A compact six-beam 3D magneto-optical trap based on multifunctional metasurface chips
Abstract
Magneto-optical traps (MOTs), indispensable to cold-atom-based quantum computing and quantum precision measurement, are increasingly desired in compact and stable form. Particularly, the six-beam 3D-MOT, distinguished by symmetric geometry and superior trapping performance, finds particularly broad applications. Conventional implementations, however, rely on complex and bulky free-space optics, hindering miniaturization, practical assembly, and long-term stability. Here, we demonstrate a compact six-beam 3D-MOT system that employs two multifunctional optical metasurface chips to implement the optical-field functionalities required for cooling and trapping atoms. By combining two metasurface chips and a vacuum cell, a photonic-integrated cell module (PICM) is implemented as the core assembly and the volume is only" 73*73*107 mm^3" . In success, 1.3 * 10^3 Rb atoms are trapped and cooled to the temperature of ~183 μK. It should be noticed that the laser beam is guided to the metasurface through optical fiber, thus such fully fiber-coupled architecture enables straightforward and stable operations. We believe that this work would pave a practical route toward compact and portable 3D-MOT.
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BibTeX
@misc{qing2026compact,
title = {{A compact six-beam 3D magneto-optical trap based on multifunctional metasurface chips}},
author = {Chen Qing and Huijie Sun and Yize Liu and Yuxuan Liao and Yongzhuo Li and Dengke Zhang and Xue Feng and Yidong Huang},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.19504},
eprint = {2610.19504},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.19504},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - A compact six-beam 3D magneto-optical trap based on multifunctional metasurface chips
AU - Chen Qing
AU - Huijie Sun
AU - Yize Liu
AU - Yuxuan Liao
AU - Yongzhuo Li
AU - Dengke Zhang
AU - Xue Feng
AU - Yidong Huang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/14
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.19504
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.19504
AB - Magneto-optical traps (MOTs), indispensable to cold-atom-based quantum computing and quantum precision measurement, are increasingly desired in compact and stable form. Particularly, the six-beam 3D-MOT, distinguished by symmetric geometry and superior trapping performance, finds particularly broad applications. Conventional implementations, however, rely on complex and bulky free-space optics, hindering miniaturization, practical assembly, and long-term stability. Here, we demonstrate a compact six-beam 3D-MOT system that employs two multifunctional optical metasurface chips to implement the optical-field functionalities required for cooling and trapping atoms. By combining two metasurface chips and a vacuum cell, a photonic-integrated cell module (PICM) is implemented as the core assembly and the volume is only" 73*73*107 mm^3" . In success, 1.3 * 10^3 Rb atoms are trapped and cooled to the temperature of ~183 μK. It should be noticed that the laser beam is guided to the metasurface through optical fiber, thus such fully fiber-coupled architecture enables straightforward and stable operations. We believe that this work would pave a practical route toward compact and portable 3D-MOT.
ER -