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    Proposal of a waveguide-integrated optical nanolens for near-field single-atom trapping

    Aiping Liu1,2,3,*, Xiaofeng Jian1, Ling-Xiao Wang2,4,5, Lei Xu2,4,5, Guang-Jie Chen2,4,5, Xin-Biao Xu2,4,5, Yujing Wang1, Guo-Yong Xiang2,4,5, and Chang-Ling Zou2,4,5,†

    • *Contact author: apliu@njupt.edu.cn
    • †Contact author: clzou321@ustc.edu.cn

    Phys. Rev. A 114, 023107 – Published 24 August, 2026

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/cnwj-cfvy

    Abstract

    The integration of single atoms with photonic integrated circuits promises scalable quantum information platforms, yet a fundamental challenge of trapping atoms into the near-field interaction region of the waveguide mode remains. Here we propose an on-chip waveguide-based nanolens, designed to focus a free-space incident Gaussian beam, thereby creating a tight optical beam directly above the waveguide surface. In contrast to treating the diffraction effect of the on-chip nanostructure as detrimental, our approach can utilize the effect to realize precise near-field positioning and trapping of single atoms, which allows strong coupling between the trapped atom and the guided photons in the waveguide. Through numerical simulation, we demonstrate that for a free-space input of an 852-nm Gaussian beam with a waist of 1µm, a waveguide can generate a near-field focused beam with a waist of only 0.66µm and a height of about 0.07µm above the waveguide surface, featuring a 3.0-mK dipole trap with only 3.5-mW free-space trap laser power assisted by a blue-detuned waveguide mode. The increase of atomic spontaneous emission rate induced by near-field atom-waveguide mode coupling is analyzed by the Purcell factor, which is up to 3.1×10−3. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that the cold atoms can be transported from the trap center of the nanolens to the optical trap arrays created by the evanescent field of the waveguide modes. Our proposal provides a scalable approach for realizing a near-field waveguide-integrated single-atom array, paving the way toward hybrid photonic-atomic circuits for quantum applications.

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