Local polarization control of optical tweezer arrays
Abstract
Optical tweezer arrays trapping ultracold atoms and molecules are a versatile quantum science platform with broad impact in quantum simulation, quantum computation, and quantum metrology. The polarization dependence of anisotropic vector and tensor light shifts offers a degree of freedom for precise quantum state engineering of trapped particles. Similarly, state-selective operations depend on the polarization of the addressing light through the atom--light coupling strength. Yet, methods for controlling the polarization of individual tweezers or local addressing beams remain an experimental challenge. Here, we demonstrate independent, site-resolved linear polarization rotation across an optical tweezer array by exploiting the local birefringence tunability of a spatial light modulator. Applying this capability to an array of 88Sr atoms, we homogenize differential light shifts imparted by the 813-nm tweezers to the narrow 1S0↔3P1 transition, enabling sideband cooling under a magic-angle condition. Furthermore, we show dynamic transport of trapped atoms across distinct polarization zones with high survival and preserved coherence. Finally, we characterize tweezer polarization noise and demonstrate closed-loop stabilization referenced to the atomic transition frequency, reaching mrad-level stability. Our work establishes a technique for manipulating polarization-sensitive atomic and molecular transitions in tweezer architectures, with immediate applications to optical tweezer clocks and multi-zone quantum processors.
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BibTeX
@misc{sun2026local,
title = {{Local polarization control of optical tweezer arrays}},
author = {Xiangkai Sun and Richard Bing-Shiun Tsai and Andrew Winnicki and Yuan Le and Kon H. Leung and Nelson Darkwah Oppong and Manuel Endres},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.12406},
eprint = {2610.12406},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.12406},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Local polarization control of optical tweezer arrays
AU - Xiangkai Sun
AU - Richard Bing-Shiun Tsai
AU - Andrew Winnicki
AU - Yuan Le
AU - Kon H. Leung
AU - Nelson Darkwah Oppong
AU - Manuel Endres
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/08
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.12406
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.12406
AB - Optical tweezer arrays trapping ultracold atoms and molecules are a versatile quantum science platform with broad impact in quantum simulation, quantum computation, and quantum metrology. The polarization dependence of anisotropic vector and tensor light shifts offers a degree of freedom for precise quantum state engineering of trapped particles. Similarly, state-selective operations depend on the polarization of the addressing light through the atom--light coupling strength. Yet, methods for controlling the polarization of individual tweezers or local addressing beams remain an experimental challenge. Here, we demonstrate independent, site-resolved linear polarization rotation across an optical tweezer array by exploiting the local birefringence tunability of a spatial light modulator. Applying this capability to an array of ^88Sr atoms, we homogenize differential light shifts imparted by the 813-nm tweezers to the narrow ^1S_0↔^3P_1 transition, enabling sideband cooling under a magic-angle condition. Furthermore, we show dynamic transport of trapped atoms across distinct polarization zones with high survival and preserved coherence. Finally, we characterize tweezer polarization noise and demonstrate closed-loop stabilization referenced to the atomic transition frequency, reaching mrad-level stability. Our work establishes a technique for manipulating polarization-sensitive atomic and molecular transitions in tweezer architectures, with immediate applications to optical tweezer clocks and multi-zone quantum processors.
ER -