Coherent control of strontium atoms trapped in an optical lattice and applications for quantum simulation

Neutral atoms trapped in optical lattices present a versatile platform for precision spectroscopy, quantum simulation, and quantum information processing. In our setup, we demonstrate the essential building blocks for a quantum simulator based on ultracold strontium atoms. We present state-dependent trapping for ground and metastable states, large cavity-enhanced optical lattices, single-atom resolved fluorescence imaging, and high-resolution optical spectroscopy. In particular, we report on the coherent excitation of the ultranarrow ¹S₀-³P₂ magnetic quadrupole transition in ⁸⁸Sr. Building on this work, we demonstrate high-fidelity Rabi oscillations between the metastable ³P₀ and ³P₂ states, which are coupled by a Raman transition. The developed tools for controlled trapping and coherent manipulation of two-electron atoms pave the way for quantum simulation of tunable open quantum systems.