Double well potentials for atomic qubit gates in a designer optical lattice

Using four coherent laser beams we make two different 2D optical lattices with polarization-dependent periodicity. The lattices are coincident, and by shifting one with respect to the other, we create an array of double well potentials. We have designed a 2D optical lattice for ⁸⁷Rb atoms consisting of an array of double well potentials. This lattice should allow us to test two-qubit gates and in general permit atomic control in support of nearest neighbor interaction physics such as the Ising model and quantum cellular automata.