Breakthrough in Cold Atom Technology with Photonic-Integrated MOT on a Chip, Advancing Portable Quantum Applications

Cold atoms play a crucial role in advancing quantum technologies that are utilized for precision timing, navigation, and sensing applications. A UC Santa Barbara team led by Daniel Blumenthal achieved a significant milestone by demonstrating a photonic-integrated MOT (PICMOT) using a photonic chip to deliver laser cooling beams. With Infleqtion's miniMOT, they successfully trapped over 1 million rubidium atoms, cooling them to temperatures below 1 mK. Making the optical components of a magneto-optical trap (MOT) for laser-cooled atoms smaller will help implement these technologies in portable devices.