Trapping of Single Atoms in Metasurface Optical Tweezer Arrays

Abstract: Optical tweezer arrays have emerged as a key experimental platform for quantum computation, quantum simulation, and quantum metrology, enabling unprecedented levels of control over single atoms and molecules. Existing methods to generate tweezer arrays mostly rely on active beam-shaping devices, such as acousto-optic deflectors or liquid-crystal spatial light modulators. However, these approaches have fundamental limitations in array geometry, size, and scalability. Here we demonstrate the trapping of single atoms in optical tweezer arrays generated via holographic metasurfaces. We realize two-dimensional arrays with more than 250 tweezer traps, arranged in arbitrary geometries with trap spacings as small as 1.5 um. The arrays have a high uniformity in terms of trap depth, trap frequency, and positional accuracy, rivaling or exceeding existing approaches. Owing to sub-micrometer pixel sizes and high pixel densities, holographic metasurfaces open a path towards optical tweezer arrays with >100,000 traps, facilitating tweezer-array based quantum applications that require large system sizes.