Three-dimensional, multi-wavelength beam formation with integrated metasurface optics for Sr laser cooling

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel integrated metasurface optics system that creates complex, multi-wavelength 3D laser beams for Sr atom cooling, enabling compact optical lattice clocks without bulk optics.

Contribution

It introduces a metasurface-based approach to generate and control multi-wavelength 3D laser beams for atomic cooling, replacing traditional bulk optical components.

Findings

Successful formation of multi-wavelength 3D laser beams

Efficient control of beam pointing, divergence, and polarization

Demonstrated suitability for compact Sr optical lattice clocks

Abstract

We demonstrate the formation of a complex, multi-wavelength, three-dimensional laser beam configuration with integrated metasurface optics. Our experiments support the development of a compact Sr optical-lattice clock, which leverages magneto-optical trapping on atomic transitions at 461 nm and 689 nm without bulk free-space optics. We integrate six, mm-scale metasurface optics on a fused-silica substrate and illuminate them with light from optical fibers. The metasurface optics provide full control of beam pointing, divergence, and polarization to create the laser configuration for a magneto-optical trap. We report the efficiency and integration of the three-dimensional visible laser beam configuration, demonstrating the suitability of metasurface optics for atomic laser cooling.