Single atom trapping in a metasurface lens optical tweezer

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the use of a dielectric metasurface lens to trap and image single neutral atoms at a long distance, showcasing potential for advanced quantum information applications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel application of dielectric metasurfaces for atom trapping and imaging with long working distances, combining experimental demonstration with performance characterization.

Findings

Successful trapping of single atoms at 3 mm distance

High-numerical-aperture optical tweezers characterized

Agreement between experiments and numerical models

Abstract

Optical metasurfaces of subwavelength pillars have provided new capabilities for the versatile definition of the amplitude, phase, and polarization of light. In this work, we demonstrate that an efficient dielectric metasurface lens can be used to trap and image single neutral atoms with a long working distance from the lens of 3 mm. We characterize the high-numerical-aperture optical tweezers using the trapped atoms and compare with numerical computations of the metasurface lens performance. We predict that future metasurfaces for atom trapping will be able to leverage multiple ongoing developments in metasurface design and enable multifunctional control in complex quantum information experiments with neutral-atoms arrays.