Optical tweezers throw and catch single atoms

Single atoms movable from one place to another would enable a flying quantum memory that can be useful for dynamic computing architectures. Guided atoms, e.g., by optical tweezers, provide partial solution, but the benefit of qubits could lost if they still interact with guiding means. Here we propose and experimentally demonstrate freely are not guided instead thrown caught tweezers. We set proof-of-principle atom demonstrations, which include transport through arrangements scattering off In experiments, cold rubidium at 40 µK temperature accelerating fly up speed 0.65 m/s free-flying distance 4.2 µm, recaptured stopped decelerating tweezers transportation efficiency 94(3)%. Flying suggest possible applications such as defect correction in tweezer trap array, fast atom-array formation, Rydberg-atom collision studies,