Development of Yb tweezer arrays for quantum simulation of nuclear physics*

Neutral atoms trapped in optical tweezer arrays are a rapidly advancing platform for quantum science, on which interactions with tunable strength and arbitrary connectivity can be engineered. Furthermore, the metastable ³P₀ state of ytterbium atoms allows quantum state control with long coherence time. Utilizing these features, we aim to perform simulations of quark-level effective field theories (EFTs) for quantum chromodynamics (QCD) in reconfigurable arrays of ytterbium atoms. The short-range interactions commonly employed in EFTs map favorably onto the interactions between tweezer-trapped atoms excited to Rydberg states. We report progress toward implementing experimental capabilities necessary to perform these simulations including site-selective state manipulation using the ¹S₀ to ³P₀ “clock” transition and excitation to Rydberg states.