Spatial Emission and Polarization Control in Integrated Photonics for Optical-Trapping and Trapped-Ion Systems

Abstract

Recent advances in silicon photonics have yielded impressive results in fields including biophotonic optical tweezers and trapped-ion quantum systems. However, the majority of these demonstrations, while offering advantages in size, cost, and dense integration, lag behind their bulk-optic counterparts, limited by a lack of critical advanced functionality such as spatial control of light in the near field or polarization control at visible wavelengths. This thesis addresses this gap by designing and experimentally demonstrating the first, to the best of our knowledge, cell experiments using single-beam integrated optical tweezers, chip-based 3D printers, and integrated polarization rotators and splitters at blue wavelengths. First, we demonstrate optical trapping and tweezing of microspheres using a nearfield-focusing integrated optical phased array, at a standoff distance over two orders of magnitude larger than prior integrated demonstrations. We then use this system to perform the first cell experiments using single-beam integrated optical tweezers. Second, we use a tunable integrated optical phased array operating at red wavelengths to print designs in a visible-light-curing resin, demonstrating the first chip-based 3D printer. Third, we design and experimentally demonstrate the first integrated polarization rotators and splitters operating at blue wavelengths, enabling polarization control on chip for sophisticated integrated manipulation of trapped-ion and neutral-atom quantum systems. Finally, we develop key polarization-diverse integrated-photonics devices and utilize them to implement a variety of integrated-photonics-based polarization-gradient-cooling systems, culminating in the first demonstration of polarization-gradient cooling of a trapped ion by an integrated-photonics-based system.