Trapping and manipulation of isolated atoms using nanoscale plasmonic structures

TL;DR

This paper presents a scheme to trap and manipulate individual neutral atoms near nanoscale plasmonic structures, enabling high-precision control and efficient photon collection for quantum applications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method to interface neutral atoms with nanoscale solid-state systems using metallic nanotips for trapping and manipulation.

Findings

Atoms can be trapped with nanometer precision near nanotips.

Surface plasmon modes enable efficient optical manipulation and photon collection.

Surface forces and decoherence effects are quantitatively analyzed.

Abstract

We propose and analyze a scheme to interface individual neutral atoms with nanoscale solid-state systems. The interface is enabled by optically trapping the atom via the strong near-field generated by a sharp metallic nanotip. We show that under realistic conditions, a neutral atom can be trapped with position uncertainties of just a few nanometers, and within tens of nanometers of other surfaces. Simultaneously, the guided surface plasmon modes of the nanotip allow the atom to be optically manipulated, or for fluorescence photons to be collected, with very high efficiency. Finally, we analyze the surface forces and heating and decoherence rates acting on the trapped atom.