Fresnel zone plates for reconfigurable atomic waveguides

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Pike, A. M. and Dorne, A. and Pickering, L. and Jamieson, M. and MacCuish, I. T. and Riis, E. and Johnson, M. Y. H. and Henderson, V. A. and Griffin, P. F. and Arnold, A. S. (2026) Fresnel zone plates for reconfigurable atomic waveguides. Optics Express, 34 (14). pp. 26526-26534. ISSN 1094-4087 (https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.597259)

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Abstract

Fresnel zone plates (FZPs), with patterns of 1 µm resolution and 108+ ‘pixels’, allow the formation of clean, diffraction-limited foci – but have a static phase profile. Spatial light modulators (SLMs) allow dynamic control of spatial beam intensity and phase – but are bulky and currently limited to roughly 10 µm pixel sizes and 1 Mega-pixel formats. Here, we present a ‘best-of-both’ kind of FZP, scalable to rings orders of magnitude larger than those possible via direct SLM generation. It is equivalent to a plano-convex donut lens, whereby light’s local intensity and global phase at the FZP map directly onto the focal plane. The same FZP under different SLM illumination can generate: rings and arcs, double-rings, phase windings, and ring lattices (or dynamic combinations thereof). The smooth and adaptable near-field waveguide that this enables will be ideal for Sagnac interferometry with ultracold atoms.

ORCID iDs

Pike, A. M., Dorne, A., Pickering, L., Jamieson, M. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2614-9340, MacCuish, I. T., Riis, E. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3225-5302, Johnson, M. Y. H., Henderson, V. A. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9233-589X, Griffin, P. F. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0134-7554 and Arnold, A. S. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7084-6958;
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