Polarization Decoupling Multi-Port Beam-Splitting Metasurface for Miniaturized Magneto-Optical Trap

Abstract

In regular magneto-optical trap (MOT) systems, the delivery of six circularly polarized (CP) cooling beams requires complex and bulky optical arrangements including waveplates, mirrors, retroreflectors, etc. To address such technique challenges, we have proposed a beam delivery system for miniaturized MOT entirely based on meta-devices. The key component is a novel multi-port beam-splitting (PD-MPBS) metasurface that relies on both propagation phase and geometric phase. The fabricated samples exhibit high beam-splitting power uniformity (within 4.4%) and polarization purities (91.29%~93.15%). By leveraging such beam-splitting device as well as reflective beam-expanding meta-device, an integrated six-beam delivery system for miniaturized MOT application has been implemented. The experimental results indicate that six expanded beams have been successfully delivered with uniform power (within 9.5%), the desired CP configuration and large overlapping volume (76.2 mm^3). We believe that a miniaturized MOT with the proposed beam delivery system is very promising for portable application of cold atom technology in precision measurement, atomic clock, quantum simulation and computing, etc.

References in corpus (18)

• Many-Body Physics with Ultracold Gases
• Quantum computation with trapped polar molecules
• A toolbox for lattice spin models with polar molecules
• Magneto-optical trapping of a diatomic molecule
• A surface-patterned chip as a strong source of ultra-cold atoms for quantum technologies
• A quantum sensor: simultaneous precision gravimetry and magnetic gradiometry with a Bose-Einstein condensate
• A Dielectric Metasurface Optical Chip for the Generation of Cold Atoms
• The Feasibility of a Fully Miniaturized Magneto-Optical Trap for Portable Ultracold Quantum Technology
• Photonic integrated beam delivery in a rubidium 3D magneto-optical trap
• Single-laser, one beam, tetrahedral magneto-optical trap
• Characteristics of a magneto-optical trap of molecules
• Single-beam Zeeman slower and magneto-optical trap using a nanofabricated grating
• Compact ultracold electron source based on a grating magneto optical trap
• Metasurface-Based Free-Space Multi-port Beam Splitter with Arbitrary Power Ratio
• An on-chip optical lattice for cold atom experiments
• Grating magneto-optical traps with complicated level structures
• Electrically switchable $2^N$-channel wave-front control with N cascaded polarization-dependent metasurfaces
• Magneto-optical trap of a Group III atom