We report on the trapping and imaging of individual ytterbium atoms in arrays of optical tweezers, loaded from a magneto-optical trap (MOT) formed by only five beams in an orthogonal configuration. In our five-beam MOT, operating on the narrow ${ }^1$S${ }_0 \rightarrow { }^3$P${ }_1$ intercombination transition, gravity balances the radiation pressure of a single upward-directed beam. This approach enables efficient trapping and cooling of the most common ytterbium isotopes (${ }^{ 171}$Yb, ${ }^{ 173}$Yb and ${ }^{ 174}$Yb) to $\lesssim 20\,\mu$K at densities $\sim 10^{ 11}$ atoms/cm$^3$ within less than one second. This configuration allows for significantly reducing the complexity of the optical setup, potentially benefiting any ytterbium-atom based quantum science platform leveraging single-atom microscopy, from quantum processors to novel optical clocks. We then demonstrate the first single-atom-resolved imaging of the fermionic, large-spin isotope ${ }^{ 173}$Yb ($I=5/2$), employing a two-color imaging scheme that does not rely on magic-wavelength trapping. We achieve a high single-atom detection fidelity of $99.96(1)\%$ and a large survival probability of $98.5(2)\%$, despite large differential light shifts affecting all nuclear spin sublevels of the excited ${ }^3$P${ }_1$ state involved in the cooling transition. The demonstrated capabilities will play a key role in future quantum simulations and computing applications with ${ }^{ 173}$Yb arrays.
Categories: physics.atom-ph cond-mat.quant-gas quant-ph
