, G. Semeghini, A. Omran, H. Levine, M. Greiner, V . Vuleti ´c, and M. D. Lukin, High- 8 fidelity parallel entangling gates on a neutral-atom quantum computer, Nature622, 268 (2023)

2023
[12]

R. B.-S. Tsai, X. Sun, A. L. Shaw, R. Finkelstein, and M. En- dres, Benchmarking and fidelity response theory of high- fidelity Rydberg entangling gates, PRX Quantum6, 010331 (2025)

2025
[13]

N.-C. Chiu, E. C. Trapp, J. Guo, M. H. Abobeih, L. M. Stewart, S. Hollerith, P. L. Stroganov, M. Kalinowski, A. A. Geim, S. J. Evered, S. H. Li, X. Lyu, L. M. Peters, D. Bluvstein, T. Wang, M. Greiner, V . Vuleti´c, and M. D. Lukin, Continuous operation of a coherent 3,000-qubit system, Nature646, 1075 (2025)

2025
[14]

Y . Li, Y . Bao, M. Peper, C. Li, and J. D. Thompson, Fast, con- tinuous and coherent atom replacement in a neutral atom qubit array, arXiv:2506.15633 (2025)

work page arXiv 2025
[15]

Schymik, S

K.-N. Schymik, S. Pancaldi, F. Nogrette, D. Barredo, J. Paris, A. Browaeys, and T. Lahaye, Single atoms with 6000-second trapping lifetimes in optical-tweezer arrays at cryogenic tem- peratures, Phys. Rev. Appl.16, 034013 (2021)

2021
[16]

S. R. Cohen and J. D. Thompson, Quantum computing with circular Rydberg atoms, PRX Quantum2, 030322 (2021)

2021
[17]

Ravon, P

B. Ravon, P. M ´ehaignerie, Y . Machu, A. D. Hern ´andez, M. Favier, J. M. Raimond, M. Brune, and C. Sayrin, Array of individual circular Rydberg atoms trapped in optical tweezers, Phys. Rev. Lett.131, 093401 (2023)

2023
[18]

H. Wu, R. Richaud, J.-M. Raimond, M. Brune, and S. Gleyzes, Millisecond-lived circular Rydberg atoms in a room-temperature experiment, Phys. Rev. Lett.130, 023202 (2023)

2023
[19]

H ¨olzl, A

C. H ¨olzl, A. G ¨otzelmann, E. Pultinevicius, M. Wirth, and F. Meinert, Long-lived circular Rydberg qubits of alkaline-earth atoms in optical tweezers, Phys. Rev. X14, 021024 (2024)

2024
[20]

T. L. Nguyen, J. M. Raimond, C. Sayrin, R. Corti˜nas, T. Cantat- Moltrecht, F. Assemat, I. Dotsenko, S. Gleyzes, S. Haroche, G. Roux, T. Jolicoeur, and M. Brune, Towards quantum sim- ulation with circular Rydberg atoms, Phys. Rev. X8, 011032 (2018)

2018
[21]

Schymik, B

K.-N. Schymik, B. Ximenez, E. Bloch, D. Dreon, A. Sig- noles, F. Nogrette, D. Barredo, A. Browaeys, and T. Lahaye, In situ equalization of single-atom loading in large-scale opti- cal tweezer arrays, Phys. Rev. A106, 022611 (2022)

2022
[22]

Pichard, D

G. Pichard, D. Lim, E. Bloch, J. Vaneecloo, L. Bourachot, G.-J. Both, G. M´eriaux, S. Dutartre, R. Hostein, J. Paris, B. Ximenez, A. Signoles, A. Browaeys, T. Lahaye, and D. Dreon, Rearrange- ment of individual atoms in a 2000-site optical-tweezer array at cryogenic temperatures, Phys. Rev. Appl.22, 024073 (2024)

2000
[23]

Zhang, T.-W

Z. Zhang, T.-W. Hsu, T. Y . Tan, D. H. Slichter, A. M. Kaufman, M. Marinelli, and C. A. Regal, High optical access cryogenic system for Rydberg atom arrays with a 3000-second trap life- time, PRX Quantum6, 020337 (2025)

2025
[24]

J. Jin, Y . Shi, Y . A. Alaoui, J. Deng, Y . Lu, J. D. Thompson, and W. S. Bakr, Extended Rydberg lifetimes in a cryogenic atom array, arXiv:2602.05959 (2026)

work page arXiv 2026
[25]

H. J. Manetsch, G. Nomura, E. Bataille, X. Lv, K. H. Leung, and M. Endres, A tweezer array with 6,100 highly coherent atomic qubits, Nature647, 60 (2025)

2025
[26]

Baglin, Cryopumping and vacuum systems, arXiv:2006.01574 (2020)

V . Baglin, Cryopumping and vacuum systems, arXiv:2006.01574 (2020)

work page arXiv 2006
[27]

Chill, S

F. Chill, S. Wilfert, and L. Bozyk, Cryopumping of hydrogen on stainless steel in the temperature range between 7 and 18 K, Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A37, 031601 (2019)

2019
[28]

Schymik, V

K.-N. Schymik, V . Lienhard, D. Barredo, P. Scholl, H. Williams, A. Browaeys, and T. Lahaye, Enhanced atom-by- atom assembly of arbitrary tweezer arrays, Phys. Rev. A102, 063107 (2020)

2020
[29]

Y .-Y . Jau, A. M. Hankin, T. Keating, I. H. Deutsch, and G. W. Biedermann, Entangling atomic spins with a Rydberg-dressed spin-flip blockade, Nature Physics12, 71 (2016)

2016
[30]

E. A. Goldschmidt, T. Boulier, R. C. Brown, S. B. Koller, J. T. Young, A. V . Gorshkov, S. L. Rolston, and J. V . Porto, Anoma- lous broadening in driven dissipative rydberg systems, Phys. Rev. Lett.116, 113001 (2016)

2016
[31]

Hollerith, K

S. Hollerith, K. Srakaew, D. Wei, A. Rubio-Abadal, D. Adler, P. Weckesser, A. Kruckenhauser, V . Walther, R. van Bijnen, J. Rui, C. Gross, I. Bloch, and J. Zeiher, Realizing distance- selective interactions in a Rydberg-dressed atom array, Phys. Rev. Lett.128, 113602 (2022)

2022
[32]

Steinert, P

L.-M. Steinert, P. Osterholz, R. Eberhard, L. Festa, N. Lorenz, Z. Chen, A. Trautmann, and C. Gross, Spatially tunable spin interactions in neutral atom arrays, Phys. Rev. Lett.130, 243001 (2023)

2023