A Platform for Evanescently Trapping Rb-87 Using Silicon Nitride Strip Waveguides Buried in Silica

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel integrated photonic platform using silicon nitride waveguides to evanescently trap Rb-87 atoms, enabling miniaturized quantum sensors with adjustable three-dimensional trapping capabilities.

Contribution

The work introduces a new chip-scale platform for evanescent atom trapping using silicon nitride waveguides in silica, advancing miniaturization in quantum sensing technology.

Findings

Successful design of silicon nitride waveguides for atom trapping

Demonstration of three-dimensional adjustable trapping potential

Potential for integration into compact quantum devices

Abstract

Cold-atom systems have emerged as a highly promising avenue for quantum-enhanced position, navigation, and timing applications. However, their wider adoption is currently hampered in part by the large footprint of the systems. In leveraging the miniaturisation possible through photonic integrated circuits, cold-atom sensors would be able to reach much wider commercial adoption. In this paper, we introduce a platform for evanescently trapping 87Rb using strip silicon nitride waveguides buried in silica using red- and blue-detuned fundamental and higher-order modes, providing a three-dimensional adjustable trap for BEC-based, chip-scale work in quantum science and technologies.