Efficient single-atom transfer from an optical conveyor belt to a tightly confined optical tweezer

Lei Xu; Ling-Xiao Wang; Guang-Jie Chen; Zhu-Bo Wang; Xin-Biao Xu; Guang-Can Guo; Chang-Ling Zou; Guo-Yong Xiang

doi:10.1103/wccv-wpqh

Efficient single-atom transfer from an optical conveyor belt to a tightly confined optical tweezer

Lei Xu ^1,2, Ling-Xiao Wang^1,2, Guang-Jie Chen^1,2, Zhu-Bo Wang^1,2, Xin-Biao Xu^1,2, Guang-Can Guo^1,2,3,4, Chang-Ling Zou ^1,2,3,4,*, and Guo-Yong Xiang ^1,2,3,4,†

¹Laboratory of Quantum Information, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People’s Republic of China
²Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Quantum Network, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, People’s Republic of China
³CAS Center For Excellence in Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, People’s Republic of China
⁴Hefei National Laboratory, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230088, China

^*Contact author: clzou321@ustc.edu.cn
^†Contact author: gyxiang@ustc.edu.cn

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Phys. Rev. Applied 26, 024037 – Published 14 August, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/wccv-wpqh

Abstract

Efficient loading of single atoms into tightly confined traps is crucial for advancing quantum information processing and exploring atom-photon interactions. However, directly loading atoms from a magneto-optical trap (MOT) into static traps in cavity-based systems and hybrid atom-photon interfaces remains a challenge. Here, we demonstrate atom loading in a tightly confined optical tweezer $0.6 mm$ away from MOT by an optical conveyor belt. By employing real-time feedback control of the atom number in the overlapping region between the conveyor belt and the tweezer, we achieve a single-atom loading probability of 77.6%. Our technique establishes a feedback-controlled loading protocol for deterministic single-atom loading in various experimental settings and provides a foundation for diverse applications based on hybrid photonic-atom structures.

Physical Review Applied

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Efficient single-atom transfer from an optical conveyor belt to a tightly confined optical tweezer

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