Holographic Metasurfaces for Large-Scale Optical Tweezer Arrays with Unique Capabilities

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 [1]. We realize two-dimensional arrays with more than 1000 tweezer traps, arranged in arbitrary geometries with trap spacings as small as 1.5 μm. 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 large total pixel numbers, holographic metasurfaces open a path towards optical tweezer arrays with >100,000 traps. Additionally, we discuss the metasurface platform's potential for additional control knobs unavailable to other tweezer modalities, including dual color trapping, individual tweezer polarization control, and direct trapping and imaging without the need for external high-NA optics.