All-optical nanotraps for atoms atop flat metamaterial lenses: a theoretical study

Tailored optical potentials for Cs atoms above waveguides with focusing dielectric nano-antenna

Tuning the near field using all-dielectric nano-antennas offers a promising approach for trapping atoms, which could enable strong single-atom-photon coupling. Here we report the numerical study of an optical trapping of a single Cs atom above a waveguide with a silicon nano-antenna, which produces a trapping potential for atoms in a chip-scale configuration. Using counter-propagating incident fields, bichromatically detuned from the atomic cesium D-lines, we numerically investigate the dependence of the optical potential on the nano-antenna geometry. We tailor the near-field potential landscape by tuning the evanescent field of the waveguide using a toroidal nano-antenna, a configuration that enables trapping of ultracold Cs atoms. Our research opens up a plethora of trapping atoms applications in a chip-scale manner, from quantum computing to quantum sensing, among others.